Bacon Wrapped Cheese Stuffed Meatballs Recipe
Bacon Wrapped Cheese Stuffed Meatballs
May 15, 2016 by Judith Hanneman Leave a Comment
How much better can a meatball get? Stuffed with sharp cheddar cheese and wrapped in yummy bacon! Very easy to make.
Here’s a meatball that’s just like a cheeseburger!
It all starts with lean ground beef and just a few spices. The meatballs themselves are tender and tasty. They are not dry for a couple of reasons–first of all, the bacon keeps them moist and the meat mixture uses soft breadcrumbs. Soft breadcrumbs are the key to a most and fluffy meatball or meat loaf. It’s a trick I learned years ago from my friend Joyce-Karen who picked the tip up years ago from a lady who worked in her high school cafeteria.
I used sharp cheddar here, but mozzarella would be a delicious substitute in these. It would give a rather appealing gooeyness to these meatballs.
Do I need to say anymore than b-a-c-o-n? Didn’t think so. You’d have to go far and wide to find someone who disliked bacon.
These meatballs are baked. I didn’t bother to secure the ends of the bacon because I sat them seam-side down on the rack I baked them on. You do need a rack here to let the bacon fat render out. You don’t want these sitting in that fat and essentially boiling.
These can be made smaller to be used as an appetizer. All you’d have to do is cut smaller cheese cubes and it would only require one strip of bacon–cut in half so you can double wrap the meatballs.
Bacon Wrapped Cheese Stuffed Meatballs Author: Judith Hannemann Serves: 4 Ingredients
1½ lbs lean ground beef 2 slices white bread, torn into small pieces (see NOTES) 2 tbs water 2 tbs finely chopped onion 1 tsp garlic powder ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper 1 egg 16 slices bacon (in UK it's streaky bacon--don't use thick cut) 8 - ½-inch cubes sharp cheddar cheese -OR- mozzarella Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and place a rack in the pan (I use a rack like you use to cool cookies) In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, torn bread, water, onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper and egg. Blend well. Divide meat into 8 equal portions. Form meatball around a cube of cheese. Wrap with one slice of bacon, then turn the meatball 90 degrees and wrap in another slice of bacon. Place meatballs, bacon seam-side down on the rack in the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until bacon is nicely browned and beginning to look crisp (the bacon won't crisp on the bottom, FYI). Notes The bread can be processed into crumbs in a food processor--just pulse about 2 times. 3.5.3208
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