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One of the most popular recipes from my blog is this Whole30 Mongolian Beef. It’s been around forever, and you guys just can’t get enough of it. Another thing that *everyone* loves is MEATBALLS. So when I had some ground beef the other night in my fridge but was craving Mongolian Beef I thought, let’s make Mongolian Beef Meatballs. Great decision.
With this recipe, everything is done right in your oven to help make for an easier clean up and less brain work. The end result is a delightful new savory meatball recipe that will scratch the itch for your take-out chinese cravings in a fun, new Whole30 way. I love that these meatballs can be served for dinner (alongside some rice, cauliflower rice, sauteed veggies, or roasted veggies) OR they could make for a super fun appetizer at a party! I’ll leave that up to you.
I get my grass-fed, grass-finished beef products from ButcherBox, which you an learn more about here. Right now, ButcherBox is proud to offer the Defined Dish community ground beef for life + $20 off your first order! All new members will receive 2 pounds of pasture-raised, 100% grass-fed and grass-finished ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription. Ground beef is always great to have on-hand in your freezer for last-minute meals, so take advantage of this great offer. Ground Beef for life ends on 3/29/2020, but you can always click the link for the most up-to-date offer.
Baked Mongolian Beef Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 lbs. ground beef 85% lean
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos I like Big Tree Farms Brand
- 2 tbsp arrowroot flour
- 1/2 tsp finely and freshly grated ginger about 1/2 inch knob of ginger, peeled
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper black pepper is okay, too
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion white and light green parts only
For the Sauce:
- 1.5 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 3 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp red boat fish sauce
- 2 tsp arrowroot flour
- 1/4 cup beef broth
- 1 tbsp ketchup I use Primal Kitchen unsweetened
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper [or more if you like it hot] optional, for spicy
For Serving:
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1/4 thinly sliced green onions green part only
Instructions
Make the Meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and drizzle oil in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, place the ground beef, egg, coconut aminos, arrowroot, ginger, garlic, salt, pepper and green onion. Using your hands, mix until the meat is just combined (try not to overwork the meat and over mix here).
- Roll into 1.5 inch round meatballs and place in the prepared baking dish. Bake in the oven until cooked through and lightly browned on the edges, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the sauce:
- In a small bowl, combine all of the 'for the sauce' ingredients and whisk until well combined. Set aside until the meatballs are done.
Finish the Meatballs:
- When the meatballs are browned and cooked through, remove them from the oven (but keep the oven on). Using tongs, carefully transfer the cooked meatballs to a paper towel lined plate. Discard the excess fat in the bottom of the baking dish and using a paper towel, gently wipe down the inside of the dish.
- Place the cooked meatballs back into the dish and pour sauce over the meatballs. Transfer back into the oven and cook until the sauce has thickened, about 8 minutes.
- Remove from oven and transfer meatballs to a serving plate. Spoon sauce over the meatballs and then garnish with sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How many carbs. Please list your nutritional contents on your recipes.
Now that we have Sidedish, would the creamy sesame sauce work vs the scratch sauce? How would they compare?
Love how you’re thinking! I’d recommend this recipe using with SideDish Creamy Sesame: https://getsidedish.com/blogs/recipes/creamy-sesame-meatballs
If were serving these for a cocktail party could I make the meatballs a day ahead, then make the sauce the following day and add to meatballs in a crockpot and set on warm after I thicken sauce on the stovetop? Looking for an easy way to serve while not trashing my kitchen hours before the party 🙂
Yes, that should work great and would be such a fun way to serve a crowd!
Absolutely amazing, one of her bests! I heated up the sauce in a sauce pan and it congealed and thicken nicely. Then I put it on top of the meatballs. So delicious.
These are absolutely incredible Alex! I have both the books but was looking for a recipe and it’s in pretty heavy rotation now. Even my daughter that doesn’t like beef loves these. Love it! 100/10 recommend.
Can I substitute tomato paste for the Ketchup?
yes that should be okay– just keep in mind it’s a little thicker– so you may need to loosen up the sauce a bit.
How many meatballs does this make?
Sooo good! We made half the amount of meatballs with the same sauce portions for the 2lbs of beef. Instead of pouring the sauce over the meatballs and putting back into the oven, we did that part on the stove top and let the sauce thicken. Definitely will be making again!!
My husband and I love these. He’s on a strict low Fodmap diet and all I had to do was eliminate the garlic from the recipe to make it work. It still SLAPS without the garlic. We also love the Mongolian Chicken and Beef recipes but find the meatballs to be easier since we don’t have a large pan to fry up all the meat.
Ugh, I hate giving any Defined Dish recipe less than four or five stars but these just didn’t hit the mark. I opted to pick this for dinner based on reviews so I felt I owed it to add mine.
I cooked them exactly as instructed. They worked out fine as far as texture and preparation go but my fiancé and I both agree they won’t be in our rotation. The sauce tastes amazing but once it cooked with the meatball it kind of disappeared. The sauce lost the flavor punch and all you really tasted was the ground beef.
We are fortunate to have lots of other Defined Dish recipes that exceed our expectations and pack the flavor punch (Thai basil beef, epic meatballs and pepper chicken are favs) so always willing to give Alex’s recipes a try!
I’ve tried it with ground turkey also and the flavor is much more obvious! I think I actually prefer it with turkey over beef, even though we love beef. I’d recommend turkey before signing it off the rotation!