{"id":30860,"date":"2020-06-03T18:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T23:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slimmingeats.com\/blog\/?p=30860"},"modified":"2025-09-04T16:46:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T21:46:26","slug":"saucy-asian-hidden-vegetable-beef-meatballs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slimmingeats.com\/blog\/saucy-asian-hidden-vegetable-beef-meatballs","title":{"rendered":"Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs - you will love these tender juicy meatballs with hidden vegetables in a flavour-packed sauce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sneaking Vegetables into Meals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can I use different ground meat (mince)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I often use chicken or turkey mince as it's generally a much leaner option. So got for what you prefer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooking meatballs for sauces<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sides for these Saucy Asian Hidden Vegetable Beef Meatballs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More Meatball Recipes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Love meatballs? Check out some of these other recipes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n