I’m not sure about yours, but my family are HUGE meatball fans and these Cheesy Beef Meatballs are one of our all-time favourites. They are egg-free meatballs made with cream cheese, then nestled into a delicious rustic-style vegetable sauce and finally the whole dish is draped with a satisfying blanket of melted cheddar cheese.
These Cheesy Beef Meatballs have a subtle Mexican vibe, with oregano in the meatballs and a little cumin in the sauce. They go perfectly with rice, and I don’t know about you, but we actually eat meatballs with rice way more than we do with pasta. They would also be great served with flour tortillas or crusty bread to scoop up the sauce with.
If you have a toddler, weaning baby or fussy eater and are wondering how to adapt these meatballs with melted cheese for your family, see here >
The Cheesy Beef Meatballs
For these meatballs with melted cheese, you’ll need 5% fat mince beef/ground beef. You can go for a higher fat content if you prefer a fattier meatball. We are going to make them using cream cheese. I use full fat, but just can switch to low fat if you prefer (see notes for eating with a baby or toddler). I add in panko crumbs as well to help bind the meatballs together and to help keep them soft. Then for seasonings, add just a teaspoon of dried oregano, plus salt and black pepper to taste (if sharing with a baby or toddler omit salt).
The Veggie Meatball Sauce
To make the delicious lightly seasoned vegetable sauce to cook the meatballs in, we will add onion, a red bell pepper, a tin of chopped tomatoes and garlic. Then season it with a little cumin, which really compliments the oregano in the meatballs, salt & black pepper (omit salt if sharing with baby or toddler). I also add a good pinch of sugar to counteract the acidic tomatoes.
Blending the Sauce
It’s also a win for fussy eaters as it’s essentially a hidden vegetable meatball sauce as the vegetables get blitzed down into a rustic style sauce. It’s best to use a stick blender and do this in the pan, but if you don’t have stick blender, you can transfer the vegetables to a food processor or blender instead. Bear in mind though doing it this way it’s harder to get a coarser rustic style sauce, and you’ll likely end up with a smoother sauce - which is fine and won’t impact the flavour.
The Melted Cheese Topping
Once the meatballs are cooked, sprinkle over a good layer grated cheddar cheese, re-cover and leave for a few minutes for it to melt into the most satisfying layer before serving.
FAQ’s For My Cheesy Beef Meatballs
Can I use Shop-Bought Meatballs instead?
If you are at a pinch for time, you can make this recipe using shop-bought beef meatballs. Doing this will cut your prep time in by around 20 minutes - which, if you are making this on a week night, is a big time saver. If you decide to do this, when you add the pinch of sugar and salt & pepper to the sauce, also add in the 1 teaspoon of dried oregano you would have added into the meatballs.
What should I serve these Cheesy Beef Meatballs with?
We LOVE these meatballs with white rice, in fact I’d go as far as to say this sauce is the best sauce for meatballs and rice! Even without the cheese topping. They’d also go great with crusty bread or soft flour or corn tortillas to scoop up the sauce with. You could try saving them with pasta, but I never have so I can’t recommend it.
Can I prepare this meal in advance?
Most definitely! You can make the meatballs earlier on in the day, cover the plate with clingfilm or plastic food wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook. The vegetables can be chopped and put into a food storage container or resealable food bag together and refrigerated. The cheese can be grated and stored in the fridge in the same way. The cumin and oregano can be measured out and left covered at room temp.
Can I feed more people with this Cheesy Beef Meatballs recipe?
If you do want to double this recipe, because of the cheese topping, it’s best to cook the two batches in two different pans.
How can younger children help make it?
Kids will love to help make the meatballs, they will love the texture and rolling them into balls! Just make sure they wash their hands properly for at least 20 seconds before and after.
Can I Store Cheesy Beef Meatballs leftovers?
You can store any Cheesy Beef Meatballs leftovers in an air-tight container or resealable food bag in the fridge for up to 3 days (cook day + 2). Leftovers can also be frozen, just defrost for 24 hours in the fridge. When you come to reheating the leftovers in the microwave, it’s best to cut each meatball in half and stir halfway, until steaming hot all the way through.
More on safe food storage and reheating.
What diets is this recipe suitable for?
My Cheesy Beef Meatballs are egg and nut-free (so long as the panko breadcrumbs packet says so). To make this meal gluten-free, you can omit the panko breadcrumbs.
Adapting My Cheesy Beef Meatballs For Your Family
Eating together is beneficial for families of all ages and stages, for a multitude of reasons; nutritional, behavioural, psychological and for healthy family functioning. This section will show you how to tweak this Cheesy Beef Meatballs recipe for sharing with a weaning baby, toddler or a fussy eater, which will help make it easier to eat together as a family.
Keeping Fussy Eaters Happy
If you have a picky eater you should find this blended sauce helps make this meal more appealing. I have a fussy eater who hates chunks of tomato and this is actually his very favourite meatball meal!
Making My Cheesy Beef Meatballs Suitable for Baby Weaning
There’s really not much needed to make this meal suitable for a weaning baby. Just omit salt from the salt from the cook and add it to your plate instead.
How to Serve to Babies & Toddlers
Baby-Led Weaning
6 - 8 months
Give little one a couple meatballs whole. They can hold and take bites, just make sure you are keeping an eye on them and they don’t put the whole thing in their mouth.
9 months +
Cut meatballs into eighths or smash them down well with the back of a fork.
Spoon Feeding
Smash down the meatballs a little and add to your stick blender pot (6 months) or mini-food chopper (7-12 months) along with some sauce. Chop into bite-size pieces for 1+ year olds. Purée for 6 month olds with liquid added (warm boiled water or low-salt stock), whizz until finely chopped for 7-9 month olds, with a little liquid added, and go for a more lumpy, chopped consistency for 10-12 month olds, liquid added if needed.
1 Year + Cut meatballs into eighths or smash them down well with the back of a fork.
I’ve also added these notes to the bottom of the recipe so you have them to hand when you come to cook.
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Cheesy Beef Meatballs
Ingredients
FOR THE MEATBALLS (see note 1 to use shop-bought)
- 110 g cream cheese
- 15 g panko
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 500 g 5% lean mince / ground beef
FOR THE SAUCE
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, roughly diced
- 1 large red pepper (bell), roughly diced
- 400 g tomatoes, roughly diced
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- Large pinch of sugar
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 165 g cheddar cheese, grated / shredded
TO SERVE
- White rice or
- Crusty bread or flour tortillas
Instructions
- Add all the meatball ingredients to a medium-large mixing bowl. Mix with your hands until throughly combined. Form meatballs, around 1 ½ inch in diameter and place into a large plate. You should get around 19-20 meatballs.
- Heat the oil a medium-large lidded pan over a medium-high heat. When hot add in the peppers, onion and tomatoes. Fry, stirring often for 8 minutes. Then add in the garlic and cumin and fry for a further minute, stirring.
- Then remove from the heat and use a stick blender to blitz the vegetables into a rustic style sauce. Alternatively, transfer to a food processor/blender, and blend into a smooth sauce and then return to pan. See note 2.
- Stir-through the sugar, salt and black pepper.
- Top with the meatballs in an even layer and give the pot a gentle shake to level them out. Bring to a simmer over a high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Then give the meatballs a gentle stir and cook uncovered for a further 5-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens a little.
- Then gently stir again and sprinkle the cheese over the top evenly and pop the lid back on. Turn the heat to low and leave for a few minutes until the cheese has melted.
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