Monster Meatballs | Halloween Recipe
A creepy halloween food idea, featuring ground beef and a jalapeño jelly sauce.
This creepy little Halloween food idea is perfect for both adult, and kid Halloween parties, and it is guaranteed to be the most enjoyable of all the festive food. Yes! Creepy looking food that actually tastes great. It's the best of both worlds.
Within this spooky meatball, you'll find big flavor from fresh ingredients like red peppers, onion and garlic. The homemade breadcrumbs help to keep it perfectly tender (its easy, don't worry), and the sweet and tangy jelly sauce is the perfect contradiction to the meatballs savory bite. So where does the scary part come in? Sliced green olives are gently nestled into the meatball before baking, and when it's all said and done, you've got a slimy, monster eyeball staring you right in the face. If that's not a creepy Halloween food idea, I don't know what is.
These meatballs may look eery, but the flavor is nothing if not divine. The inspiration behind these hideous little gems was the eye, the salty and briny green olive. All of the ingredients meld perfectly together to create one spooky explosion of flavor. They can be kept warm in a crock pot or chafing dish throughout the evening, making them perfect for before and after trick-or-treating. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper cored, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced Italian parsley
1 cup green pepper jelly
Juice of an orange
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 3/4 tsp of Kosher Salt, separated
1 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (see Easy Baked Meatballs if further instruction is needed)
3 tbsp whole milk
1 Egg, slightly beaten
2 pounds (80/20) ground beef
2 tablespoons chopped pimento-stuffed green olives
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
12 pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced into 1/4” rings
Method:
Preheat oven to 400° and have ready two rimmed baking sheets lined with aluminum foil and a crockpot on the warm setting.
Add olive oil to a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, sauté bell pepper and onion about 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Add the parsley and remove the pan from the heat.
Transfer half of the vegetable mixture to a large mixing bowl. Return the saucepan to the stovetop over medium heat and add pepper jelly, juice of an orange, tomato paste, vinegar, soy sauce and a 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt. Stir until jelly has melted and ingredients have melded. Transfer sauce to the crockpot.
In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs and milk. Stir until crumbs have absorbed the milk. Stir in the egg, followed by half of the reserved vegetable mixture. Add in ground beef, chopped olives, orange zest, 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt, pepper and cloves. Using your hands, mix until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated.
Roll about 2 tablespoons worth of the beef mixture into a ball and place them at least 1” apart on the baking sheets. Create a fairly deep well in the center of the meatball using your finger. Place an olive slice within the well of each meatball. Bake for 25 minutes. Once meatballs are cool enough to handle, transfer them to the crockpot and gently stir to coat with the sauce. Keep on warm setting while serving.
Makes 25-30 meatballs.
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