Cheddar Stuffed Western  Meatballs

    The Western Burger is something that you find on a lot of menus – it’s a classic combination of cheddar cheese, bacon, and a good creamy BBQ sauce. I decided that it also needed to be one of my classic meatball recipes!

    Cheddar Stuffed Western Meatballs

    Prep Time: 45 minutes
    Cook Time: 23 minutes
    Servings: 33 Meatballs
    These meatballs were inspired by the classic Western Burger. I love taking classic burgers like a good old Juicy Lucy that we have in Minnesota and making it into a meatball. You can find my Juicy Lucy recipe here, but it's really similar to this one for my Western Meatballs. The biggest difference in recipes is that this one is loaded up with bacon. I added cooked bacon to the meat mixture to pack in that flavor that's associated with a Western Burger. It's got all the good stuff, bacon, fried onion strings, and western sauce. They are stuffed with a good amount of cubed cheddar cheese to make each meatball taste like you're getting an entire Western Burger in one bite.
    I made this recipe with an entire package of bacon and two pounds of ground meat. If you don't have a whole lot of people to feed you can totally cut this recipe in half and use the remaining bacon the next morning for breakfast! Or cook the entire batch of bacon and keep it on hand for bacon bits for salads or loaded baked potatoes!
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    Ingredients

    Meatball Ingredients

    • 1 package bacon cooked and crumbled
    • 2 lbs ground beef
    • 4 eggs
    • 2 cups plain breadcrumbs
    • 1 tbs Lowry's Season Salt
    • pepper to taste
    • 33 cubes cheddar cheese
    • 1/2 cup french fried onions for topping

    Western Sauce Ingredients

    • 1/2 cup ketchup
    • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
    • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
    • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
    • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
    • 2 tbsp brown sugar
    • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
    • 1/2 tsp onion powder
    • 1 tsp smoked paprika
    • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Instructions

    Meatball Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
    • Cook the bacon as you would normally cook it, in a pan or in the oven, and set aside to drain and cool.
    • While the bacon is cooling you can cut the block cheddar cheese into cubes and set them aside.
    • Combine all of your ingredients in a bowl, ground meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, Lowry's Season Salt, and cooled chopped-up bacon. Season to taste with pepper.
    • Take a scoop of the meat mixture and flatten it in your hand. You need enough to wrap the meat mixture around the block of cheddar cheese.
    • Place one cube of cheddar cheese in the middle of the meat mixture and gently roll the meat around the cheese.
    • Place your meatballs on a greased baking sheet and place them in the oven. Bake for 23 mins.
    • Once they have finished baking you can place them on a paper towel for a minute to remove the excess grease. Serve as sliders topped with Western Sauce and Crispy Fried Onions.

    Western Sauce Instructions

    • Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix well
    • Chill the sauce while the meatballs are cooking
    • Once the meatballs are out of the oven drizzle the sauce over the meatballs
    • Top with French fried onions to serve
    Bowl of ingredients for Cheddar Stuffed Western Meatballs with frozen cubes of cheddar in a little bowl next to the bowl of meatball ingredients.

    I tend to take a lot of classic burger recipes and make them into meatballs. I think they are the perfect bite size alternative to a whole burger. There are a couple of benefits to making those classic burgers into meatballs, one is that you can have a couple of different options for your guests. If you have folks that are a little pickier and only like certain things you can cater to those folks with specific recipes. With bite sized options you can also show off your creativity with a variety of options.

    Another benefit of making those classic burgers into meatballs is you can serve sliders instead of a burger and still keep that familiarity of the classic burger for events or get-togethers. 

    Baking sheet lined with tinfoil with 31 Cheddar Stuffed Western Meatballs

    I add bacon to a lot of my meatballs and I like to cook the bacon before hand and crumble or chop it up to add to the meat. There are a couple reasons I like this method, one is that you get a little different texture from the precooked bacon in the meatball itself. I also think that you can get a better bacon flavor by adding the cooked bacon to the meat mixture for the meatballs.

    I also live in Minnesota which is the home of the Juicy Lucy. If you’re not familiar with that classic midwestern burger, it’s simply a burger stuffed with cheese. There are a couple of bars in the Minneapolis area that claim to be the home of this burger and both of the places make a killer Juicy Lucy. Those burgers were a part of my inspiration for a lot of my cheese stuffed meatballs.

     

    Serving suggestion for Cheddar Stuffed Western Meatballs served on a plate as sliders garnished with fresh parsley, served with coleslaw and extra western sauce

    There is a classic Western Sauce that goes on this burger so it’s included in this meatball recipe. It’s a simple ratio of one to one of your favorite BBQ sauce and mayonnaise. The Western Sauce is a nice creamy and tangy addition to these little cheese stuffed balls. 

    One extra element that goes on a good Western Burger are some crispy fried onions. I found the kind that go on a classic green bean casserole that a lot of us have on Thanksgiving. The crispy fried onions add another texture and flavor to the meatballs.

    You can serve these guys in a crockpot with all of the fixings on the table for people to make their own. You can also serve them as sliders at your next gathering. If you’re trying to stay away from bread you can always set them up on toothpicks topped with the Western Sauce and fried onions so people can help themselves to a ball or two! 

    Close up of my Cheddar Stuffed Western Meatballs as sliders on a plate with western sauce, melted cheddar, topped with onion straws

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