Sunday, December 26, 2021

Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Food Lust People Love: These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Way back in June of this year, my fellow Sunday FunDay bloggers and I were sharing burger recipes and I was particularly intrigued by the pepperoni pizza burger my friend Wendy made. She stuffed the actual burger patty with pepperoni and mozzarella then added pizza sauce as a condiment. She topped it with cooked onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Doesn’t that sound delicious? You can find her original recipe here: Wendy’s Stuffed Pizza Burgers.

For my meatball version, I seasoned the ground beef with Italian seasonings and added anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes to the mix, then stuffed them with pepperoni and little fresh mozzarella balls called ciliegine. So good, guys! Perfect as an appetizer for your New Year’s Eve party.

Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

My package of ground beef happened to weigh 1.66 lbs, which I know is a random weight. If yours is a little bigger or just a bit smaller, it won’t matter. Honestly. 

Ingredients
1.66 lbs or 753.96 80/20 ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1/4 medium onion
6 anchovies in oil, drained
1 egg
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian herb mix 
fine sea salt, if necessary
1 1/2 oz or 42g sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)
Pepperoni
12-13 ciliegine mozzarella balls

Optional for garnish: small and/or sliced basil leaves

Method
Blend the garlic, onion, anchovies and egg until smooth. (I use a hand blender.) 

Put the beef in a large mixing bowl and give it a few generous grinds of the black pepper and sprinkle on the Italian herb mix.  

Adding in the Italian seasonings

Use a wooden spoon or your clean hands to mix the blended ingredients thoroughly into the beef along with the seasonings.

Fry a heaped teaspoon of the meat mixture in a small pan and taste for salt. Add a little, if needed. We’ve been trying to watch our salt intake so if I’ve added something salty like anchovies, this is a good way to see if the meat really needs more salt. 

Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes with a sharp knife or a small food processor and mix them in with beef. 

Adding in the sun-dried tomatoes

Use a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop to divide the meat into portions. Use your clean hands to divide the portions into two and make a well in each. 

Scooping the meat mixture into balls

Tuck a slice of pepperoni and one ciliegine mozzarella ball between the halves.

Stuffing the balls with the pepperoni and mozzarella

Roll them into a meatball. Place on a baking tray and continue the process until all the meatballs are formed. Chill until ready to bake. 

The stuffed meatballs!

To bake the meatballs, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. 

Bake the meatballs for 22-28 minutes or until they are well-browned and cooked through. 

The cooked stuffed meatballs!

Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Garnish with basil, if desired. 

These can be served immediately as an appetizer or simmered in your favorite spaghetti sauce to serve with pasta. See mine here with my eggplant Parmigiana recipe

Food Lust People Love: These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Enjoy! 

The stuffed meatballs again!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for New Year’s Eve. People have different traditions so I was interested to see what my fellow bloggers came up with. In my family, we usually just do appetizers, no big meal. Check out all the lovely dishes below! Happy New Year, everyone! 


We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs!

Food Lust People Love: These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

 . 

No comments :

Post a Comment

Where in the world are you? Leave me a comment! It makes me happy to know you are out there.