Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs

Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs - you will love these tender juicy meatballs with hidden vegetables in a flavour-packed sauce. 

Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs

Being a parent of two young children, I am constantly looking for ways to sneak healthy vegetables into their diet, plus it's a great way to get some additional vegetables into a meal. 

The bonus of adding some vegetables into your meatballs mix is that it helps keep the meatballs lovely and tender too and makes a smaller amount of ground meat (beef mince) go further. 

Sneaking Vegetables into Meals

When it comes to sneaking vegetables into meals, the best way to do this is just by grating them. I use the coarser thicker grating side rather than the really fine side, as I just find the texture is better. Finely chopping or pulsing in a food processor is another great way to add some vegetables into a meal, especially things like chilli or bolognese. 

Just be sure to squeeze all excess moisture from the vegetables once you have grated them, otherwise, it will make your meat mixture too wet and the meatballs will not hold together. 

Can I use different ground meat (mince)?

Sure, if you don't want to use beef or have some other mince on hand, then either chicken, turkey or pork mince will work perfectly for these meatballs too. 

I often use chicken or turkey mince as it's generally a much leaner option. So got for what you prefer.

Cooking meatballs for sauces

When it comes to cooking the meatballs, I usually like to part cook them in the oven, just to lightly brown them, this helps them firm up to ensure they hold together in your sauce, especially as we are not using breadcrumbs.

Skipping this stage can sometimes result in the meatballs just falling apart in the sauce and that's you want meatballs right? not ground meat in sauce. 

Sides for these Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs

Whenever we have any kind of Asian inspired meatballs, you can pretty much guarantee rice will be a must for aside, it's just a great way to mop up all that sauce and Jasmine rice is our favourite. It's slightly sticky and is just perfect for any dish like this.

If you struggle to cook perfect rice, remember my simple method of 2 parts liquid to 1 part rice. So for example, for 1 cup of rice you want two cups of liquid. Rinse your rice first, add to a pan with the liquid, bring to a boil and simmer until the liquid is pretty much all absorbed, turned off the heat, add a lid and leave for about 12-15 minutes, you will have perfectly cooked rice every time. Just remember to not be tempted to stir the rice in the cooking time. 

Along with rice with always go for some additional vegetables and for this we like stir fried broccoli florets, sliced red bell pepper, sliced spring onions and some edamame beans. You can cook these in spray oil or use a little sesame oil for flavour and don't forget seasoning (salt and black pepper is a must).

More Meatball Recipes

Love meatballs? Check out some of these other recipes:

• SWEET CHILLI CHICKEN MEATBALLS (OVEN OR ACTIFRY)
• SLOW COOKER ITALIAN CHICKEN MEATBALLS
• CHICKEN AND MANGO MEATBALLS WITH A SPICY MANGO SAUCE
• PORK MEATBALLS WITH SPICY PINEAPPLE SAUCE
• CRANBERRY ALMOND CHICKEN MEATBALLS
• LAMB AND MINT MEATBALLS IN A SWEET AND SPICY SAUCE
• SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

or head on over to my Full Recipe Index with over 900 delicious Slimming Eats and Weight Watchers friendly recipes all fully searchable by meal type, ingredients etc

LET'S CONNECT!

Find me ON FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER | and YOUTUBE, come and follow me TO MAKE SURE YOU KEEP UP TO DATE ON ALL NEW RECIPES.

You can also subscribe to Slimming Eats so that you never miss any new updates.

IF YOU TRY THIS RECIPE, LET US KNOW! LEAVE A COMMENT, RATE IT AND  TAG US IN YOUR PHOTOS @SLIMMINGEATS ON INSTAGRAM

See the handy Pinterest image below if you wish to pin this for later 😊

Continue to Content

Recipe Card

Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs - you will love these tender juicy meatballs with hidden vegetables in a flavour-packed sauce. 

Print

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

• 455g (1lb) of extra lean ground beef (beef mince)
• 100g of grated carrot, squeeze out excess moisture
• 100g of grated zucchini, squeeze out excess moisture
• ½ teaspoon of ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon of garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon of onion powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg, beaten

For the Sauce

• 1 cup (240ml) Passata,
• 1 cup (240ml) of water
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger root
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoon of maple syrup (or can use honey)

To Serve

• 2 chopped spring onions
• pinch of sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200c/180c FAN/400f or (gas mark 6)
2. Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs into a bowl.
3. Form into meatballs (I made 12 biggish ones - so 3 per person)
4. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 15 mins.
5. Add the ingredients to a deep frying pan, whisk to fully combine and then bring to a boil, once sauce has come to a boil reduce heat to medium (sauce should still bubble slightly), drop in the meatballs, spooning over the top of the meatballs some of the sauce and continue to heat until sauce has reduced down into a thick sauce and the meatballs are cooked through. (Should take no more than 10 minutes, if it is taking too long to reduce down, you heat is too low).
6. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions (I also add a pinch of sesame seeds but this is optional.
7. Serve with your choice of sides and enjoy!!

Notes

Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:

• Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
• WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs -   due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values. 

If you wish to share this recipe, then please do so by using the share buttons provided at top of this post.

DO NOT COPY AND/OR PASTE FULL RECIPES OR SCREENSHOTS OF ANY CONTENT FROM SLIMMING EATS TO ANY SOCIAL MEDIA OR WEBSITE, IT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

ALL IMAGES AND CONTENT ON SLIMMING EATS ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED

Nutritional information etc are an estimate and are to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary in values from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. It is always advised that you calculate values yourself by the ingredients you use and the tools provided to you as a member of the programme you are following.

It is the responsibility of the Reader to assure the products or ingredients they use in any recipes from Slimming Eats are allergen-free (gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free and/or dairy-free, for example). Slimming Eats assumes no liability for inaccuracies or misstatement about products, opinions or comments on this site. 

Check Legal section, for Full Disclaimer, Disclosure and Privacy Policy.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  ZeZaZu Parchment Paper Sheets for Baking (100 Sheets), Precut 12 x 16 inches - Exact Fit for Half-Sheet Baking Pans, Unbleached, Dual-Sided Coating, Siliconized, Non-Stick, RECLOSABLE Pack
• 
  Baking Tray Set of 4, HaWare Stainless Steel Baking Sheet –Rimmed Pan Baking Sets -Healthy & Non Toxic, Easy Clean & Dishwasher Safe (Large Size)
• 
  Eono by Amazon - Set of Six Stainless Steel Nestling Mixing Bowls (Matte and Mirror Finish) …
• 
  TOMORAL Measuring Cups and Spoons  
• 
  ProCook Professional Anodised Non-Stick Saute Pan with Lid - 28cm - 4.2L - Induction Pan with Toughened Glass Lid and Heat-Resistant Handles

Nutrition Information

Serving Size 1 SERVING
Amount Per Serving Calories 258Total Fat 5.5gSaturated Fat 1.9gCholesterol 112mgSodium 918mgCarbohydrates 24.6gFiber 2.2gSugar 17.4gProtein 28.5g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram and tag me @slimmingeats