Dinner Ideas Nourishing Staples Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

Kale and Herb Stuffed Meatballs

March 11, 2016

Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs are a dinner menu must have!

Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs :: Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs is a dinner menu must have!

The saying goes around our house…”Put anything in a meatball and the kids will eat it!”

Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs :: Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs is a dinner menu must have!

Maybe not everything, but I have found that putting dinner into meatball form somehow just makes dinner more kid friendly! Kids won’t eat liver? Grate it into a meatball mixture! Are they giving you a hard time about turmeric or ginger? Meatballs to the rescue! Kids being funny about anything “green”? Yup, stuff it in a meatball and they will pound them down by the fistful!

Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs :: Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs is a dinner menu must have!

I definitely have some carnivore kiddos, and while they don’t give me a hard time about veggies, we do go through seasons of them not caring for them for sure. Vegetables aren’t the most important thing in a kids’ diet for growth (fats are!), but they sure are important piece to that puzzle for balancing minerals and keeping bowels running, creating a healthy taste palate for them. Do you know how hard it was for my husband and I to get used to having veggies at every meal?! SO hard! When you start kids out with veggies at most if not every meal of the day, they grow up into teens and adults that easily eat veggies with every meal.

Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs :: Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs is a dinner menu must have!

My 2 year old right now in particular is being funny about leafy greens so chopping them finely into soups, or stuffing meatballs with them is one of my ways to keep these mineral rich veggies into her diet. They don’t need much at this age to fill their tummies, so if a couple of meatballs in her chubby little hands makes her happy, I’m going to get all I can into them!

Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs :: Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs is a dinner menu must have!

I wrote in my favorite sauce/gravy to serve with these kale and herb stuffed meatballs, but you really can use whatever you want! They work great for spaghetti and meatballs, as a Asian night addition with sweet and sour sauce, or even just to serve with bone broth gravy.

Print Recipe
5 from 4 votes

Kale and Herb Stuffed Meatballs

Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs are a dinner menu must have!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: herb meatballs, kale and herb meatballs, kale stuffed meatball recipe
Servings: 8 servings
Author: Renee Kohley www.raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

KALE & HERB STUFFED MEATBALLS ::

  • 1 lb grassfed ground beef
  • 3-4 TB grated grassfed liver optional if you don't have access
  • 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 heaping handful baby kale chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 2 TB white rice flour If grain free use tapioca flour

RED WINE & MUSHROOM GRAVY ::

  • 2-3 TB butter
  • 4 oz white mushrooms sliced
  • 3 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 bunch green onions chopped
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 2 cups bone broth
  • 1-2 TB white rice flour Depending on how thick you like your gravy. If you are grain free use tapioca flour.
  • Sea salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • In a small mixing bowl combine all of the meatball ingredients using your hands. Form 2 inch meatballs, and line them up on a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
  • Bake the meatballs in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. While the meatballs are baking, you can make the gravy.
  • Melt the butter in a skillet, and add the mushrooms. Cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally until the mushrooms become fragrant and golden.
  • Add the garlic and green onions and cook for a couple minutes.
  • Deglaze the pan with the red wine, and then add the bone broth, sprinkle in the rice flour, and bring to a low simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Season the gravy with salt and pepper to your taste and add the cooked meatballs. Serve with veggie sides.

For more real food dinner ideas you can follow my Dinner Ideas board on Pinterest!

More real food recipes you might like:
15 Minute Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

15 Minute Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
Nutrient Dense Meatloaf

Nutrient Dense Meatloaf
Slow Roasted Pastured Chicken

15345330824_9795734043_z

You Might Also Like

41 Comments

  • Reply Irena March 14, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    These looks absolutely scrummy. Reminds me of Swedish meatballs but with an Italian/French twist. Yum!

  • Reply Emily @ Recipes to Nourish March 14, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    Wow these are beautiful! I bet they taste amazing too. I’m going to have to make these soon, I know my husband and Tiny Love would enjoy them.

  • Reply Meghan @ Whole Natural Life March 14, 2016 at 5:18 pm

    These look great. But my toddler is not like your kids in this respect–she won’t eat meatballs! I don’t know why, because she loves meat in most other forms. We still make them, and she just chooses not to eat them. Toddlers being weird, I guess. 🙂 I will have to try this recipe.

    • Reply Renee Kohley March 15, 2016 at 1:46 pm

      Toddlers! For sure! I hope you enjoy them!

  • Reply Megan Stevens March 15, 2016 at 9:35 am

    I need to make these soon, and that gravy!! Both so beautiful, satisfying and nutritious. Thanks for this lovely recipe!!

  • Reply anna@greentalk March 15, 2016 at 9:44 am

    I can’t wait to try them. I have kale in the freezer so I will chop some up tonight. How did you know that I am making meatball tonight?

  • Reply Beth March 15, 2016 at 10:16 am

    Put anything in a meatball and I will eat it! We eat a lot of meatballs around here – so versatile, and I love anything that freezes well. Looks delicious!

  • Reply Carol March 15, 2016 at 11:19 am

    These look delicious. I bet even adults like these– a lot!!
    Thanks Renee! Definitely pinning for a dinner ‘coming soon’ !!

  • Reply linda spiker March 15, 2016 at 4:51 pm

    5 stars
    Love it. Pinned. Great photos Renee!

  • Reply Jolene @ Yummy Inspirations March 15, 2016 at 5:19 pm

    These look SOOO delicious! I bet the kids will love them!

  • Reply Tiffany Joy March 17, 2016 at 3:00 pm

    These look sooo delicious! It made my stomach growl when I saw the photo! lol Which probably means that I need to have lunch, and that I also need to test out this recipe!

    • Reply Renee Kohley March 17, 2016 at 7:18 pm

      Haha! I hope you get to enjoy them soon!

  • Reply Catherine April 4, 2016 at 6:12 pm

    What other food is in the picture with the meatballs and green beans? Some kind of mashed potato? It looks yummy too!

    • Reply Renee Kohley April 6, 2016 at 2:53 pm

      Hi Catherine! Those are mashed sweet potatoes! I just steam them and blend them up with butter sea salt and pepper!

  • Reply Amy April 16, 2016 at 11:18 pm

    5 stars
    These were great! Will for sure be making them a lot!

    • Reply Renee Kohley April 18, 2016 at 1:39 pm

      Oh that’s great Amy! I’m so glad you like them! it’s always nice to add something to the dinner rotation!

  • Reply Kid Friendly Veggie Spaghetti Sauce - Raising Generation Nourished July 22, 2016 at 4:00 pm

    […] to our spaghetti too. Use your favorite meatball recipe – one of my favorites are these kale stuffed meatballs. Our staple spaghetti meatballs will be published in my Nourished Beginnings book publishing this […]

  • Reply Amy September 20, 2016 at 8:30 am

    Any suggestions for an egg-free family?

    • Reply Renee Kohley September 20, 2016 at 2:06 pm

      Hi Amy! Yes for sure! A “flax egg” or a “gelatin egg” should work fine – the egg is for the binding versus any rising like in some baking recipes so all we need is the bind and the flax and gelatin eggs work great and won’t change the taste at all!

  • Reply Real Food Round Up #2: Meatballs | Popular Paleo October 21, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    […] Kale and Herb Stuffed Meatballs from Raising Generation Nourished (swap rice flour for Whole30) […]

  • Reply Real Food Round Up #2: Meatballs | Delicious Paleo Recipes October 21, 2016 at 3:37 pm

    […] Kale and Herb Stuffed Meatballs from Raising Generation Nourished (swap rice flour for Whole30) […]

  • Reply A Paleo Hanukkah :: 50+ delicious ways to celebrate! December 6, 2017 at 12:00 pm

    […] Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs from Raising Generation Nourished […]

  • Reply Danyelle July 24, 2018 at 8:51 pm

    5 stars
    Made them tonight and our toddler shared her mmm’s on all our behalf! We used fresh parsley instead of kale (bugs got our kale this year) and it worked well. Popped them into the cast iron and baked them up that way; beautiful texture and flavor. Happy to enjoy a good gf meatball! Thank you!

    • Reply Renee Kohley July 26, 2018 at 11:53 am

      Love than Danyelle! Thank you for coming back to share!

  • Reply Daria January 24, 2019 at 10:08 pm

    Can I use regular flour? Love ALL your recipes!!! Thank you!!

    • Reply Renee Kohley January 25, 2019 at 12:55 pm

      That should be fine Daria! Thank you!

  • Reply Chihyu February 15, 2019 at 9:58 pm

    5 stars
    I love meatball with gravy sauce. So healthy and perfect comfort food!

  • Reply Wild Caught Salmon Meatballs with Simple Pesto - Raising Generation Nourished April 28, 2019 at 8:51 am

    […] anything into a meatball and kids will be all over it. Needing to get more greens in? Try a meatball! Need to add some nourishing liver to your diet? Yup – those same kale stuffed meatballs have […]

  • Reply Gluten Free Butternut Squash Lasagna Casserole - Raising Generation Nourished September 15, 2019 at 3:33 pm

    […] Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs […]

  • Reply Over 50 Sweet & Savory Rosh Hashanah Recipes - all gluten-free! August 26, 2020 at 10:53 am

    […] Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy – Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs from Raising Generation Nourished are a dinner menu must have! […]

  • Reply Veggie Packed Slow Cooker Lasagna - Raising Generation Nourished February 9, 2021 at 12:35 pm

    […] Kale & Herb Stuffed Meatballs & Mushroom Garlic Sauce […]

  • Reply Nourishing 2 Week Meal Plan {Winter Inspired Part 2} - Raising Generation Nourished February 17, 2021 at 1:43 pm

    […] Meatball Skillet […]

  • Reply Nourishing 2 Week Meal Plan {Fall Inspired Part 1} - Raising Generation Nourished September 7, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    […] Meatball Skillet […]

  • Reply Jasmine February 25, 2023 at 8:38 am

    Thinking of making these with spinach bc it’s what I have, thoughts?

  • Leave a Reply

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.