What could be better than barbecue meatballs? Barbecue Meatballs in bacon gravy. Yes, there’s bacon in the gravy! This recipe is all about comfort food, the kind of food we loved eating as kids. Some of the most popular recipes on the blog involve meatballs, like these North African Chermoula meatballs and my personal favourite, tapas-style Spanish meatballs. As you’d expect, the sauce is deeply savoury with just enough chilli to add a gentle heat.
There’s no right or wrong way to serve meatballs – with pasta, rice or mashed potatoes. Here, a crusty sourdough would be a huge help to mop up the marmitey bits.
A quick word about the gravy. If you’re going to use bacon, make sure it is smoked. It’ll add real depth of flavour. Of course it can be made without bacon, if you prefer. The sauce is robust enough to hold its own. To finish, scatter over torn mozzarella and blister under the grill until bubbling and golden. If you’re serious about meatballs, like the enthusiastic crowd over at The Feedfeed, hop on over to the site to pick and choose from Asian to Vegetarian, Curried and quinoa meatballs. Be sure to check out my Creamy Swedish meatballs, too.
Barbecue meatballs with bacon gravy
- 500g free-range beef mince
- 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 egg
Bacon gravy
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 250g (1 punnet) button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 125g (6 rashers) smoked bacon, cut into smallish pieces
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1/3 cup red wine
- 1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 1/3 cup tomato passata
- 2 tablespoons fruit chutney (Mrs Balls peach chutney works well)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup weak beef stock
- a pinch of dried red chilli flakes
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- several slices of mozzarella cheese
- Start by making the meatballs. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and combine until the spices and bread crumbs are incorporated.
- Roll into 20 – 24 evenly sized balls. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan and brown the meatballs on all sides. Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the pan and sauté the onion until softened.
- Toss in the mushrooms and cook on a high heat until all the water has evaporated. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Move the mushrooms to the side of the pan and add the bacon and thyme. Cook for several minutes until the bacon is lightly browned.
- Deglaze the pan with the wine and reduce by half.
- Add all the remaining gravy ingredients and the meatballs back into the pan.
- Cover with a lid and simmer for about 20 minutes until the sauce is thickened and the meatballs are cooked through.
- Dot with mozzarella and place under a preheated grill until the cheese is bubbling and golden.
7 Comments. Leave new
The meatballs look out of this world. The pictures create the perfect mood.
Thanks Carlos. We’re kind of hooked on this sweet and salty bacon version. In fact, I’m hard pressed to find a meatball recipe that doesn’t excite me.
This looks so amazing! I can imagine it on a really crispy-soft roll…
Ah, Mari. Almost like a sloppy Joe but with meatballs. I can imagine it would be good with just about anything!
So happy foodgawker brought me here. I’m craving those right now.
So glad you landed here Eva. Hope you get to make them soon. They’re deeply savoury, as you’d expect from a good bacon gravy. Thanks for stopping by.
I love this recipe and have made it three times, with bacon each time. The sauce is incredible, savory and just slightly sweet with however much heat you like. One comment is about the meatball servings. I double the recipe including the meat. My meatballs are made using a small cookie dough scoop (I would not make them any smaller) and get 25 balls in a double recipe. I think 5 or 6 per person is just right and am thinking the count of 20-24 in a single recipe is inaccurate. Two other comments, one about the salt. When using bacon I would leave out any additional salt until the end ,”to taste”. Second, I ordered Mrs. Ball’s peach chutney and it was worth the extra effort although alternative preserves for sweetness can be just as good. And one last note. This last time I used 1lb ground beef and 1lb sweet Italian sausage for meatballs and they were very nice. Enjoy!