With three kinds of veggies and the texture and flavor your kids expect, this Healthy Meatball recipe is a perfect family dinner option. And since the baked meatballs taste so good, the kids will be happy when you tuck one onto their plates! (Bonus: These freeze well, too.)
Healthy Meatball Recipe
While I’m all for continuing to expose our kids to a variety of foods, there are times when tucking veggies into foods they already love—like meatballs—can be a big help. Plus, it’s an easy way to add flavor and tenderness to these meatballs, which my whole family loves.
And I love that we all get an extra serving of vegetables in these toddler meatballs in the process!
These are delicious on their own, simmered in easy Marinara Sauce, and/or paired with a favorite pasta. We also sometimes eat them plain, we love them so much.
(You can find more Hidden Veggie Recipes, plus my Baked Chicken Meatballs and favorite toddler pasta recipes.)
Table of Contents
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Ingredients You Need
To make this recipe you’ll need:
- Carrots, parsley, and onion: These add flavor and nutrients to the meatballs.
- Ground beef: I like grass-fed beef for the extra healthy fats and since it tends to be leaner, but any type will do.
- Bread crumbs: Plain or Italian-flavored bread crumbs work well here.
- Egg: This helps the meatballs hold together.
- Milk: A little milk adds moisture to help the batter stay moist and delicious.
- Grated Parmesan
- Salt: Optional to taste.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s a look at the process involved in making these easy meatballs so you know what to expect. Scroll down to the end of the post for the full amounts and times.
- Preheat the oven and gather your ingredients. Add the veggies to the food processor.
- Grind up the veggies.
- Add the remaining ingredients and grind to combine into a smooth mixture.
- Portion into 2-tablespoon size meatballs and place on the baking sheet. Bake!
Once cooked, you can drain on a paper towel-lined plate if desired, and simmer in marinara sauce or just leave plain.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe comes together easily in a food processor to ensure that the batter is uniform and comes together without fuss. Yes, you have to wash the food processor, but the evenly chopped meat and veggie mixture is well worth that minimal effort. (And you can always stick it into the dishwasher!)
With three kinds of veggies, lean ground beef, and a method that allows you to easily drain off any excess fat, these are a healthy meatball recipe to share with the whole family.
Sure! You can make these with just 1 tablespoon of the mixture and reduce the cooking time to closer to about 18-22 minutes.
Ground Turkey Meatballs
If you want to make your toddler turkey baby meatballs, simply swap in ground turkey for the ground beef in the recipe below. The texture and flavor will be similar, and the meatballs will have a slightly lighter final color. You may need to reduce the cooking time slightly.
Aim for an internal temperature of 165 degrees and try not to overcook.
This is a great ground beef recipe for toddlers and kids since it’s very soft and easy to eat, even for babies and younger toddlers.
Make-Ahead Meatballs
You can make a batch of these baked meatballs ahead of time, let cool fully, and freeze in a zip-top freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or simmer in a quart of marinara sauce in a large pot until thawed and warmed through.
They’re a great recipe to make a double batch—serve one batch for dinner this week and stash the other into the freezer for a future easy meal!
Find more of my favorite Freezer Meals to help make life a little easier.
Baked Meatballs for Baby-Led Weaning
Meatballs with hidden vegetables are an excellent food for starting solids with baby-led weaning. You can offer small cubes or mash into marinara or tomato sauce and offer on a preloaded spoon. Your baby will get iron, as well as protein and fiber. And lots of flavor they will love!
These meatballs have vitamins A and C from the carrots and parsley, as well as fiber and protein.
How to Store
To store, let cool fully and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Best Tips for Success
- Grind the veggies up before you add the rest of the ingredients to make sure they are all uniform in size. This is key. You’re aiming for the veggies to have a similar consistency as the ground meat.
- Resist the urge to add in more veggies. There is over a cup of veggies in this recipe, which is enough to add extra nutrients, yet you honestly can’t tell. If you add more, the texture won’t be as good.
- Serve them with a sauce your family likes, whether that’s my Hidden Veggie Pasta Sauce, meat sauce, or even ketchup.
- Simmer them in easy marinara sauce for even more tender and flavorful meatballs, just like grandma would have done! (Or at least, my grandma would have done, but you don’t have to.)
- Even though there are vegetables tucked into this recipe, I still recommend being honest with your kids about what they’re eating. Make them together, be excited about their dinner, and share the good news!
- To make these gluten-free, simply use GF bread crumbs or even cornmeal.
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe, so please comment below!
Healthy Meatballs (with Hidden Vegetables)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup carrots, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup parsley leaves, lightly packed
- 1 small onion, peeled and halved
- 1/2 cup Italian-flavored bread crumbs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Coat with nonstick spray. Place the carrots, parsley, and onion into a food processor. Grind well, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the remaining ingredients and grind to combine into a smooth mixture. Portion into 2-tablespoon-size meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with warm marinara sauce and pasta (or ketchup and other simple sides!) as desired.
Video
Notes
- To store, let cool fully and store in an airtight container in the fridge or up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Grind the veggies up before you add the rest of the ingredients to make sure they are all uniform in size. This is key. You’re aiming for the veggies to have a similar consistency as the ground meat.
- Resist the urge to add in more veggies. There is over a cup of veggies in this recipe, which is enough to add extra nutrients, yet you honestly can’t tell.
- Serve them with a sauce your family likes, whether that’s marinara, meat sauce, or even ketchup.
- Simmer them in marinara sauce for even more tender and flavorful meatballs.
- Even though there are vegetables tucked into this recipe, I still recommend being honest with your kids about what they’re eating. Let them take a bite, be excited about their dinner, and then share the good news!
- To make these gluten-free, simply use GF bread crumbs (these are really good) or even cornmeal.
- Serve them diced or mashed to younger toddlers and babies as needed.
- Sub in ground turkey if desired.
Nutrition
This post was first published November 2017.
Could these be made without a good processor?? I have a blender…..
If you chopped the vegetables very, very finely (like a mince) you could give it a try! You might be able to chop the veggies finely in your blender on a low to medium speed depending on which kind you have.
We have just had these for supper and they were delicious. I didn’t have an egg so reduced the amount of breadcrumbs and they held together nicely. I added some dried herbs and a touch of cumin. My toddler and husband loved them.
I’m so glad to hear that!
I’m about to try this but would just like to ask out of curiosity, is the milk necessary ? Does it provide flavour or help the mixture in any way? Are milk alternatives a good replacement? Or if allergies are a problem do we just leave it out completely?
You could try leaving it out completely. If it seems a little dry, add 1-2 tbsp water.
These meatballs are FIRE!!! Super stupid good… crazy tasty… freakin good! I didnt have fresh parsley, so I added a bunch of dried instead and. they. were. SO BOMB! My 17 month old girl didnt like them, but dude…. I’ll make these for myself once a week! Heavy rotation! ?????????
Hooray!! (And hopefully your girl will pick up on your enthusiasm and learn to love them too!)
Can I substitute spinach instead of Parsley?
That should work fine!
Can I leave the egg out? My baby has a sensitivity to eggs. What could I use as a substitute ?
I haven’t tried them without egg but you could leave it out and reduce the breadcrumbs by maybe about half, or replace the egg with 1/4 cup mashed roasted sweet potato. I think both of those options should work okay. Please let me know if you try it!
I made this recipe tonight and they turned out great, exactly as written.
I have now made several of your recipes for my picky three year old, and I am so excited at how wonderful they all have been.
Before I had my son, I was obsessed with cooking and fancy, involved recipes – things that haven’t really fit into my lifestyle post-baby. Your recipes have made me excited about cooking again – they are relatively quick, use simple, healthy ingredients, and I have enjoyed them just as much as my son has.
Thank you so much for bringing joy back into my kitchen!
I’m so, so happy to hear that!
Will this work with pork mince? Also do we grind up the ingredients to a paste?
I haven’t tried it with all pork and I worry that they would be very soft since pork tends to have more fat. Maybe try it with half pork and half beef first? And yes, you do basically grind the veggies up—not quite paste like, but fairly close.
These are great, my 21 month old LOVES them and we eat them too. He won’t eat carrots otherwise. So easy, I made a big batch and froze them. Heated them up in the toaster oven when needed. Going to try making them with spinach today, we’ll see if it works!
These are so delicious! Forget kid friendly, I’d eat these all day!
I’m so glad!
Made this for my picky toddler and omg they are soo good. My whole family loves them!
I’m so glad!
You say not to use vegetables with strong flavours, then you add onions! My children and I absolutely hate onions, and can find even the smallest onion in anything. Almost everyone says that you can’t taste them but you can!
So interesting! To me, onions are mild when cooked but something like kale would have a strong green flavor. Proof that we’re all unique!
A thank you should suffice. These detailed creative recipes are free. Your attitude is not necessary. Sorry you don’t like onions. 1st world problem. Ever been hungry? Im certain you woulf have a more grateful heart in a state of hunger and teach your kids gratitude towards food also.
I made these tonight to have with my Dad’s famous spaghetti sauce. Not only did my 15 month old love them, so did my whole family! Nobody knew about the carrots u til I mentioned it 😉
What are the baking instructions from frozen?
Hooray!!! I’m so glad to hear that they were such a success. You can either simmer frozen meatballs in a pot of sauce on medium-low until warmed through or thaw overnight in the fridge and then warm through in the microwave in 30 second increments.
Great recipe! My toddler and husband both loved them!
Hooray! Thanks so much for letting me know!
Could I use almond meal with italian seasoning instead of breadcrumbs?
I would think that would work/taste fine though I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure! Please let me know if you do try it!