The Best Teriyaki Beef Meatballs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to firm meatballs? ›

Massage your meat

Get your hands into your mixing bowl and combine the ingredients for your meatballs using your fingers. The heat from your hands will help release the proteins in the meat which will in turn help the mixture stick together when it cooks. Don't overmix, just a few minutes will do.

80/20: Ground Chuck

It's the highest lean-to-fat ratio in the specialty grinds and tends to be quite tender and juicy. Ground chuck is from the shoulder of the cow. It is rich and tender with plenty of flavor. Often referred to as “lean ground beef,” this is perfect for hamburgers and meatballs.

Egg and breadcrumbs are common mix-ins to add moisture and tenderness. Another binder option that people swear by is a panade, which is fresh or dry breadcrumbs that have been soaked in milk. “The soaked breadcrumbs help keep the proteins in the meat from shrinking,” as food writer Tara Holland explained in the Kitchn.

Serving suggestions

I love serving these teriyaki chicken meatballs with jasmine rice and steamed broccoli, but you can also serve them with my edamame crunch salad for extra veggies.

Milk: Milk adds moisture, ensuring the meatballs don't dry out during the cooking process. Onion: An onion lends bold flavor. Meat: You'll need a pound of ground beef and a pound of ground pork. Egg: An egg adds moisture and helps bind the meatballs together.

When it comes to adding liquid to meatball mixtures, milk is often used for its versatility, depth of flavor, and richness. Without the use of milk, you may be faced with a plate of dry meatballs. Milk adds a certain level of moisture that helps produce perfectly tender meatballs.

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

While water and broth may keep the meatballs moist throughout the cooking process, milk's extra fat and luscious consistency add an unmatched level of complexity to any classic meatball recipe.

How to stop meatballs falling apart when cooking? ›

The only way to prevent your meatballs from falling apart is to add some flour in the precooked seasoned ground beef. once you season the ground beef to your taste, you then add some flour, not too much but at least half of a handful.

3-Meat Combo

Bobby Flay's meatball recipe calls for an even combination of ground beef, pork, and veal which makes for the best flavor and texture.

An addition of granulated onion and garlic helps too as their flavor profiles will dilute the more pungent elements of the 5-spice. Also, the teriyaki injection will mellow things dramatically. Triple or quadruple this, depending on how much you like to use.

The easiest way to thicken teriyaki sauce is by making a “cornstarch slurry.” To do this, whisk together a little cornstarch with cold water and whisk it into the simmering sauce. After 1-2 minutes, you'll have a delicious, beautiful homemade teriyaki sauce.

Teriyaki sauce pairs well with meats such as fish, chicken, beef, and pork. When used as a dipping sauce, teriyaki sauce flavors chicken wings, dumplings, shrimp, and steak. Stir-fries, rice dishes, and vegetables use teriyaki sauce for additional flavor.

Cook's Illustrated explains that adding too many eggs will put your meatballs at risk of having a soggy texture. Any additional and unnecessary liquid will also cause difficulty mixing and forming meatballs. Adding a single egg should be enough to do the trick, with two being the maximum for each pound of meat you use.

Filler ingredients like breadcrumbs or flour are important too because they stop the meatballs becoming dry. The breadcrumbs absorb the juices from the meat as it cooks, trapping them within the meatball. Again quantity is important here; too much and your meatball will be more like stuffing or a dumpling.

The Key to Tender Meatballs

Here, we're soaking fresh or dried breadcrumbs in a little milk until the bread becomes soggy, then mixing that right into the meat. This binder (aka panade) helps add moisture to the meatballs and also prevents the meat proteins from shrinking and becoming tough.

Because the role of eggs in meatballs is primarily structural, the amount of eggs you use does matter. You want enough to keep the mixture stable and easy to handle, but too many will make the mixture overly soft.