These turned out really good, with a nice ‘meaty’ texture! Favorited as our go-to ‘meatballs’ now and thinking of all the possibilities (spaghetti and meatballs, meatball parm sub, Ikea Swedish meatballs)….
Ingredients
- 1 bag prepared brown and wild rice, such as Uncle Ben’s (about 2 cups cooked)
- 1 cup cooked lentils
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ⅓ cup flour
- 3 tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs
- olive oil
- marinara or tomato sauce
- cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix rice and lentils in a bowl with the garlic and cumin. Add the flour and breadcrumbs. The mixture will be crumbly.
- Fill a bowl with warm water. Dip your hands in the water; with wet hands, form the crumbly mixture into small egg shaped balls. Add a few drops of oil or water to each meatball as you shape it to help it stick together. Place meatballs on a baking sheet and top each with a knob of oil.
- Bake for 20 minutes, turning and adding more drizzles of oil as necessary.
- When toasted on the outside and warmed through, remove from oven and place individual oven-safe bowls. Cover with tomato sauce and cheese and bake on high broil (or microwave) until heated through and cheese is melted.
Notes
The meatballs will be firm and crispy on the outside when you take them out of the oven. This is OK because they will soften (but not get too soggy) as they are heated with the tomato sauce. To soften them even more, add a tablespoon or two of water in with the tomato sauce as you heat them.
This was the brown & wild rice we used:
Credit: Pinch of Yum