Salisbury Steak Meatballs

My next column for The Daily Herald is going to be these Salisbury Steak Meatballs.

I have to thank my WW friend Jim for the hookup.

Almost a year ago, Jim asked if I would like to contribute to the local paper in their food column.  The immediate answer was “of course!”  He said there was no pay, and my immediate answer was “of course!”

Most local papers are owned by bigger ones, and our Daily Herald is owned by the Washington Post.   Nearly all the contributors our local paper are from the Post, such as Ellie Krieger.

I’ve watcher her t.v. shows on Food Network and the second column I wrote my recipes and articles were right along side hers – how cool is that?!

But, you have to live in my county to actually see the recipe in print.  Since most of my followers don’t live near me, I am posting my next article for the Herald here.  The ingredient list looks long, but this is really a very easy dish.

What kind of meat should you use for Salisbury Steak?

For this dish, I used Butcher and Box ground beef, which is 80/20 – meaning it’s 80% lean and because of the 20% fat, utterly delicious.  However, you could use ground sirloin, or even ground turkey breast if you really wanted to lighten it up.  Then it would just be turkey meatballs over mashed potatoes.  Whatever protein you decide will be delicious.

What is the difference between Salisbury Steak and Chopped Steak?

My late husband used to order chopped steak when he was doing low carb at restaurants.  I would tell him it was just an open faced cheeseburger without the cheese, but he said it was completely different.  A quick google search says that chopped steak is ground beef seasoned with salt and pepper.  Huh.  That sounds like a burger to me!  Salisbury Steak usually uses fillers like egg and bread crumbs.  I use so little bread crumbs that the beef really shines in this dish.

Instructions on how to make this ahead of time are in the recipe card.  Since I had roasted the carrots while I was baking scones yesterday, these carrots only needed to be seared in the same skillet as the meatballs while cooking.

Fun fact – I never liked mushrooms until about six years ago.  My husband LOVED them, but since I didn’t, they rarely made the menu or grocery list.  The only time I remembered to buy them was when I was grilling steak and would cook them up for him.   Several years ago I went to a certified angus beef event, and everyone was raving about these mushrooms and I just had to try then.  They were spectacular and I’ve loved them ever since.

Once you make gravy from scratch, you’ll never buy store bought gravy again.  This can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to five days.  I’ve also made a recipe for grilled Salisbury steak – you can find that here.

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Salisbury Steak Meatballs

Yield: 2 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Salisbury Steak meatballs with mushroom gravy is the perfect winter comfort food. You can make it ahead of time and it would be ready in about ten minutes.

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Ingredients

• For the Gravy:
• 1 cup beef broth (you can use low sodium)
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 teaspoon flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• Cracked pepper to taste
• For the Meatballs:
• 8 ounces of ground beef (I used 80/20)
• 1/8 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1/2 teaspoon horseradish
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional!)
• Salt and pepper to taste*
• For the carrots:
• 2 large carrots, peeled
• Avocado oil spray
• Salt and pepper
• For the mashed potatoes:
• 1 large baked potato (about 8-10 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup milk (I used cashew milk)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a skillet, spray with avocado oil spray and sauté the mushrooms for 4-5 minutes.  Add butter and melt.  Add flour and stir for a minute.  Pour in the broth, Worcestershire sauce and cook for about 4-5 minutes, until thickened.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.\
2. Mix the ground beef ingredients together in a bowl.  Pinch off a piece, cook and taste to adjust seasoning. *Because my gravy was on the salty side, I dipped my test meatball into the gravy, and decided I didn’t need to add any more salt to the meatballs.  Cook the meatballs over medium heat, turning to brown on all sides, for ten minutes. 
3. Roast the carrots for 15 minutes at 425.  Once the meatballs are out of the pan, add the carrots to the pan to char, about five minutes over medium high heat.
4. For the mashed potatoes, bake the potato in the microwave for 8 minutes.  Let cool slightly.  Cut in half, scoop out the potato into a bowl, add the butter and add enough milk to get the consistency you prefer.  Mash with a potato masher and salt and pepper to taste.

To plate!

Place the mashed potatoes on the bottom of the plate.  Top with the meatballs, add the carrots to the side and top with the mushroom gravy.  Enjoy!

To make this ahead:

Roast the carrots ahead of time and store in the fridge

You can make the mashed potatoes ahead of time and store in the fridge.  Simply reheat in the microwave, adding a bit more milk if you need to thin them out.

You can roll out the meatballs and keep in the fridge up to two days before cooking.

The gravy only takes five minutes, so I wouldn’t bother making that ahead of time.

Notes

I used 80/20 beef from Butcher Box for this recipe. That made this whole plate 13 points on all WW plans. If you use ground sirloin, it brings it down to 9 points on all plans.

Click here for the WW link for the meatballs.

If you count calories or macros, each plate is 441 calories, 14 fat, 32 carbs, 1.9 fiber and 44 protein.

Did you make this recipe?

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