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–+ servings

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