These paleo Chipotle Meatballs were absolutely scrumptious. Â I did change the recipe a tad so they wouldn’t be too spicy for me. The recipe makes a LOT of meatballs — well, for two of us it was a lot. Â We ate the leftovers for breakfast and lunch — yum!
There are two sets of ingredients that you’ll need to get started …
This is the first time I’ve purchased clarified butter (also known as Ghee). It comes in a bottle and doesn’t have to be refrigerated. Â Interesting, no?
The original recipe uses dried chipotles peppers but it says that we can also use canned chipotle peppers — I chose the canned. This is what they look like — make sure you remove the seeds.
Oh — here’s what the clarified butter looks like … smushed butter (laughing).
Prep your ingredients so you can have them ready as needed. Make sure you read through all of the instructions first — I know, I know, it’s a simple instruction but when I’m in a hurry I think I can wing it as I go along and sometimes it just doesn’t work.
This is what your meatballs will look like before you fry them. You can make them smaller so they will be bite-sized if you wish.
I used two skillets to fry the meatballs because I wanted them to be almost cooked at the same time.
Next you’ll be putting the meatballs in a large pot with the sauce and cooking them through.
Are you ready to try this delicious recipe? Don’t be afraid to make the whole batch — really and seriously, these are good. Just make sure you adjust the spices to your taste.
Ingredients (for the meatballs)
- 1Â large onion, peeled and diced (reserve half of the cooked onion for the sauce)
- 2 pounds ground beef (I used 2.13 — that’s just the way the measurement came out)
- 2 canned chipotle peppers (seeds removed)
- 2Â tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 2Â large garlic cloves, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander powder
- 1Â teaspoon ground cumin powder
- 1Â teaspoon paprika
- Â 3 Â tablespoon virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2Â teaspoon sea or kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons clarified butter (ghee)
Ingredients (for the sauce)
- 1/2Â of the onion mentioned above
- 2Â garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 canned chipotle peppers, seeds out
- 1/2Â teaspoon ground coriander powder
- 1Â teaspoon ground cumin powder
- 1/2Â teaspoon paprika
- 2Â bay leaves
- 1 1/2 cups diced canned tomatoes
- 1/2Â teaspoon salt
Directions
- In a large skillet, saute the onion in 2 tablespoons clarified butter until it’s clear.
- You’ll be using half of the onion in the meatball mix and reserving the rest for the sauce in a side bowl.
- While the onion is cooking, pre-chop all the other ingredients for the meatballs.
- Slice the chipotle peppers in half, remove the seeds then chop the peppers finely.
- Combine the beef with half of the cooked onion, garlic, chilies, paprika, cumin, coriander, salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil.
- Use your hands to knead and combine all of the ingredients then make small balls from the meat mixture.
- Set the meatballs aside until you’re ready to cook them.
- Preheat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet (or two) until its hot. If you use 2 skillets, make sure you add olive oil to each one (I showed 2 tablespoons because I used 2 skillets).
- Add the meatballs and cook on medium high heat for 3 minutes on each side or until well browned. You will not be cooking them all the way through at this point.
- Add the sauce ingredients to a large pot along with the rest of the cooked onion (but not the tomato puree yet).
- Stir the sauce to blend everything well, then add the diced tomatoes and stir completely.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes stirring frequently as you want the meatballs to cook all the way through.
- Once the meatballs are cooked through, taste the sauce to make sure you don’t need to adjust anything, i.e. more salt, cumin, etc.
And — that’s it! Â This recipe really is worth trying. Â You can make the meatballs without the chipotle peppers but they really do give it a nice little burst of flavor. Â Want them spicier? Just add more chipotle peppers. And then … enjoy!
I served the meatballs on a bed of pumpkin ginger noodles with a side salad.
This recipe was adapted just a tad from Finger Lickin’ Chipotle Meatballs.
