Lamb Meatballs with Caramelized Onions
This sweet and savory flavor combination will have your family coming back for seconds every time. The lamb meatballs are seasoned with baharat, a Middle Eastern spice blend then finished in a caramelized onion sauce. Serve over rice, hummus or vermicelli.
Servings: 24 meatballs
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 medium yellow onions, sliced into 1/4-inch rings
- 1 small yellow onion, grated
- Kosher salt
- 1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, leaves chopped
- 1 egg
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Baharat
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Heat your oven: Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Caramelize the sliced onions: In a large oven-safe pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Once it shimmers. Add the sliced onion rings and season with a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have fully softened and turned a deep golden brown, 20-30 minutes.
- Make the meatballs: While the onions are cooking, combine the grated onion, lamb, breadcrumbs, parsley, egg, garlic, Baharat, and cardamom in a large mixing bowl. Add a big pinch of kosher salt and black pepper and mix to combine. Take handfuls of the meat mixture (about 2 tablespoons each) and form them into meatballs. You should end up with about 18-20 meatballs.
- Make the onion sauce: When the onions are ready, turn off the heat and carefully stir in 1 cup of water. The water should turn brown immediately. Nestle the lamb meatballs into the onion sauce, and using a spoon, scoop some of the onions on top.
- Bake the meatballs: Transfer the pan to the oven to bake on the center rack until the meatballs are cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, about 25 to 30 minutes. I like to occasionally baste the meatballs with the onion sauce while they bake.
- Serve: Spoon the meatballs, onions, and sauce over Basmati Rice or Rice with Vermicelli. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Gently caramelizing onions is very important for the flavor of your sauce: keep a close eye, stir, and, if needed, adjust the heat to ensure they don’t burn.
- If you’d like to test the salt level of your meat before forming and cooking all of the meatballs, you can quickly pan-fry a mini meatball in a small amount of olive oil until cooked through. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
- The egg does the trick here to ensure the meatballs hold well, but if you’d like some extra security you can knead the meatball mixture with your hands for a few minutes to further develop the proteins and make the mixture more cohesive.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including olive oils, honey, jams and spices.
Nutrition
Calories: 112.7kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 5.4g | Fat: 8.7g | Saturated Fat: 3.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4.1g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 27.5mg | Sodium: 31.9mg | Potassium: 103mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 0.9g | Vitamin A: 110.3IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 14.7mg | Iron: 0.7mg
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