Homemade Sausage Meatballs {Oven Baked}

Love sausages? You're gonna love these easy homemade sausage meatballs! Sausages were one thing I struggled with when we started eating Clean, I couldn't find any that didn't have loads of additives and with a gaggle of kids who loved their sausages I needed to find a kid friendly sausage that I could. make all their favorite dinners with. Here it is!

Homemade Sausage Meatballs

Do your kids love sausages? Are they one of your staple kid dinners? Me too.

For so many kids, mine included, sausages make up quite a lot of dinners. They're easy, they're tasty and no matter what's really in them, they don't feel especially like junk. Some of them aren't, but I certainly couldn't find them easily.

Over the time we've been eating this way I've discovered that pre-made foods I'd not given a thought to making myself are actually pretty easy. I have used this sausage recipe to try and make regular sausages (in sausage skins) but to be honest, it's a lot of hassle without the luxury of a sausage machine (which I don't have and don't think we'd get enough use from to warrant buying one). But these sausage meatballs are awesome, and every bit as good as the sausages from our 'old food life' :)

We do have a butcher now, more recently, who makes his own and they're as near to Clean as I've been able to find but for a long time, I couldn't find any.

Being an oven baked meatball means you can throw the mix into the food processor (I use this food processor), pop them into the oven and they're done. None of the fat spitting all over your cooker top and barely any mess. That's the sort of dinner I like!

One thing to note is that you need to buy full fat minced pork. There's usually a selection of 5%, 10% and 20% fat pork available to buy in most supermarkets and you want to go for the full fat one. The lower fat minced porks will become dry and not all that tasty. Best of all is to buy your pork from a local farmer if possible. They tend to sell their pork right as it comes, no fat removed!

When I'm making these I most often pair them with a traditional tomato sauce which takes seconds to make as is a store cupboard recipe, and some wholemeal spaghetti. Add a little grated parmesan cheese on top and you've got a very kid approved meal they'll be asking for time and time again.

Ingredients

There's a few ingredients in these but most of them are pantry staples, nothing exotic here!

Pork

I buy pork from a local farmer, and they mince it for me. There's a good selection of porks available though to buy in the supermarkets, but if possible try and buy an Organic one. We buy pork by the pound here and so I've used this amount in this recipe.

Don't worry about the coarseness of the mince, it goes into the food processor and gets totally mashed up anyway!

Spices

Mace is something I wasn't familiar with until I started playing around with homemade sausages. I'm convinced it's what makes these taste like store bought sausages. Having been using it for a while now it's a staple here!

Ground sage is also a star in this recipe. We love sage in any form but it's a show stopped in this. I also add some ground cilantro in this. It has an earthy flavor in it's ground form and gives these that sausage-y warmth.

Breadcrumbs

A couple of slices of wholemeal bread is used in this to bind the sausage mixture together. I'd recommend using wholemeal bread instead of a granary bread as the seeds in the granary bread can make these 'bitty'. And if your kids are like some of mine, bitty is not good! If you're kids are happy with seeds and bits then go ahead and feel free. It'll bind the mix just as well.

Flour

Roll your meatballs in a little flour before oiling them and oven baking them. The flour gives a nice coating, helps to keep the fat inside the meatball and stops the pork burning whilst they're cooking.

Make Ahead

Can you make these ahead fo time? Yes you can! In fact, I'd recommend doing so as it saves time and having a plate of these in the fridge ready to go means you've got a super easy dinner ready to go straight in the oven after a busy day.

You can make these a couple of days ahead of needing them right up until you flour them, but don't oil them until they're about to go in then oven.

Check the date on the pork you're using and use that date as a guide as to how far ahead you can make these.

What To Serve With Sausage Meatballs

I serve these mostly with a tomato sauce and spaghetti, usually with copious amounts of grated parmesan on top. That said there are lots of things you can do with meatballs so if you have leftovers you could try:

• Go all shopping mall lunch and make meatball subway rolls
• Add them to the top of a pizza
• Add them into a casserole
• Break them up and use them in a pasta bake

Storing Leftovers

If you have leftover baked meatballs, you can keep them in the fridge, covered, for up to 2 days as long as the date on your pork allows for this. Use them up in some of the ideas mentioned above!

Recipe Notes

• If you're making these ahead, make the recipe right up until you flour them and them pop them in the fridge and only oil them when you're about to bake them
• Use full fat pork so your meatballs stay juicy and don't dry out
• When turning your meatballs make sure not to squash them down. This will release the fat onto the baking sheet and you want the fat to stay in the meatballs for the juiciest meatballs

More Clean Eating Sausage Recipes

• Clean eating Sausage breakfast patties
• Sheet pan sticky sausages
• Veggie Scotch eggs for kids

How To Make Homemade Sausage Meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 lb Pork Full fat, minced
• 2 Slices Wholemeal bread
• 1 Large Egg
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tsp Dried sage
• 1 tsp Ground Mace
• ½ tsp Dried cilantro
• 1 tbsp Flour To coat the meatballs
• Salt & pepper To season

Instructions

• Heat up your oven to 200° and allow it to heat up before putting your meatball in to bake
• Get a large plate or bowl out and add the flour, ready to out each meatball into once they're made
• Put all the ingredients into the food processor and process on pulse, scraping down the side a couple of times to make sure all the ingredients are well combined
• Once the mixture is combines well, using a table spoon make your meatballs to the size you want them to be. Once you've made each one add them to the floured plate and roll them around so they're fully covered in a thin layer of flour
• Repeat until all the mixture is used up and turned into meatballs
• Place the meatballs on a baking tray, with parchment paper if you don't want to scrub the tray!
• either drizzle the oil onto the meatballs or use a spray to make sure all the meatballs are coated in oil
• Cook these for 20-22 minutes depending on the size meatballs you've made. Cut the largest one in half before serving to make sure these are fully cooked
• Serve with a tomato sauce and spaghetti

Homemade Sausage Meatballs Recipe