Superfood packed, and full of flavor! These kale & herb stuffed meatballs are a dinner menu must have!
The saying goes around our house…”Put anything in a meatball and the kids will eat it!”
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!
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.
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!
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.
Kale and Herb Stuffed Meatballs
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
These looks absolutely scrummy. Reminds me of Swedish meatballs but with an Italian/French twist. Yum!
Thank you Irena!
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.
Thank you Emily!
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.
Toddlers! For sure! I hope you enjoy them!
I need to make these soon, and that gravy!! Both so beautiful, satisfying and nutritious. Thanks for this lovely recipe!!
You’re welcome Megan! Thank you!
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?
Oh great! I hope you enjoy them!
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!
Yes! Thank you Beth!
These look delicious. I bet even adults like these– a lot!!
Thanks Renee! Definitely pinning for a dinner ‘coming soon’ !!
Great Carol! Enjoy them!
Love it. Pinned. Great photos Renee!
These look SOOO delicious! I bet the kids will love them!
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!
Haha! I hope you get to enjoy them soon!
What other food is in the picture with the meatballs and green beans? Some kind of mashed potato? It looks yummy too!
Hi Catherine! Those are mashed sweet potatoes! I just steam them and blend them up with butter sea salt and pepper!
These were great! Will for sure be making them a lot!
Oh that’s great Amy! I’m so glad you like them! it’s always nice to add something to the dinner rotation!
Any suggestions for an egg-free family?
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!
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!
Love than Danyelle! Thank you for coming back to share!
Can I use regular flour? Love ALL your recipes!!! Thank you!!
That should be fine Daria! Thank you!
I love meatball with gravy sauce. So healthy and perfect comfort food!
Thinking of making these with spinach bc it’s what I have, thoughts?