Amazing Baked Meatballs cooked in homemade French Onion Sauce for stronger flavor. These meatballs a juicy and packed with great flavor.
Funny story about these meatballs. I was torn naming this dish all day. I’ve actually called them “meatloaf muffins” and “meatballs” interchangeably. The idea was to make them look like little muffins but they cooked down and looked like adorable meatballs without retaining muffin cup shape. I went back and forth and decided that it really didn’t matter because they are so delicious!
In reality, this is my recipe for meatloaf but I feel like people will look at them and say, “but they look round, so they must be meatballs.” So call them whatever you want, but make sure to make them because you WILL love it!
French Onion Baked Meatballs
Ingredients
- Meatballs:
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 2 gloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh minced dill
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh minced parsley
- Salt pepper
- French Onion Sauce:
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Large Vidalia onion
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 1 2/3 cups beef stock
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup red wine (preferably Merlot)
- Salt
- 1/2 tsp dry thyme
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan.
- Combine all ingredients for meatballs in a bowl. Mix very well until all ingredients are incorporated. Set aside.
- Heat up oil in a cooking pan, over medium heat. Add sliced onions and sugar to the pan and saute until transparent stirring occasionally.
- Stir in minced garlic, red wine and tomato paste, saute for a couple of minutes.
- Sprinkle the mixture with flour and mix well.
- Slowly add beef stock, while stirring the whole time.
- Add salt and thyme and simmer for 5-7 more minutes.
- Scoop about a tablespoon of French onion sauce (with some onions) in each muffin cup.
- Scoop about 1/3 cup of meatball mixture and roll it into a big ball. Place meatball in the muffin cup, it should fit snugly. Repeat with remaining meat mixture.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Top off with remaining French Onion sauce, dividing it equally among the muffin cups.
Notes
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Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
The meatballs look wonderful. I’ve been like you — trying to find the perfect name for a dish and fretting more about the name than having to write it up 🙂 I’ve seen pictures in a magazine whereby they actually did stay in the shape of a muffin – they must have piled it higher in the center. Your photos capture the essence of the dish — I can smell the wonderful aroma. Perfetto!!
lyuba says
I think because there are some onions at the bottom, the shape didn’t retain. But they were too tasty to care 🙂
Thank you so much, Marisa!
Theresa @DearCreatives says
These all look so delicious!
lyuba says
Thank you so much, Theresa!
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel says
Oh my, these look so good! Who doesn’t love French onion soup!? This sounds like a killer combo!
lyuba says
It really is! Thank you, Jess 🙂 !
Jen Storment says
These were delicious! The onion soup was a little sweet for my taste so I added a bit more beef broth, but otherwise it was perfect. It seemed strange adding mustard to the meatballs, but they were perfect. Yum!
lyuba says
Wonderful, So happy to hear it!
I’m so glad you liked my recipe 🙂
Mandy says
These look sooo delicious!!!
lyuba says
Thank you so much, Mandy!
Ernest Contreras says
Your recipes are very home style and I am a big fan of meatball dishes , yours look great, as a professional I do not get much chance to cook at home but will soon since retirement is near. but I am going to do these recipes, your a credit to the profession and one good cook. I will be browsing your blog often I really enjoy it.
Chef Ernest
lyuba says
That is SO nice of you, Chef Ernest! Thank you!! I hope you like everything you will get to try and hope you enjoy the retirement!
Karen Flamard says
These meatballs are seriously yummy!!
lyuba says
I’m so glad you liked them! I’m happy to hear that 🙂
JB says
Could you use something other than wine?
lyuba says
Hi there!
You can substitute something, but it won’t taste the same of course. If you are worried about alcohol content, it does get cooked out. I understand if you don’t want feel comfortable using alcohol thought, you can read this article on some substitution options: http://www.thekitchn.com/simple-nonalcoholic-substitutes-for-red-and-white-wine-tips-from-the-kitchn-184394
I hope it works for you!
Janet Bradley says
Really dumb question. Can’t wait to make these, but what would you serve them with??? Would they stay together if put into a casserole dish and cooked that way with the sauce poured over them before cooking?
LyubaB says
Hi Janet,
It should be fine to cook them in the casserole dish but these are kind of like mini meatloaves and I made them larger so you can use a smaller scoop number like a #40 cookie scoop to make them 1-2inch meatballs and cook them that way and it will be fine to put the sauce over it. I think mash potatoes go well with it and any of your favorite veggies as well. I hope you enjoy it!