These zucchini "meatballs" are a perfect meal to serve to friends and family of all different eating lifestyles. They are a fantastic stand in for traditional meatballs in texture and are a little better for you than all beef or pork meatballs from a health standpoint.
Jump to Recipe (or scroll for photos and riveting information...)These zucchini meatballs are a delicious meal for everyone – vegetarians and meat-eaters alike, and I love them for that very inclusive quality. Vegetarians will love them because they are hearty, satisfying, tasty and filled with good vegetable ingredients. Meat-eaters will love them for the same reasons – hearty, satisfying, tasty and honestly such a great stand in for regular meatballs that you won’t even miss the meat.
The first step in making these meatballs is in preparing the zucchini. Zucchini has a high water content and it’s important to extract some of that moisture so that the meatball is not too wet. This just involves grating the zucchini, sprinkling it with salt and letting the salt draw out the water. Then, wring the zucchini as dry as you can with a clean kitchen towel. It’s not difficult – it just takes about ten minutes.
The other ingredients in this recipe are breadcrumbs, eggs, grated onion, Parmesan cheese, parsley, oregano and salt and pepper – all common kitchen staples. Toss all these ingredients together and then start shaping the mixture into twelve little balls – each a little smaller than a golf ball.
You can bake the meatballs in the oven or make them in the air fryer. If you’re using your oven, pour a little olive oil on a baking sheet and roll the meatballs around to coat. Bake at 375˚F for about 30 minutes, giving them a couple of turns during the cooking process to brown evenly. If you plan on using your air fryer, spray or toss the meatballs with oil and air-fry at 375˚F for about 20 minutes, rotating the meatballs halfway through.
You also have options when it comes to serving these meatballs. You could offer them with marinara sauce, eating them over rice, or as a meatball sub, or just with some bread to mop up any leftover sauce.
You could also serve these zucchini meatballs over spaghetti for a traditional spaghetti and meatball dinner. Add a side salad or a caesar salad on the side. This is a dinner that is a hit with everyone – vegetarian or not.
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Air-fry at 375°F for 20 minutes. Rotate or turn the meatballs a once or twice during the cooking process to evenly brown all side of the balls.
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These are absolutely wonderful. I thought they were a bit salty but I think I may have overdone it with the salt. You would never know they were zucchini exept for seeing it.
So yummy and easy! Will make it again this weekend for my wife and kids.
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I left out the parmesan and added more bread crumbs and a chopped roasted hatch chili pepper for my vegetarian guests. I’m glad I doubled the recipe because my meat-loving guests gobbled it up in addition to the beef meatballs I also made.
Yummy! I made the air fryer version and they worked perfectly! I used thickly grated Parmesan and that added little cheesy morsels inside – a treat. I made chicken to go with them, but next time they’ll work for a dinner on their own,
This is a delicious recipe for using our zucchini,summer or any other season of the year!! Made them in September for the first time and everyone loved them!! Making them today,for a repeat performance! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes with us!!!