Welcome to day two of eggplant week!🍆 Yes an entire week dedicated to the most underrated vegetable, and if you’ve been keeping up you know we recently made a classic Eggplant Parmigiana. I’ve heard it all before: “I don’t like eggplant”, but rest assured I come armed with tried and true eggplant dishes like this Eggplant Meatballs recipe (aka Polpette di Melanzane Con Carne Macinata).
I grew up on polpette di melanzane con carne macinata. This recipe brings me back to family dinners, and full bellies and I’m so happy I finally snagged the recipe from my mom. Think of these as a classic twist on a traditional meatball recipe. Eggplant meatballs are loaded with tender eggplant, ground beef, fresh herbs, garlic, breadcrumbs and pecorino romano.
🍆 Why You’ll Love These Eggplant Meatballs (Polpette di Melanzane)
Comfort food: warm and comforting, these eggplant meatballs will be a huge hit.
Easy to prepare: requiring only a few simple ingredients.
Delicious: tender eggplant combined with ground beef, fresh herbs, garlic and cheese make for a flavourful bite.
🗒 Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Eggplant Meatballs
Canola oil: other oils such as vegetable oil would also work.
Eggs: which helps to bind the ingredients together.
Eggplants: add an earthy, slightly sweet flavour that ensures the meatballs are left tender.
Lean ground beef: adds a meaty and flavourful counterpart to the eggplant.
Italian seasoned breadcrumbs: acts as a binder to hold the ingredients together, making it easier to fry.
Garlic cloves: adds spice and flavour.
Fresh Italian parsley: adds a brightness and aromatic flavour.
Pecorino romano: adds a slightly nutty, salty flavour to the meatballs.
Red pepper flakes: used to kick up the heat; this is optional.
👀 How To Make Eggplant Meatballs
- Prepare the eggplants: Boil the eggplants for 10-15 minutes, or until the insides are soft and tender, and you can very easily indent them using a spoon.
- Remove the eggplant skins: remove half of the eggplant skins and leave the other half on the eggplants.
- Chop the pulp: Chop the eggplants into small pieces.
- Remove excess moisture: Using paper towels, gently blot the chopped eggplant pressing gently to remove as much moisture as possible.
- Combine the ingredients: To a large bowl, add all of the ingredients and mix well. Shape the meatballs using your hands, giving them more of an oval shape.
- Fry: Until dark brown and cooked through, flipping as needed.
👉🏻 Sammy’s tips
Follow these tips to nail this eggplant meatballs recipe ⤵️
- Firstly, if the mixture seems too wet, add another 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs and see if that helps. If not, gently roll them out into oval shaped meatballs and refrigerate overnight. This will help remove some of the moisture. In addition, add a splash of olive oil to your hands to avoid the mixture from sticking.
- Secondly, fry one of the eggplant meatballs to taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.
- Lastly, ensure you remove as much moisture from the eggplants as possible when blotting with a paper towel.
🗒️ Variations & Substitutions
Love a dipping sauce? Serve these eggplant meatballs with pesto or tomato sauce.
🤝 Pairs Well With
- Simple House Salad
- Chicken Cutlets
- The Best Caesar Salad You’ll Ever Have
- Anchovy Pasta
- Caramelized Onion Pasta
🤔 FAQ’s
How do I pick the right eggplants?
Firstly, you want the eggplants to be fresh looking. Secondly, choose eggplants that are firm and shiny.
The mixture seems too wet, what should I do?
Firstly, if the mixture seems too wet, add another 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs and see if that helps. If not, gently roll them out into oval shaped meatballs and refrigerate overnight. This will help remove some of the moisture. Secondly, add a splash of olive oil to your hands to avoid the mixture from sticking.
Do I need to remove the seeds?
If your eggplant has a ton of seeds, you can remove some.
Can I bake these instead of frying them?
While we prefer these fried, you can opt bake them. If so, lightly grease a baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through.
💌 Let’s Stay Connected
Keep in touch with me on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest! If you do make this recipe (or any recipe of mine) don’t forget to leave a review.
Eggplant Meatballs (aka Polpette di Melanzane Con Carne Macinata)
Ingredients
- 1 cup canola oil, or vegetable oil, see notes for frying below
- 2 large eggplants
- 2 eggs
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped fine
- 3/4 cup pecorino romano, finely grated
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Boil the eggplants: Bring a large pot of water to boil.Remove the end/tips of the eggplants, slice in half (horizontally) and add to the boiling water. Boil the eggplants (covered) for 10-15 minutes, or until the insides are soft and tender, and you can very easily indent them using a spoon. Transfer the eggplants to a colander and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes or until you can easily handle them without burning yourself.
- Remove the eggplant skins: Remove half of the eggplant skins and leave the other half on the eggplants.Sammy's tip: If your eggplants have too many seeds you can remove some, but there's no need to remove them all. You can also choose to leave the skins on all of the eggplants and eliminate this step entirely.
- Chop the pulp: Chop the eggplants into small pieces and set aside.
- Remove excess moisture: Using paper towels, gently blot the chopped eggplant pressing gently to remove as much moisture as possible. Repeat a couple times. (see notes below)
- Combine the ingredients: To a large bowl, add the chopped eggplant, eggs, lean ground beef, Italian seasoned breadcrumbs, garlic, fresh Italian parsley, pecorino romano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.Gently mix together until well combined and you achieve a consistency that allows you to easily form meatballs.Shape the meatballs using your hands, giving them more of an oval shape.
- Fry: To a large, deep frying pan add the oil and set to medium/high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the meatballs, working in batches if you need.Fry until dark brown and cooked through, flipping as needed. About 3-4 minutes. Sammy's tip: 170–180°C (338–356°F) is a good oil temperature for frying.
- Serve: Using a slotted spoon, remove the meatballs from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My family loved this!
My family loved this!
Hi there-
can I roast the eggplant instead if boiling?
We always roast also. Love this recipe!
These meatballs were a huge hit! We aren’t big eggplant fans, so it is nice to sneak it in here to get some more variety in the veggies we eat. Even our 3 year old ate them!
I forgot to squeeze out the moisture in the eggplant before mixing it in and the meatballs were a bit more delicate to work with, but they still tasted great! They just didn’t hold together quite as well, which was definitely my error.
I would love to know what you would typically serve these with, so we can add them to our regular rotation.
These are quite literally the best meatballs I’ve ever eaten! So light, pillowy, and flavorful!! Thank you SO much for sharing and celebrating the wonderful eggplant!