A perfect meal in one bite – Beef, Apple and Quinoa balls
A batch of these, don’t last long in my house. My kids love to dip them in this low sugar ketchup, but I love them with a sweet chilli sauce – soooo good.
These Beef, Apple and Quinoa Balls are great served warm out of the oven or cold, so are perfect for snacks, lunch boxes or taking on picnics.
These are a great way to use up some leftover cooked quinoa. I don’t know about you, but I often cook far too much, I think I do it deliberately just so I can use the leftovers for a recipe like this.
Quinoa is so versatile in a lot in many recipes, it is similar in size to couscous, but is gluten free and has a slight nutty flavour to it.
For these Beef, Apple and Quinoa Balls I use some lean ground beef, but you could also use lamb, chicken, pork or turkey, you might want to switch up the apple and try other ingredients that compliment the meat you use. Dried cranberries or apricots for instance go really well with chicken or turkey.
These can also be frozen once cooked, and just reheated in an oven at 180c/350f
These Beef, Apple and Quinoa Balls are also dairy free, you don’t need the cheese in these to bind it together, as the meat does that for you, although some cheddar would go really nice against the beef. Those would be like a cheeseburger quinoa ball – yum!!
Beef, Apple and Quinoa balls
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free and nut free
Ingredients
- 500 g (17.5oz) lean ground beef
- 500 g (17.5oz) cooked quinoa
- 1 large apple grated
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 handful coriander/cilantro
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 large egg beaten
- olive oil in spray bottle
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 180c/350f
-
Add to a large bowl the beef, apple, paprika, cumin, tomato paste,freshly chopped coriander and black pepper
-
Add the cooked quinoa to the meat mixture along with the beaten egg and work together thoroughly.
-
Form into equal size balls and place on a greased baking tray. Spray over the top with olive oil.
-
Bake in the oven until golden all over and cooked through. (approx 30 mins)
-
These are great served as they are or with a homemade tomato sauce. The mixture can also be used for burgers or a meatloaf.
If you were going to make this as a mini meatloaf, what do you think the cooking time would (or would it?) change to? I can’t wait to try this for my little girl, I love all of your recipes!
So sorry for the late reply, it might take a little longer cooking, I would start checking it from the time suggested for the bites 🙂
How much is 500 g of quinoa? I’m from USA cannot figure this out. Thanks.
Hi Lisa – it is 17.5oz 🙂
Can I make this without quinoa ?
of course, they just are more of a full meal in one for little ones with the quinoa added 🙂
Can it be frozen?
They sure can
How do you heat from frozen?
Just place on a baking tray and pop in the oven on about 180c/350f till heated through 🙂