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.
My 6yr old ad 2 yr old loved this paired with your marinara sauce – only way I’ve been able to get my daughter (2) to eat mince. They both love this combo with pasta and great for freezing for quick, but healthy meal in the evening. Thanks.
Thank you for letting me know, I’m so happy to hear that!
Made these today and they turned out great! I didn’t have Italian breadcrumbs so I made my own using plain breadcrumbs and herbs/spices. These are so tasty, they are great for the whole family. Thanx for the recipe!
I’m so glad and thank you for letting me know!
Not just for toddlers, these meatballs were delicious! I doubled the batch and after baking, froze these for when my 14-month old starts up daycare in a few weeks.
could i substitute the breadcrumbs with oats?
I haven’t tried that but it may work. Maybe use instant oats or grind up your oats a little in a food processor or blender so the consistency is more similar to breadcrumbs?
Just following up to let everyone know the rolled oats (thrown in food processor) was successful! 🙂 thank you’! My toddler and my friends baby LOVED these!
can I use 1/2 ground pork 1/2 ground beef?
Yes, though they may have more fat come off due to the pork so just set them onto a paper towel lined plate once they come out of the oven (if you want!)
Love your posts on instagram!
What could I subtitute for the parmesean? Just some dairy free cheese?
You could leave it out or try it with DF cheese. I haven’t tried that, but use one that you like the flavor of if you do.
hi! can i replace a vegetable on the list for Spinach?…
You can certainly try that. I’d chop it very finely and maybe add 1/2 cup lightly packed or so.
Wow this is an amazing recipe! It was very easy to follow and my 16 month-old loves it! I’ve been looking for ways to incorporate beef into his diet and this is definitely a keeper! Even I enjoyed them 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad to hear that!
Great recipe, my toddler loves these! Do you need to put the mince through the processor, or could I just mix in the mince? Ta
Either way should work just fine!
Can you make these without the egg due to allergies
I haven’t tried it but I bet they would. Maybe half the carrots to start with and see if the batter holds together well before adding more in.
Do I need to cook the carrots first?
Nope!
Delicious! Made them for my toddler and 8 month old and they both loved them! Thank you for this!
Can I make these without using carrots only onion will it taste the same
It won’t taste exactly the same but they will still be good!
My grandson loves these! I’ve made with turkey instead of beef and broccoli instead of carrots too! Can I use fresh cilantro instead of parsley?
I’m so glad! You could use cilantro but it will have a much stronger flavor so I’d only do that if you know he likes it.
Hi There!
How do you recommend reheating? For both fridge stored and frozen stored?
Hi! From the fridge, you can simply warm through in the microwave or in a pot of sauce. From frozen, you can thaw overnight in the fridge and warm through in the microwave or in a pot of tomato sauce. OR, you can put frozen meatballs into a pot of tomato sauce and simmer until thawed and warmed.