Five minutes of prep and one tray. It doesn’t get much easier than this meatball bake, loaded with Greek-style flavours. Mix a quick sauce, form your meatballs, pop them into the sauce and throw in the oven. It’s perfect for busy weeknights and is easily adaptable based on what you have on hand.
This is the ultimate ‘dump and go’ weeknight-friendly meal. Most meatball recipes call for them to be browned in a pan first, and a sauce that’s made separately on the stove-top. This version cuts out all the extra work to make something that is truly effort-free. All you need to do is mix canned tomatoes with jarred olives and sundried tomatoes, then form meatballs and pop them straight in the sauce. Then they just go into the oven and you can forget about them for a bit!
And another bonus? All the lovely cooking juices from the lamb ooze into the sauce, boosting the flavour even more. It’s a win-win scenario.
You can also really play around with the ingredients in this one – I love adding a can of chickpeas (garbanzos), butter beans or white beans to the sauce for a protein hit and to bulk it out further. If you don’t like olives, just leave them out or use more sundried tomatoes. Switch out the feta for mozzarella, cheddar or blue cheese. You can make it your own. It’s lovely served with soft flatbreads, garlic naan or cheese naan, or over steamed rice. A drizzle of tahini yogurt sauce or green tahini would be perfect on top too.
Ingredients
- Ground lamb mince. You could use beef, chicken, pork or turkey in place of the lamb here – or use a mix! Just try to make sure that whatever you use isn’t too lean – you need the fat to create a juicy meatball.
- Canned tomatoes. The recipe uses two 14oz/400g cans – you can use crushed, plum, cherry tomatoes or passata.
- Feta. Switch out the feta for mozzarella, cheddar, blue cheese or chunks of halloumi.
- Olives. If you’re not an olive fan, just use more sundried tomatoes or you can leave them out. Jarred artichoke hearts are also great here.
- Mint. Use flat-leaf parsley, basil, cilantro (coriander) or dried herbs if you’d prefer.
I like to scatter over a couple of tablespoons of dukkah to serve at the end – but you can leave it out if you’d like.
How to make it
Start with the sauce – mix the canned tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, olives, garlic and a little salt and pepper in a large oven-proof dish, then set aside.
Get all the meatball ingredients into a large mixing bowl. The mixing is easiest to do with your hands so you can make sure it’s all combined well. If you don’t want to touch the raw meat, use disposable gloves or you can use a spatula or spoon, just make sure to mash it all together. Pick up a heaped tablespoon of the meatball mix, then roll it into a ball. Place directly in the sauce, continue with the rest of the mix, then throw the dish in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, the meatballs will be looking brown (and smelling glorious!) At this point, scatter the rest of the feta all over the top of the meatballs, then pop it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
PRO TIP: If you want the meatballs super charred, place the dish under the grill (broiler) at the highest temperature for a few minutes, keeping an eye on it.
Remove the dish (carefully) from the oven, then scatter over the remaining herbs and dukkah if you’re using it. Enjoy with rice, orzo, with a nice chunk of bread, flatbreads or pile on top of creamy hummus like I’ve done here!
Got a question?
Yes! You could use beef, chicken, pork or turkey mince here (or a mixture – beef and lamb are great together).
Use mozzarella or cheddar – just something that melts nicely. You could also use a mix of cheeses – I always like throwing in some blue cheese!
They’re great served on top of creamy, super smooth hummus with soft garlic flatbreads on the side, or you could go for garlic butter potatoes, orzo, steamed rice, a chopped salad, steamed greens, piled into soft bread rolls or with a piece of focaccia to soak up the sauce.
This is a great one to make ahead! It’ll last for 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge and can be used in many different ways throughout the week.
And if you want to prepare it in advance to cook later, assemble the bake in the dish up to a day in advance and store it in the fridge, covered in foil. Then just pop into the oven to bake when you’re ready.
This dish is SUPER customisable based on what you have to hand. Skip the olives if you’re not a fan, or use more sundried tomatoes.
Like this recipe? Here are some other quick weeknight ideas you might enjoy
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.
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Greek Lamb and Feta Meatball Tray Bake
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Calorie
Description
Five minutes of prep and one tray. It doesn’t get much easier than this meatball bake, loaded with Greek-style flavours. Mix a quick sauce, form your meatballs, pop them into the sauce and throw in the oven. It’s perfect for busy weeknights and is easily adaptable based on what you have on hand.
Ingredients
For the meatballs –
- 14oz/400g ground lamb mince
- ½ cup mint leaves, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 small onion, very finely diced or grated (white, yellow or red is fine, as is a shallot)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3.5oz/100g feta, crumbled
- Black pepper
For the sauce –
- 2 x 14oz/400g cans chopped tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup Kalamata olives, chopped
- ¼ cup sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3.5oz/100g feta
To serve –
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 tablespoon mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon dukkah
Instructions
- Combine the sauce ingredients. Start by heating your oven to 390F/200C fan and getting an oven-proof dish ready. Add the canned tomatoes, sliced garlic cloves, chopped olives, chopped sundried tomatoes, salt and a good grind of black pepper to the oven-proof dish. Give the sauce a mix to combine.
- Mix the meatballs. Combine the ground lamb mince, crushed garlic cloves, grated or diced onion, chopped mint, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, paprika, salt and feta in a large mixing bowl. The easiest way to do this is to go in with your (clean) hands and kind of squeeze the mixture together so you’re making sure everything is being mixed properly.
- Shape the meatballs and bake. Scoop up a heaped tablespoon of the meatball mixture into your hands, and roll it into a ball. Place into the tomato sauce in the roasting dish, then repeat with the rest of the meatballs. You should get 12 large meatballs from the mixture. Try to keep the meatballs on one layer if possible so that they cook evenly, can brown and get a lovely crispy crust going at the end. Drizzle over the olive oil, then pop into the oven for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the meatballs are starting to brown.
- Add the feta. Carefully remove the dish from the oven, crumble the feta all over, then pop it back into the oven for another 10 minutes until the feta is oozy and charred and the meatballs look golden brown. You can pop the dish under the grill (broiler) for a couple of minutes if you like a super charred top. Remove from the oven.
- Garnish and serve. Scatter over the lemon zest, mint leaves, parsley leaves and the dukkah, then serve.
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES: You can play around with the ingredients in this one – I love adding a can of chickpeas (garbanzos), butter beans or white beans to the sauce for a protein hit and to bulk it out. You can skip the olives if you don’t like them, or switch out the feta for halloumi.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: I love serving the meatballs piled on top of creamy, super smooth hummus with soft garlic flatbreads on the side, with garlic butter potatoes, orzo, steamed rice, a chopped salad, steamed greens or even piled into soft bread rolls. A drizzle of tahini yogurt sauce or green tahini is great too.
STORAGE SUGGESTIONS: This is a great dish for meal prep. It’ll last for 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge, and as mentioned above, you can use it in lots of different ways throughout the week. It also scales easily.
PREP AHEAD: If you want to get ahead, assemble the bake in the dish up to a day in advance and store it in the fridge, covered in foil. Then just pop into the oven to bake when you’re ready.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 40
- Category: weeknight
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: greek
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 350g
- Calories: 549
- Sugar: 4.4g
- Fat: 42.2g
- Saturated Fat: 13.5g
- Carbohydrates: 7.6g
- Fiber: 1.6g
- Protein: 36.3g
- Cholesterol: 135mg
Keywords: easy traybakes, meatball bake
Yum! Tastes like holidays ♥️
I made flatbreads to go with it and tzatziki – what a feast! Totally doable for a weeknight meal and super satisfying
★★★★★
That sounds like such a tasty combo!! So happy you enjoyed 🙂 xx