Easy Meatballs Good Enough for Guests

With a side of rice, meathballs are a supper dish. But with the help of a pretty paper cocktail napkin and some decorative toothpicks, they turn into a popular hor d’eouvre…

We like to cook up a batch of meatballs whenever the lean ground beef (a.k.a. hamburger meat) goes on sale, and freeze any leftovers. Zap in the microwave when you want to heat them up to serve.

If you mix up a different kind of sauce for the meatballs each time, you’ll end up with a nice selection in the freezer. Then, when unexpected guests turn up one evening, just pull out this whole smorgasbord array of meatballs to serve — you’ll look so totally together!

Basic Meatballs Recipe

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 egg

Mix together the meat, oats, and egg. Roll into balls and microwave for about 5 minutes on high power.

Combine the ingredients for the sauce of your choice — Cranberry Meatballs and BBQ Meatballs are two of our favourite recipes (below). Place meatballs in a large casserole dish and pour the sauce on top. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

BBQ Sauce Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 1 cup ginger ale
• 1 cup ketchup or BBQ sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Cranberry Sauce Ingredients

• 1 can cranberry sauce (14 oz.)
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste

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