The first time I made these meatballs for my family they became an instant family favorite. They are SO good! And the house smells wonderful while they cook. My daughter especially loves these. She loves them so much I have considered making a batch just to freeze them, so I will always have some on hand for her.
BBQ Meatballs come to us courtesy of The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. I first ran across this recipe on her website, and then was pleased to find them in her cookbook (under the name “Comfort Meatballs”).
The original recipe uses 1½ pounds of ground beef, but I have adjusted the proportions to use just one pound of meat. I’ve done this for two reasons: 1) we bulk buy our beef a quarter cow at a time and the ground beef comes frozen in one pound packages; and 2) one pound is more than enough to feed my family of three.
The recipe below uses my adjusted amounts. You can find the original recipe here, or in the cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
BBQ Meatballs
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Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (I have also used regular rolled oats with no problem)
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons finely minced onion
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- ½ cup flour
Sauce
- 2/3 cup ketchup
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 4 tablespoons finely minced onion
- Dash of Tabasco
In a bowl, combine the ground beef, oats, milk, 2 T. minced onion, and salt. Add black pepper to taste. Stir well to combine.
I never make meatballs without my cookie dough scoop!
Form the mixture into tablespoon-sized balls and place on a baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 – 45 minutes, or freeze for 5 – 10 minutes, to firm them up and make them easier to work with.
Preheat oven to 350°. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the flour on a plate (I like using a pie dish) and dredge the meatballs in the flour. Brown the meatballs in the skillet until lightly browned. You will have to do this in batches. Place the browned meatballs in a 7×11″ baking dish.
Stir together the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl. Spoon the sauce evenly over the meatballs. Bake for 45 minutes and serve.
Serves 4
From Scratch 
Okay – TOO funny! I made these last night for the 1st time myself (only had 1lb of meat as well – so I just upped the oatmeal content to compensate;) – and they were very tasty! I did leave out the Tabasco sauce as the girls in this family aren’t very partial to “spicy/hot” tastes. Went with the mashed potato option – (sweet potatoes for us gals – regular for the guys).
What kind of potatoes did you serve?
That’s so funny! I usually put in just the tiniest dash of Tabasco and that seems to be OK. The other night I served them with a mix of sliced regular and sweet potatoes that were baked in a casserole, but I usually serve them with mashed potatoes. I bet they were good with mashed sweet potatoes – I will have to try that next time!