One Pan Idea: Roasted Meatballs with Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes
By: Roni | Posted in: Casserole Ideas, Dinner Ideas, Toddler Approved | 10 Comments
My dishwasher broke… AGAIN! Ugh. It’s a mess. I’ve had a guy out 6 times this year for a 2 year old appliance. Utterly ridiculous!
When you have no dishwasher you tend not to want to use a lot of dishes. Especially pots and pans. THAT was the motivation for last night’s dinner.
Is it be possible to roast a complete, light meal in one pan while making the entire family happy?
I’m happy to say… YES! At least my family, I’m not sure if this would work on the Brussel Sprout haters out there.
Anyway, we were getting ready to sit down to dinner. I didn’t say a word until someone asked, "What we were having?" "Roasted Brussels sprouts with sweet potato and meatballs" I said.
To which I got a, "humph."
We started eating and no one said a thing about the food. We were talking about soccer and school and going to the park. I looked around and noticed all but one meatball GONE from the Little Guy’s plate. The Husband was chomping away. I finally couldn’t take it anymore.
"SO? What do you think of dinner?"
"I LOVE It. Best dinner ever!" said the 6 year old. <–I’m not even exaggerating here. That’s a direct quote! lol
"It’s good but the meatballs are a little dry." said the husband.
"I like everything except the sweet potato." the 6 year old added.
"But you like Sweet Potatoes." I answered
"I do but not with the skin on."
Even with his complaint he ate a few bites of the potato, demolished 4 meatballs and ate all of his Brussels sprouts.
The Husband was right. The meatballs were dry, BUT tasty. Next time I’ll do things a little differently but I wanted to share the idea in hopes it sparks some for you.
Here’s what I did and what I’ll do differently next time…
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1-2 Sweet Potatoes cut in small chunks
- A bunch of Brussels sprouts cut in half
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 3 gloves of garlic diced
- 2 tbsp Bacon Bits
- Kosher Salt
- The Meat Balls
- 1/2 pound of Lean Ground Beef (8oz)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats (80g)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
In a large roasting pan add the olive oil, sweet potato, Brussels sprouts, onion, garlic and bacon bits. Toss then sprinkle with kosher salt. I cooked them with the meatballs right off the bat, but next time I will begin to roast the veggies while I make the meatballs. This will hopefully prevent the drying of the beef. I didn’t anticipate that the veggies would actually take longer than the meat.
So next time I will put the veggies in the oven and then start the meatballs.
Mix the beef, egg, oats, garlic powder, onion powder, Worcestershire Sauce, and parmesan cheese until well combined. Form into meatballs. I ended up with 15.
I roasted everything together last night for a total of 45 minutes, tossing 3 times. Next time I will roast the veggies for 1/2 hour, then add the meatballs and roast for an additional 15 or until the beef is done.
During cooking I sprinkled on a bit more Worcestershire
Sauce just to bring all the flavors together.
This is how everything looked steaming from the oven.
Since this is only an idea and not a completed recipe I don’t feel comfortable sharing nutritional information for the whole dish. I don’t know how many Brussels sprouts I started with and I didn’t measure out servings. However, I can tell you we ate it all except a few leftovers that when into somebody’s lunch this morning. I can’t WAIT to see what comes home!
I can also tell you the meatballs are about 50 calories each with 2g of fat, 4g of carbs, 1g of fiber, and 4g of protein. That’s 1 WWP each! New or old points! The rest of meal is veggies. How can you go wrong? Seriously?
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Oh I absolutely LOVE this idea! I’m one of those really picky people that doesn’t like one-dish meals or sauces, but this looks really delicious.
Sorry about your dishwasher. =(
The Husband doesn’t either so this was REALLY a win. :)
Woo this sounds great! Its too bad Jon hates “those green balls” Lol I’m sure I could sub Zuchini and asparagus though. Btw I made the sweet potato black bean chili, It was amazing, I Just wanted all the sweet potatoes lol.
I had a thought, I know you’re not the biggest baking fan but have you looked into French Macaroons? They are made with almond flour and endless flavor possibilities for the cookie pieces and fillings. I was thinking of trying them for Halloween and making a pumpkin spice cookie with candied sweet potato filling and drawing pumpkin faces on them. I’ve heard after the first 1-3 times you get pretty good at it and can easily make them.
Kelly – I tried them once… http://greenlitebites.com/2010/12/16/chocolate-almond-macaron-ish-halves/
Didn’t master it quite yet! lol
Roni,
Maybe if you sauteed some diced onion and then added it to the meatball mixture it would keep some of the moisture. I read that tip in Cooking Light for turkey burgers and it worked out really, really well for us. Maybe decreasing the oatmeal? Good looking meal though! Can I ask if you dipped your meatballs in Ketchup since I know you love it:)
That’s a good idea. I took the lazy way out with the spices. The oatmeal actually helps keep them moist when cooking them in liquid but roasting them, not so much. I do think just not overcooking them would work wonders!
Thanks for the tip!
Dear Genius Roni, my culinary hero:
Slam dunk!! This was sooo good & made the whole house smell great! I did the veggies for half an hour, then added the meat for fifteen & it was perfect. My meatballs were probably smaller than yours because I came out with 18, but they were all eaten up!! The only complaint was from one of my toddlers, who threw her Brussels sprouts on the floor. Other than that, I will be making this weekly!! So simple!!! Thank you!!!
I am so trying this.
Excellent!!! the family loved it!!!
Loved this dish! My husband is an extremely picky eater and he ate 2 helpings of this. This also made my house smell like I’ve been cooking all day. Love your recipes, they are delicious.