With three kinds of veggies and the texture and flavor your kids expect, this Healthy Meatball recipe is a perfect family dinner option. Bonus: These freeze well, too.
While I’m all for continuing to expose our kids to a variety of foods, there are times when tucking veggies into foods they already love—like meatballs—can be a big help in making easy toddler meals more nutritious.
Quick Look: Healthy Meatball Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Serving: about 8
- Flavor Profile: Classic Italian meatball flavor and tenderness
- Difficulty: Easy, perfect for everyday and toddler meal prep
- Why to Make: It’s a nutritious toddler meatball that is really yummy
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT
Table of Contents
And I love that, just like in my Baby Meatballs, we all get an extra serving of vegetables in these toddler meatballs in the process! This toddler meatball recipe is great with ground turkey or beef since it’s very soft and easy to eat, even for babies and younger toddlers.
Why this Recipe Works
These toddler meatballs have extra veggies, an easy method, and a truly delicious flavor. They are delicious on their own, simmered in easy Marinara Sauce or Hidden Vegetable Pasta Sauce, and/or paired with a favorite pasta. They are soft and easy for kids to eat, too.
(You can find more Hidden Veggie Recipes, plus my Baked Chicken Meatballs and favorite toddler pasta recipes.)
Ingredients You Need
To make this healthy meatball recipe for toddlers you’ll need to have the following ingredients on hand.
- Carrots, parsley, and onion: These add flavor and nutrients to the meatballs.
- Ground beef: I like grass-fed beef for the extra healthy fats and since it tends to be leaner, but any type will do.
- Bread crumbs: Plain or Italian-flavored bread crumbs work well here.
- Egg: This helps the meatballs hold together.
- Milk: A little milk adds moisture to help the batter stay moist and delicious.
- Grated Parmesan
- Salt: Optional to taste.
Featured Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“These meatballs have an incredible flavor. They pair perfectly with Amy’s marinara sauce. I’ll definitely make them again and again.” —Elle
How to Make Healthy Meatballs
Here’s a look at the process involved in making these healthy toddler meatballs so you know what to expect. Scroll down to the end of the post for the full amounts and times.
Step 1. Add the veggies to the food processor. Grind to mince.
Step 2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix to make the batter.
Step 3. Portion into 2-tablespoon size meatballs and place on the baking sheet.
Step 4. Bake, drain fat if needed, and serve plain or with tomato sauce or other desired sauce.
TIP: Once cooked, you can drain on a paper towel-lined plate if desired, and simmer in marinara sauce or just leave plain.
Your toddler won’t eat? Help is here!
Sign up for our email updates to get tips and ideas sent your way!
Healthy Meatballs FAQs
This easy meatball recipe comes together easily in a food processor to ensure that the batter is uniform and comes together without fuss. Yes, you have to wash the food processor, but the evenly chopped meat and veggie mixture is well worth that minimal effort. (And you can always stick it into the dishwasher!)
With three kinds of veggies, lean ground beef, and a method that allows you to easily drain off any excess fat, these are a healthy meatball recipe to share with the whole family.
Sure! You can make these with just 1 tablespoon of the mixture and reduce the cooking time to closer to about 18-22 minutes.
Meatballs with hidden vegetables are an excellent food for starting solids with baby-led weaning. You can offer small cubes or mash into marinara or tomato sauce and offer on a preloaded spoon. Your baby will get iron, as well as protein and fiber. And lots of flavor they will love!
Yes, simply swap in ground turkey for the ground beef in the recipe below. The texture and flavor will be similar, and the meatballs will have a slightly lighter final color. You may need to reduce the cooking time slightly. Aim for an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
How to Store
To store, let the toddler meatballs cool fully and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To make ahead, let cool fully, and freeze in a zip-top freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or simmer in a quart of marinara sauce in a large pot until thawed and warmed through.
Find more of my favorite Freezer Meals for new moms to help make life a little easier.
Best Tips for Success
- Grind the veggies up before you add the rest of the ingredients to the toddler meatball batter to make sure they are all uniform in size. This is key. You’re aiming for the veggies to have a similar consistency as the ground meat.
- They’re a great recipe to make a double batch—serve one batch for dinner this week and stash the other into the freezer for a future easy freezer meal for families.
- Simmer them in easy marinara sauce for even more tender and flavorful meatballs, just like grandma would have done! (Or at least, my grandma would have done, but you don’t have to.)
- Even though there are vegetables tucked into this recipe, I still recommend being honest with your kids about what they’re eating. Make them together, be excited about their dinner, and share the good news!
- See the Notes below for allergy swaps.
More Toddler Meatballs
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe, so please comment below!
Healthy Meatballs (with Hidden Vegetables)
Ingredients
- ½ cup carrots, roughly chopped
- ½ cup parsley leaves, lightly packed
- 1 small onion, peeled and halved
- ½ cup Italian-flavored bread crumbs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Coat with nonstick spray. Place the carrots, parsley, and onion into a food processor. Grind well, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the remaining ingredients and grind to combine into a smooth mixture. Portion into 2-tablespoon-size meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with warm marinara sauce and pasta (or ketchup and other simple sides!) as desired.
Video
Notes
- To store, let cool fully and store in an airtight container in the fridge or up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Grind the veggies up before you add the rest of the ingredients to make sure they are all uniform in size. This is key. You’re aiming for the veggies to have a similar consistency as the ground meat.
- Simmer them in marinara sauce for even more tender and flavorful meatballs.
- Serve them diced or mashed to younger toddlers and babies as needed.
- Sub in ground turkey if desired.
- Gluten-free, simply use GF bread crumbs (these are really good) or even cornmeal.
- Egg-free: Omit the egg and add a splash of milk.
- Dairy-free: Omit the Parmesan and make as is or add some nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor.
Nutrition
This post was first published November 2017.
This turned out great. I omitted the cheese & milk. I also added spinach instead of parsley. My 2.5 year old loved it. Thanks for sharing.
Fresh spinach or frozen and drained? Love this idea
This was great! Thank you so much for the recipe! Kids ate it and hubby enjoyed too so it’s definitely a winner!
Kiddos LOVED these. Texture and flavor were great both for 8 month old and 2 year old. 2 year old kept asking for more.
Can you leave out the cheese and milk?
Probably though you’ll lose a little flavor from omitting the cheese so you may want to add a pinch of salt.
Would these work with unsweetened almond milk?
As long as it’s plain
EVERYONE loved these! 3 year old (who is very particular on her meat), baby, and husband. Husband agreed that you couldn’t taste the veggies – a true test. This is the only way I’ll make meatballs from now! We served them with marinara sauce and cheese -loved them!
I substituted a pound of turkey sausage for a pound of chopped turkey. It was delicious! I will definitely be making this again.
Hello what would be the perfect size of food processor?
Thanks before hand 😊
I use a 13 cup, but an 8 or 9 would be fine too.
Hi, I’d like to know if I could possibly substitute the parsley with some other green veggies (such as kale)?
Yes, you could do that
Thank you for this recipe!
It tastes great as is, and I’ve also had success after trying it a couple of times with modifications (simply to use up some other ingredients available at hand):
1. substitute parsley with fresh kale
2. Substitute parsley with fresh broccoli florets
3. Substitute breadcrumbs with almond flour (to make it GF)
In all instances my kids loved them and gobbled them up!
I will try these tomorrow!! Could I skip or substitute the Parmesan ? I have histamine intolerance and can’t have it
You could add a different shredded cheese if you prefer!
I love this recipe, but I have a problem I do not have a food processor… Can I do such thing just with my hand, what do you think?) Thank you, love your recipes Amy!
You could certainly grate the vegetables with a box grater and mince the parsley, then just mix everything together with your hands!
My daughter loves these! We did not use the parsley or onion. We also used half plain and half regular bread crumbs (I wasn’t sure if she would like Italian seasoning being new to table foods). Even after freezing they are still moist and delicious. Thank you!! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
I’m so glad!
Could I use oats to substitute breadcrumbs?
I haven’t made them that way so I can’t say for sure, but I bet it would work.
The thing is- these meatballs are incredible whether you’re a toddler or not. But the fact that the toddler, who is so hot and cold on everything else we serve her, will always always ALWAYS go for these is a huge bonus. AND I was able to work in extra veggies??? Magic. Honestly, they can just stop anyone else from trying to make another meatball recipe bc we’ve already achieved perfection.
I am so glad to hear that!
So here is the thing, this recipe is amazing, soft, tender, tasty, and easy. My son is 2 and a half, he is been giving me a hard time with meals and food in general, so I have been trying to look for recipes that is healthy and doesn’t have too many ingredients. I tried it today ,I put it on the dinner table and he just came tasted it and started eating. I was sooooo happy I will do it for him regularly.
Thank you I will definetly check more recipes from you. 🤗🤗
Awesome!