Having frozen meatballs on hand is very convenient. You can easily take out just as many as you need and use them in a variety of recipes. However, I don’t know if I have yet seen meatballs made with the ingredients I’d like, in the store, let alone ones that would mesh well with our allergies/intolerances.
Thankfully, making your own frozen meatballs is very easy and simple to do! I used my recipe for grain-free, egg-Free, and dairy-free Italian Meatballs, and made up a massive batch for my freezer. You can use whatever recipe you’d like though! The method is the same regardless.
I lost several weeks to being under the weather recently, and as someone who is expecting to give birth in the next 2-4 weeks, I am playing catch up on both my rest and my chores! I had grand plans for freezer meals but have had to cut back on some of them because of lack of time. However, meatballs were on the “must do” list, and I was thankful to get them done this week.
It was actually some of you who put this idea into my head! Several of you have mentioned that my recipe for meatballs froze really well, and I was always planning on trying it “sometime”. I decided there was no time like the present! There was something so satisfying about putting that bag stuffed full of frozen meatballs into the freezer too. So thank you!
A few notes on the ingredients I used
We choose to use grassfed ground beef. I was thankful to be able to buy some locally for a decent price and we love the added health benefits to grassfed beef. I quadrupled the recipe, and I replaced one of the pounds of beef for chicken liver for even more nutrition. You can read about the nutritional benefits of liver here. You can also read more about nutrient dense foods in general (including liver) here.
How to make Freezer Meatballs
Make and shape meatballs according to the recipe you’ve chosen to use. I used my recipe for Italian Meatballs. I recommend making small meatballs (I make mine about the size of a pingpong ball or even smaller), not the large fist sized ones.
Bake in the oven (my recipe cooks at 400F for 12-18 minutes) until done. If you are using lean meat, use parchment paper or oil the pan lightly.
Remove from oven and let cool.
Place on a parchment covered bake sheet, making sure the meatballs aren’t touching. They will have shrunk in size when cooking, so I put two pans worth of baked meatballs onto one pan for freezing, and place in the freezer on a flat surface. This ensures that the meatballs won’t freeze sticking together. Freeze until hard.
Remove from freezer and pop into a freezer bag or desired container, and freeze! Use within three months.
How to reheat frozen meatballs
I’m told that a favorite way to enjoy frozen meatballs is to reheat them in a slow cooker in a favorite sauce(think sweet and sour or spaghetti sauce). It only takes 1-3 hours on high, and I like that this would help keep the meatballs moist while they reheat. They can also be dropped into a soup for meatball soup, reheated in a sauce on the stovetop, or reheated in the oven (350F for 15- 20, or until hot in the middle).
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Hi, Kimi,
Great post! Lots of variety, like you said.
Whilst copying the Italian Meatball recipe, I realised you have some kind of yummy mushroomy gravy business on your freezer meatball photo. I probably should just try to replicate it, but could you give ingredients for that sauce, too, please? Thanks!
You know, I need to try out that method again for the gravy and post a specific recipe. It was really delicious! The basic idea was making a white sauce with coconut milk and a gluten free starch and adding sauteed mushrooms and mushroom powder (made by powdering dried mushrooms in a food processor). Super tasty. I’m afraid I rather eye-balled the whole thing, so I don’t have specific directions though. 🙁
Making meatballs today and this post was very helpful! Thanks 🙂
Great. So glad! 🙂
Thanks so much for this very helpful tip. I like the idea of using chicken livers in the recipe. Can you expound on this a little? Do I need to somehow grind them or cut them into smaller pieces before adding to the recipe? Also, I think a crock pot would be the best way to reheat them so it looks like I’ll have to invest in one.
Thanks again!
I just used this post as a guide for making a huge batch of meatballs for after my baby is born in May.
Great! So glad it was helpful, and congrats on your baby. 🙂
Such useful information 😀 Should i let these meatballs cool then transfer them to a freezer zip top bag then put all in freezer?
There are freezing instructions included in this post. It says to take the cooked and cooled meatballs and lay them out on a parchment lined tray so that they are not touching. Freeze them until hard and then move them into a Ziploc freezer bag. Repeat until all of the meatballs are frozen and in the bag.
Has anyone tried microwaving the frozen meatballs to reheat them? I’m sure they’re not quite as good this way but it’d certainly be a bit more convenient especially when in a hurry. Thanks!