These Baked Soy Sauce Meatballs are delicious and healthy! Recipe includes lettuce in the meatballs alongside ground beef, turkey and many herbs. They are perfect for serving over pasta or serving as finger food!
This is a meatball recipe full of flavor! It’s perfect for pasta and meatball subs!
With our big lettuce harvest, you might have heard me on Twitter exclaiming it was a Meatball Date in the kitchen! There’s Matthew, Me, 16 pounds of ground meat, dozens of eggs and a entire sink full of lettuce that was just washed. If that doesn’t sound like a romantic evening then I don’t know what is! So there we stood for the next few hours, in assembly line fashion, making meatballs! How many meatballs did we make? I’m glad you asked. We made 226 of them! After we made them, we divided them into bags for dinner and froze them. With this big lettuce harvest we were able to freeze over 25 dinner meals. Pasta and meatballs? Done! Meatball casserole? Done! Meatball subs? Done!
These meatballs are full of lettuce! Each batch of 30 meatballs calls for 4 cups chopped lettuce making it a great way to use up a ton of lettuce at once. Combined with the lettuce we’re throwing in a few tablespoons of soy sauce making them extra full of flavor. I don’t think I can go back to not adding soy sauce to meatballs now.. it makes them real special!
I hope you enjoy these Baked Lettuce Soy Sauce Meatballs!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cups chopped fresh lettuce
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 pinches of dried rosemary parsley and oregano
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan over medium high heat. Add lettuce, spices and soy sauce. Cook until your lettuce is wilted.
- Put lettuce mixture, garlic, beef, turkey, bread crumbs and eggs and pulse until it's combined. Depending on food processor size you might have to do 2 batches.
- Form this mixture into 1-2 inch balls.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick spray.
- Put meatballs on foil and cook 35-40 minutes or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees.
- Enjoy right away, or freeze for later.
Notes
Ashley says
Holy cow that is one awesome stash to have in your freezer! Slightly jealous : ) And these meatballs sound fantastic – I would have never thought to use lettuce in meatballs!
Consuelo - Honey & Figs says
Mmmm after seeing this, all that I want for dinner tomorrow are MEATBALLS! These sound utterly yummy, and the lettuce addition is such a clever idea!
Cindy @ Pick Fresh Foods says
Super delicious way to use up lots of that beautiful lettuce you have 😀 These sound super tasty!
lisaiscooking says
What a great use of your lettuce! I’m jealous of a big harvest like that. And, next time, I have to add soy sauce when making meatballs!
Jamie@Milk N Cookies says
Wow! 226 meatballs — you’ve got yourself set on dinner for quite some time, my friend! This is a great way to sneak some veggies into meatballs — what a great idea. And I’ve never tried adding soy sauce, but that sounds like it would add an extra kick. I can’t wait to try it!
Shashi says
Lettuce in meatballs??? Girl – how do you come up with this brilliant idea???
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
What a healthy and delicious meatball recipe! I have never thought of adding lettuce to the meatballs or patties…now I must give them a try as these have turned out great!
Anna Johnston says
What a brilliant idea…. I would never have thought to add lettuce to meatballs, actually I wouldn’t really add meatballs to any cooked dish. Turns out I’ve been missing things. Thanks for the eye opener. Happy Friday. 🙂
Sues says
I am ALWAYS in the mood for meatballs and these look super unique and delicious!
Denise | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Um, 16 pounds of ground meat is kind of crazy! Sounds like you guys are set in case of a zombie apocalypse 🙂 These meatballs look so delish, and who would have thought: lettuce? I never would have!
Kelly says
This is such a great idea to use lettuce in meatballs! They look awesome and the big batch sounds perfect for storing leftovers in the freezer 🙂
Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic says
That’s a lot of meatballs! Sounds delicious. I’ve never tried adding soy sauce but now I will!
Norma | Allspice and Nutmeg says
Vegetables and protein in a neat little package. Love it.
Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe says
I am so envious of your meatball stash! Sounds like you’ll be eating well over the next while. I’m also really intrigued by the lettuce in these – I never would have thought to put lettuce in meatballs!
Bren says
This looks really interesting … I’m curious to give this recipe a try. Thanks for sharing Pamela.
Lindsey @ American Heritage Cooking says
That sounds like a the perfect date night to me!! I’ve never seen anyone put lettuce inside their meatballs. It sounds delicious and like a healthy way to cut down on the meat! Pinned!
Nora (A Clean Bake) says
This is such a creative way to use lettuce!
cheri says
How clever Pamela, adding lettuce to the meatballs is a great idea. I just started adding lettuce to soups and it is delicious. Will have to try this.
ela@GrayApron says
Good job, they look nice and firm!
ela h.