Breakfast Meatballs

These breakfast meatballs are soft, juicy and loaded with so much flavour. Better still, they’re so easy to make!

Yes, we’ve reached the level on this blog where we’re eating meatballs for breakfast 😂. Oh c’mon, you know it makes sense. In fact, once you give these breakfast meatballs a go they’re bound to be a regular appearance on your breakfast plate! Follow me…

Breakfast Meatballs

What makes these ‘breakfast’ meatballs?

Good question. These are really nothing like a regular Italian meatballs. I mean appearance-wise yes, but the flavour is much different. The bulk of these meatballs are made with sausage meat, which is of course a breakfast staple. They’re then loaded bacon and mushrooms to emphasise that breakfast feel.

As such, you’d typically serve these where you’d usually serve sausages. So yes, that is me dunking a meatball into brown sauce instead of marinara sauce and yes it’s delicious!! 🤪

There’s a little bit of prep that goes into these meatballs, namely frying the bacon and sweating down the mushrooms, onion & garlic.

Bacon

I cook the strips whole and dice after they’re crispy. You’ll want to fry the bacon fairly low and slow to render down as much fat as possible. This will not only crisp up the bacon, which in turn makes it easier to finely dice, but it also gives you a base to fry the mushrooms.

Mushrooms, Onion & Garlic

The quantity seems like a large amount, but they shrink a lot, so don’t worry. Theoretically you could add the onion, mushrooms and garlic into the meatballs raw, but you lose out on a lot of flavour. Plus they’d release A LOT of moisture as the meatballs cook, which is fine to an extent, but it’d be more than necessary and the meatballs wouldn’t caramelize properly.

Can I do this step ahead of time?

Yep! Just allow everything to completely cool then tightly store in the fridge overnight or until needed to make the meatballs.

Sausage Breakfast Meatballs

What kind of sausage meat to use?

You’ll find sausage meat in most supermarkets, but if you can’t, just squeeze the meat from some ‘neutral flavoured’ sausages (i.e not herby or specially spiced sausages). In the US I believe you’re looking for ‘breakfast sausage’. Do not sub regular ground pork.

Fresh Breadcrumbs

Fresh breadcrumbs will give these meatballs a far softer texture, as opposed to say regular dried breadcrumbs or Panko breadcrumbs. To make the breadcrumbs just pulse bread slices in a food processor, or dice them into cubes as small as you can. You’ll then want to soak them in milk & Worcestershire sauce. The breadcrumbs will absorb the liquid and cling onto it to keep the meatballs nice and juicy.

Process shots: add breadcrumbs to large bowl (photo 1), mash in Worcestershire sauce and milk (photo 2), add bacon, mushrooms, onion, egg, parsley and s&p (photo 3), mix to combine (photo 4), add sausage (photo 5), incorporate with your hands (photo 6).

Baked Breakfast Meatballs

The easiest way to cook the meatballs is to bake them. You could pan fry them, but because these have a fairly high bread content they do get stuck quite easily unless you’ve got a really good non-stick pan. Also, you’ll have to do it in batches, so realistically you end up taking just as long as if they’re baked.

Can I make these ahead of time?

If you can, I recommend making them fresh, but you can either prep them ahead of time or fully make them ahead of time. I’ve added a section on this in the recipe card notes below.

Process shots: roll into meatballs and place on baking tray (photo 1), bake in the oven (photo 2).

Serving Breakfast Meatballs

As I mentioned at the beginning, I usually serve these in replacement of sausages at a cooked breakfast. They are however awesome in breakfast style wrap with avocado, scrambled egg and breakfast potatoes (photo below).

For more similar recipes check out these beauties:

Delicious Meatballs Recipes

• BBQ Meatballs
• Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
• Cranberry Turkey Meatballs
• Skillet Meatballs

Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these breakfast meatballs shall we?!

How to make Breakfast Meatballs (Full Recipe & Video)

5 from 3 votes

Next Level Breakfast Meatballs

By: Chris Collins

These breakfast meatballs are soft, juicy and loaded with so much flavour. Better still, they're so easy to make!

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 35 minutes mins

Total: 50 minutes mins

Servings: 20 meatballs

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Equipment

• Large Mixing Bowl
• Large Baking Tray & Parchment Paper
• Frying Pan & Wooden Spoon
• 1tbsp Measuring Spoon

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1lb / 500g Sausage Meat (see notes)
• ▢ 3/4 cup / 45g Fresh Breadcrumbs (see notes)
• ▢ 1/4 cup / 60ml Milk
• ▢ 5oz / 150g Mushrooms, very finely diced (this seems a lot but they shrink down A LOT once fried)
• ▢ 3.5oz / 100g Bacon
• ▢ 1 small Onion, very finely diced
• ▢ 1 clove of Garlic, finely diced
• ▢ 1 tbsp Freshly Parsley (or 1 tsp dried parsley)
• ▢ 2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• ▢ 1 Egg
• ▢ 1/4 tsp EACH: Salt, White Pepper
• ▢ Oil Spray, as needed

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Instructions 

• In a large pan add bacon slices and gently fry over low-medium heat until crispy with the fat rendered down. Remove bacon and leave fat in the pan. Very finely dice bacon to a crumb like texture once cool.
• Turn heat to medium and add in onion and mushroom. Fry until very soft and tender with the moisture drawn out, then add in garlic and fry for another couple of minutes. The onions/mushrooms should shrink down a lot and be nicely browned. Remove and leave to cool.
• In a large mixing bowl add fresh breadcrumbs. Pour in milk & Worcestershire sauce and mash with a fork until the breadcrumbs absorb the liquid. Add in bacon, mushrooms, onion & garlic alongside parsley, egg, salt and white pepper. Mix with a fork until everything is incorporated. Add in sausage meat and use your hands to mix everything until evenly combined.
• Use a 1tbsp measuring spoon to scoop out chunks of meat and space out on a large baking tray with parchment paper. Once all the chunks are scooped, one by one roll them into balls.
• Coat with oil spray then place in the oven at 200C/390F for 20mins, or until deep golden and piping hot through the centre.

Video

Notes

a) Sausage Meat - You'll find sausage meat in most supermarkets, but if you can't, just squeeze the meat from some 'neutral flavoured' sausages (i.e not herby or specially spiced sausages). In the US I believe you're looking for 'breakfast sausage'. Do not sub regular ground pork.

b) Breadcrumbs - 3/4cup/45g fresh breadcrumbs is the equivalent of 1 large slice of soft white sandwich bread. Easiest to pulse slices of bread in a food processor to make the crumbs. If you don't have a food processor just slice bread into cubes as small as you can. From there, just make sure the cubes soak up as much moisture as possible from the milk/Worcestershire sauce before combining with the rest of the ingredients.

c) Prep Ahead - You can fully prep them and tightly cover in the fridge overnight, then spray with oil and bake as instructed (add a few more mins if baking straight from the fridge). You can also freeze them. I recommend freezing them on a tray then transferring to a ziplock bag after a few hours, just to ensure they don't stick together. From there just thaw in the fridge then bake.

d) Make Ahead - You can, but they do dry out as they rest/reheat. Once baked, just allow to completely cool then tightly cover in the fridge for 2-3days or freeze for a month. Reheat in the oven at 180C/350F until piping hot through the centre again (thaw in fridge first if freezing).

e) Serving - These work great in replacement of sausages in a cooked breakfast (alongside my Breakfast Potatoes and Poached Egg). 

f) Calories - per meatball (20 in total).

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Nutrition

Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 2.19g | Protein: 4.7g | Fat: 9.43g | Saturated Fat: 2.684g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.007g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3.364g | Trans Fat: 0.004g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 240mg | Potassium: 127mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 0.68g | Vitamin A: 34IU | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 0.5mg

Looking for more?

You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’

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