Crockpot ✔️ Grass-fed beef ✔️Mozzarella, dairy-free or regular ✔️ - Then you are ready to make these slow-cooked mozzarella stuffed meatballs!
Amanda and I first made this recipe in 2016. It was one of the first recipes we made for The Sunday Cookbook, a tradition we had to always cook something new and allergy-friendly every Sunday to share with our parents. Depending on whose house we were at that week all decided on the type of dish we would be making. We happened to be at my parents' house when this one was created.
I grew up in a family that treated Sunday dinners like a holiday gathering. We would all go to my grandmother's house and have a three-course Italian dinner, one of those courses being spaghetti and meatballs. My grandma Annie's meatball recipe is untouchable. Seriously! No matter who tries to make them can never perfect how well hers would come out.
Knowing my family has a high standard when it comes to meatballs, I felt the pressure was on when making this recipe. The first time we made this, we paired the meatballs with spinach lasagna roll-ups. The two items were a hit with my parents, which was a huge relief!
Nearly six years later, we bring back the recipe, with a couple of changes to cater to Amanda's latest food allergies, and simply paired with a bowl of spaghetti.
The Sunday Cookbook's
Slow Cooked Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
Ingredients
1 pound TruBeef grass-fed ground beef
1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup gluten-free bread crumbs
¼ cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons Nutritional Yeast or parmesan cheese
1 Vital Farms eggs
Splash of dairy-free milk
Mozzarella or dairy-free mozzarella cheese of your choosing cut in ¾ inch cubes
Directions
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, except the mozzarella cubes, and combine with your hands or a wooden spoon until everything is evenly disturbed.
Coat the bottom of the slow cooker with a layer of tomato or no-mato sauce.
Scoop out a spoonful of meat and flatten it out with the palm of your hand. You can put some oil on your hands to prevent the meat from sticking to you. Add a mozzarella cube at the center and pull the edges of the meatball around it, forming a golf ball-sized ball. Place in the slow cooker and repeat until you are out of meat.
Once the meatballs are all arranged at the bottom of the slow cooker, top them with more sauce before closing the lid.
Cook on high for 2 to 2.5 hours.
