Ten minutes of prep and one dish. It doesn’t get much easier than this meatball bake, loaded with Mediterranean flavors. 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 to 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 create something 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 go into the oven and you can forget about them for a bit!
And another bonus? All the lovely cooking juices from the meatballs ooze into the sauce, boosting the flavor 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 an extra 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 or buttery sunshine rice (as I’m serving it in the photos below). A drizzle of tahini yogurt sauce or green tahini is the perfect accompaniment.
Ingredients
- Ground beef. You could use lamb, chicken, pork, turkey or a plant-based alternative in place of the beef 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 – 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, use more sundried tomatoes or 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
Mix the canned tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, olives, garlic and a little salt and pepper in a large oven-proof dish or skillet, then set aside.
Mix your meatball mixture – it’s easiest to do with your hands to ensure 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 well. Roll heaped tablespoons of the meatball mixture into balls, then place directly in the sauce. Pop the dish into the oven.
Once the meatballs are brown, scatter the feta all over the top of the meatballs, then pop it back in the oven for another few 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 the meatballs with rice, orzo, a nice hunk of bread or flatbreads to mop up all the sauce, or pile on top of creamy hummus.
Watch how to make it
Got a question?
Yes! You could use lamb, chicken, pork, turkey or a plant-based alternative here (or a mixture – beef and lamb are great together).
Go for your favorite cheese – mozzarella or a sharp cheddar works great – as does Gruyere, Boursin or even chunks of halloumi.
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, buttery golden sunshine 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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One Pan Baked Mediterranean Meatballs
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Calorie
Description
Ten minutes of prep and one dish. It doesn’t get much easier than this meatball bake, loaded with Mediterranean flavors. 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 to hand.
Ingredients
For the meatballs –
- 1lb/500g ground beef
- 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)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 3.5oz/100g feta, crumbled
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- Black pepper
For the sauce –
- 2 x 14oz/400g cans chopped tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
- 1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons 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 400F/200C fan and preparing an oven-proof dish, or skillet. Add the canned tomatoes, garlic, olives, sundried tomatoes, salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a good grind of black pepper to the dish. Give the sauce a mix to combine.
- Mix the meatballs. Add the ground beef, crushed garlic cloves, grated or diced onion, chopped mint, ground cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, paprika, salt, panko breadcrumbs, egg and feta to a large mixing bowl. Mix to evenly disperse the ingredients through the ground beef. The easiest way to do this is to go in with your (clean) hands and kind of squeeze the mixture together. But you can use a spatula or spoon too.
- Shape the meatballs and bake. Scoop a heaped tablespoon of the meatball mixture into your hands, and roll it into a ball. Place directly into the tomato sauce in the dish, then repeat with the rest of the meatballs. You should get (roughly) 18 meatballs from the mixture. Try to keep the meatballs on one layer if possible so that they cook evenly, and get a lovely crispy crust going at the end. Drizzle over another tablespoon of olive oil, then pop into the oven for 20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the meatballs are 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
HOW TO MAKE BUTTERY SUNSHINE RICE: Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a high-sided pot or pan you have a lid for, then add 1 teaspoon each of ground turmeric and cumin and cook for a few minutes. Add 1.5 cups of long-grain rice, stir, then add 2.5 cups of hot chicken stock, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat right down, pop the lid on and leave to cook for 15 minutes. After this, remove the pot from the heat but keep the lid on for another 10 minutes to finish cooking.
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, mozzarella or cheddar.
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: 30
- 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
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
This was so quick and easy to get together and in the oven. I made them with ground chicken and reduced fat feta crumbles. I also added a can of chickpeas into the sauce. I had one right out of the oven and it was so yummy. I meal prepped this for this week’s lunch with some white rice. Today, I had this for lunch and it tasted even better than yesterday. I think next time I make this, I’m going to double the sauce because it was really that good. Thanks so much for such a yummy meal!!