Recipe Mutiny steals recipes from food blogs and recipe sites. Then we publish them. With credit (Naturally).
I’ve played around a lot with homemade pizza over the years — making this dough and that dough, trying thin crust pizzas on a baking stones and the backs of baking sheets, baking pizzas for one and pizzas for four.
But sheet pan pizza is my new best friend! And it can be yours, too.
Continue reading "Sheet Pan Pizza with Roasted Cauliflower and Greens" »
This no-knead pizza dough is laughably easy. Just whisk flour, yeast and salt in a bowl, add water and stir. Let rise, covered, overnight, and make your pizza. That’s it.
My recipe is based on the no-knead bread recipe originally developed by Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City. Here, I’ve added whole wheat flour to up the nutritional value and modified the amounts to make a dough that’s perfectly proportioned for making sheet pan pizza.
Continue reading "No-Knead Whole Wheat Pizza Dough" »
Vinegar is seemingly everywhere these days: Red wine vinegar hiding in salad dressings, balsamic vinegar reduced into a glaze for your steak, a shot of apple cider vinegar for whatever ails you, and white vinegar sprayed onto windows for that streak-free shine. Umpteen types line store shelves for your shopping pleasure, making home cooks fret as much about the best vinegar for their next cooking adventure as they do about which salt is best for seasoning.
It’s super easy to fall down the rabbit hole of each individual vinegar varietal as well. What’s the difference between the $100 and $10 bottles of balsamic? Is white wine vinegar the same as white vinegar? Here, we’ll help dig you back out of the rabbit hole with an easy how-to guide to differentiate between two of the most popular types of vinegars: balsamic and white.
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At its core, balsamic is a grape-based vinegar. Despite its deep, reddish-brown hue, balsamic is made from pressed white grapes, called must, which are traditionally Italian grapes such as Trebbiano. In the most classic Modena style, the must is boiled down to a thick syrup then put into wooden kegs to age. Each year the syrup is transferred into successively smaller kegs as moisture evaporates, concentrating the flavor even further. These traditionally made and highly regulated balsamics age for a minimum of 12 years, but some are aged for 25 years and there are even those that are aged for up to 100! The final product is a thick, viscous syrup with a concentrated flavor — not the kind of thin balsamic that you would pour over your salad. These curated liquids are designed for either drinking straight or drizzling as a finish over foods such as risotto and fruits. They are also the kind that pack quite the punch in your wallet: A bottle—which you can identify by the description “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale” and a D.O.P. stamp certifying its quality, style of production, and origin—can cost upwards of $100 for three ounces.
But fear not: As your supermarket shelves will show you, there are more affordable and versatile options at your disposal. Reach for a balsamic with an I.G.P. label, which is also certified as balsamic but not under the same strict regulations as a D.O.P. batch. I.G.P. balsamics are still made with grape must, but aren’t aged the same way and probably also have either a little wine vinegar to increase the acidity or other additives, such as thickeners or coloring agents. To see how pure your bottle is, simply check the label: If grape must is the only ingredient, you’ve got a high quality, more pure bottle. Vinegar on the label is okay, but if it’s listed first before the grape must, then your bottle is less pure and probably has a more sharp, tangy flavor. In any case, your I.G.P. bottle is what you’ll want to use for salad dressings, stews, reductions, and other common balsamic uses. You can easily create a rich balsamic syrup by reducing a cup of I.G.P. in a saucepan over a long slow simmer.
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If you were to walk in a stranger’s house and guess one type of vinegar they might have in their pantry, white vinegar would be a safe bet. A great vinegar to use from pickling to cleaning, white vinegar can do quite a lot. Be careful though: Many people will confuse white vinegar with white wine vinegar, which aren’t the same. White wine vinegar is made from…wait for it…white wine. Easy! However, white vinegar is made with acetic acid, which is derived from grain or grain alcohol. Simply diluting the acetic acid with distilled water results in a sour vinegar with a very high acid level ranging from 4% to 7%. Unlike balsamic, which has many different versions, white vinegar is white vinegar. The only difference would be in the strength of the acid, but that’s not anything you would notice while cooking.
Because of its strength, you’ll need to be careful how you use white vinegar. Remember, this stinky liquid is strong enough to clean counters and scorched pans. Unlike balsamic or white wine vinegars, white vinegar is not the stuff for drizzling in large quantities over your food. It balances well by using just a few drops to cut down on sweet flavors in foods like ketchup and barbecue sauce. However, if you have a large bottle that you want to use at once, pickling or fermenting will be your jam. In the end, these great varieties of vinegars, along with all of their brethren, are not only useful staples in the pantry but also the star of many recipes.
Elizabeth Rider
Most of the time when someone says the word “balsamic,” you instinctively want to say “vinaigrette.” It’s the perfect ingredient for an effortless, healthy topping that once you make it at home, you’ll never want to buy the store stuff again. Balsamic vinaigrette is also super customizable: For this recipe, if you don’t have a great quality balsamic you may want to increase the honey; if you prefer it tangier increase the balsamic or add a little lemon juice to make it bright and tart. Use whatever herbs suit your fancy to make it your own. Get the recipe.
Cake Boss Baking
This delicious, delicate dessert is a marvelous demonstration of how something as tangy as vinegar can go well with a dessert. Poaching the pears in balsamic gives them both a gorgeous hue and the deep flavor of subdued sweetness all in one. Top with a little ice cream and you’ll impress whomever you serve it to, even if it’s just yourself. Get the recipe.
Add a Pinch
It seems almost criminal to put a recipe for balsamic glaze because it’s so simple it’s barely a recipe. However, if you need some guidance, this one works quite well. Use a better-than-average balsamic to cook down, and if you don’t want it too sweet you can actually make it without the honey. My favorite is to drizzle it over caprese (tomato, basil, and mozzarella) skewers for dinner parties, but this goes great over desserts, fruit, salmon…well, pretty much anything you can think of. Get the recipe.
This juicy steak is a quintessential example of how balsamic can make an excellent marinade without rendering the food overly bitter or tangy. The marinade, elevated with brown sugar and marjoram, is easy to whip up before letting the steaks soak for a half hour. Remember to save some marinade for the relish. Get our Balsamic Marinated Grilled Flank Steak with Bell Pepper Relish recipe.
Gimme Some Oven
Love pickles? Don’t understand canning? Fridge pickles are for you! Using cucumbers, white vinegar, dill, and just a few other ingredients, you can turn cucumbers into pickles in your fridge in just a matter of days. Be sure to use canning salt, feel free to add sugar or red pepper flakes to sweet or sour them up, and enjoy anytime you choose. Get the recipe.
The Spruce
If you’re into tangy slaws, or just want to lighten up on calories by avoiding mayo-based ones, a white vinegar-based slaw is just what you need. The acidity of the vinegar adds tang to the sweet ingredients and gives a little something extra to the veggies. This recipe adds a unique flavor with the celery seed addition. Enjoy as a side (with the fridge pickles, of course) to any dish, or top on pulled pork or tacos. Get the recipe.
The Wholesome Dish
When I crave savory foods, nothing satisfies nearly as much as salt and vinegar chips, or dumping a bunch of malt vinegar on a pile of fries. Here, you get the same flavor in a homemade dish with fewer calories and preservatives. Apple cider vinegar works well here too in case your bottle of white vinegar runs out. Get the recipe.
The word tincture has been used since at least the 15th century as a Middle English term derived from the Latin word tinctura, which means the act of dying or tingeing. Tiny, colorful bottles of tinctures are sold at virtually every lifestyle, health and wellness store, and farmers market but while the word itself might be popular in today’s health-conscious conversations, let’s explore what a tincture actually is.
Tinctures have been used for thousands of years throughout the world. They are essentially herbs, seeds, bark, flowers, or other botanicals that have been extracted in a highly concentrated form in a liquid which is usually alcohol, vinegar, or vegetable glycerine.
Tinctures are typically used for medicinal purposes but are also ingested to lift the spirits, calm the nerves, or encourage a good night’s sleep. They are typically diluted in another liquid such as tea or water or a few drops are placed with a vial directly beneath the tongue for quick absorption into the bloodstream.
Tinctures can be expensive but they are easy to create at home and make wonderful gifts for the health-conscious people in your life. Once you understand how to make a tincture, the recipe possibilities are endless. It’s interesting to explore how the combination of various herbs and botanicals contribute to good health and wellness, following the path of the ancient tincture enthusiasts who came before.
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Whether encountered in Italian nonnas’ kitchens or in Swedish furniture store cafeterias, meatballs are always a welcome treat—but they’re certainly not locked into tradition if you don’t want them to be. You can turn pretty much anything into an edible ball, and not just various kinds of meat and grains; full meals can be compressed into one satisfying spherical package.
Meatballs are all kinds of convenient, too: they can be made ahead of time, generally freeze well, are easy to scale up for larger crowds, and make great bite-size party food (but if you want something bigger—glorious globes to go on a meatball sub, for instance—they’ll cook up just as beautifully as mini morsels). And there are multiple methods to achieve meatball perfection, from frying to baking to braising, so you can opt for whatever works best for you. Naturally, you can cook them in a Crock-Pot, Instant Pot, or garden variety slow cooker as well. They’re versatile and easygoing, and that’s always a good thing.
While there are loads of meatball recipes out there, you can also approach meatball making as an improvisational process. As long as you follow a loose basic formula, you can adapt them to whatever you have on hand, or whatever you’re in the mood for. This is especially helpful when it comes to serving certain types of food that can be messier and more time consuming to prepare for parties—if you want to make Reubens for a game day, say, you can prep Reuben meatballs in advance instead of trying to assemble a bunch of hot sandwiches at the last minute, so you don’t miss any of the action. Or if you have a movie night and don’t plan on plating a more formal meal but still want to offer something a touch more elegant or offbeat, you can let guests serve themselves from a pot or platter of kung pao chicken or coconut curry turkey meatballs, at their leisure (and yours).
Lamb Meatballs by Chowhound
Here’s a basic template for making meatballs (and meatless balls) of whatever kind you fancy:
Meat
Literally any type of meat is fair game for grinding and forming into orbs: beef, pork, veal, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, bison, lamb, goat, venison, elk, rabbit—you get the idea. Combining more than one kind of meat is a classic move too, and can help cut down on strong or gamy flavors, as well as add more fat to the mix. You can also work in finely diced bacon, sausage, pancetta, prosciutto, salami, etc. for extra flavor and fat. If you have leftover tender cooked meat, you can even mix some of that into your raw ingredients, as outlined here. And don’t forget about the option of adding seafood, as in these shrimp and pork meatballs. Whatever blend you use, aim for about a pound of meat to serve 4 people (though that can stretch farther as part of a larger spread), and simply double or triple your ingredients as needed.
Fattier meat mixtures will result in more tender meatballs, but if your protein is lean, you can add a bit more luscious body via cheese, like ricotta, feta, shredded Cheddar, or shredded mozzarella.
Veggies, Beans, and Grains
For meatless…foodballs (face it, there’s no great alternative name for them), you’ll want some sort of meaty matter like beans, lentils, tofu, seitan, tempeh, mushrooms, or coarsely ground nuts. For better flavor and texture, you can add cooked veggies, like greens, mashed yams or potatoes, cooked squash, or cooked eggplant too, and/or cooked grains like quinoa. You’ll also need a dry ingredient and an egg or egg substitute, which are covered in the next section. For a great visual representation of meatless meatball possibilities, check this chart out.
Bread
Use about ¼ cup of purchased dried breadcrumbs or panko per pound of meat, or make the same amount of fresh crumbs by pulsing bread in your food processor. Rolls, sandwich slices, baguettes, bakery loaves, whatever you’ve got. Gluten-free bread works too, but another great gluten-free option is pulverized rice Chex. You can even use blitzed Saltine crackers, rolled oats, cooked rice, almond or coconut flour, or cornmeal to add body, texture, and sticking power.
Eggs
Mixing in one raw egg per pound of meat will do you well, but if you don’t eat eggs (or you’re just out of them), you can substitute a variety of things: a flax or chia egg (i.e. 1 tablespoon of flax seeds or 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, whisked with 3 tablespoons boiling water); ¼ cup of ripe mashed avocado; a commercial egg replacement; or 3 tablespoons of aquafaba. Any of these will help hold your other ingredients together when you roll them into balls.
Rice Paper Banh Mi with Pork Meatballs by Chowhound
Since, as with meatloaf and sausage, you won’t have a chance to fix the seasoning of your meatballs once they’re done, you should really taste a tiny piece of the mixture before you commit to cooking the entire batch. Of course, you’ll want to cook that taste-test morsel too; just break off about a teaspoon’s worth of your meatball blend and pop it in your pan, oven, or pot of sauce, depending on what cooking method you’re using. If it tastes good, get on with the rest, but if it needs something more, add a bit of salt, pepper, acid, spice, or whatever you think it’s lacking.
In addition to plenty of salt, freshly ground pepper, and a little garlic, you can use whatever spices you like, from curry powder, Chinese five spice blend, or za’atar, to jerk spices, berbere, or Tex-Mex chili powder. Feel free to add some sauteed onion and fresh herbs too, like parsley, cilantro, mint, oregano, basil, etc. You can even experiment with adding pesto, harissa, and other sauces and condiments to the meat (or meat-free) mix. Cheese can add great flavor too, and extra moisture if it’s something creamy like blue cheese or ricotta, but drier Parmesan and the like are great for punching up flavor without changing the texture too much.
Even if it seems squicky, mixing your meatballs by hand is best, as it means you can employ a lighter touch—important so as not to make your meatballs too dense or tough—and you can feel when everything comes together. Don’t overwork the mixture, just be sure everything is combined and evenly distributed. You can use a scoop if you’re hell-bent on uniformly sized balls, but be careful not to compress the mixture, and when rolling them between your palms, be sure not to squeeze, or you’ll lose a certain fluffiness and be more likely to end up with dry, leaden meatballs.
While sauce is totally optional, it very often improves even the most already-fantastic meatball, as long as it harmonizes with the flavor profile of the meat mixture, of course. Marinara for Italian meatballs and cream sauce for Swedish meatballs are obvious choices, but use your intuition when it comes to other parings. Think Greek lamb meatballs (or falafel, which technically fits into the veggie balls category) served with tzatziki, or Indian-spiced chicken meatballs (or spinach-chickpea balls), with any good tikka masala or korma sauce. A rich, coconut milk-based sauce is a natural with curried or Thai-flavored meatballs, while a cheese sauce could work beautifully with burger-inspired balls. Barbecue sauce is great with shredded pork, so why not with pork meatballs? If you’re feeling fancy, match duck meatballs with a sauce à l’orange.
Elk Meatballs with Bourbon Barbecue Sauce by Chowhound
Fresh vs Frozen
You can start with fresh or frozen meatballs, which is handy since pretty much any meatball recipe freezes well. If you want to freeze raw, pre-rolled meatballs, you will need space for a sheet pan in your freezer, since tossing them right into a plastic bag means they’ll probably stick together when they freeze (although if you’re going to cook them in a big pot of sauce or slow cooker later, that doesn’t matter so much). You can also pre-cook your meatballs and then freeze them, to simply re-heat later on. Frozen raw meatballs should keep for up to 4 months in the freezer, while frozen pre-cooked meatballs should be good for 2 or 3 months. When it comes time to cook or re-heat, if you’re simmering, slow cooking, pressure cooking, or baking, there’s no need to thaw the meatballs first, but if you’re pan-frying them, then you may want to let them sit in the fridge overnight, or quick-thaw them by placing the bag of meatballs under cold running water.
Pan Frying
This is a good way to get a nice crust on your meatballs, but it is more time-consuming if you need to make them for a crowd, since you’ll have to do multiple batches. You can cook meatballs entirely in a hot pan (non-stick or else slicked with some cooking fat so they don’t adhere and get ruined), in which case you’ll want to turn the heat down once they’re browned so they don’t dry out. Or you can just give them a quick sear to brown the outsides before transferring them to the oven, a slow cooker, or a pot of sauce on the stove to finish cooking.
Baking or Roasting
Baking meatballs will still give them a decent amount of browning, and allows you to cook a lot more of them at once. You can lightly oil your baking sheet(s), or line with foil or parchment paper for easier clean up. Just be sure not to over-bake.
Simmering or Braising
If you’re making a warm sauce, you can cook your meatballs directly in it; easy, and they’ll add their own rich flavor to the sauce as they cook. You can brown them in a pan first if you want, but if you’d rather not dirty another dish, just slide the raw meatballs (frozen, fresh, or thawed) into the pan once the sauce is simmering, and let them cook entirely in there. However, if your meat mixture is particularly fatty, you might end up with too much grease floating in your sauce, so use your judgment and fry them first if they need some fat rendered out.
Slow Cooking
You get all the benefits of simmering or braising, but you don’t have to watch a pot! Browning first is optional, and you can cook the meatballs from fresh or frozen in your sauce in the slow cooker. The same caveat about especially fatty mixtures applies, though.
Pressure Cooking
If you want to make meatballs in your Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, you can either use fresh, raw meatballs as outlined in this teriyaki turkey meatball recipe, or cook frozen meatballs (whether those are store-bought or previously homemade and saved for later), as outlined here or here. If your appliance’s manual doesn’t include instructions for meatballs, you can find plenty of recipes online, which you can always simply use as a guideline for cooking time and technique if you’re not into the specific ingredients.
Nestled on sandwich bread or slider buns, served over rice, mashed potatoes, noodles, or pasta, added to soup or spring rolls, or just impaled on toothpicks for fast-disappearing party snacks, meatballs are marvelous in all their forms.
Here are some meatball recipes inspired by other meals to whet your appetite and illustrate the world of possibilities when it comes to savory spheres.
Take Two Tapas
Ground corned beef (use pastrami if you prefer) is added to these meatballs, which are topped with sauerkraut, cheese, and dressing once they’re cooked. You could experiment with adding rye bread crumbs to the meatballs themselves, or simply offer rye toasts alongside. These would be easy to scale up and make on sheet pans or in a slow cooker too. Get the recipe.
Alton Brown
All the glorious flavors of chicken Parm in a slightly tidier package, and with way fewer carbs (although if that’s not a concern, these would be fantastic piled on a crusty hoagie roll). Get the recipe.
Slow Cooker Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger Meatballs
Betty Crocker
Turns out Betty Crocker still has some nifty tricks up her sleeve, like stuffing these beauties with cheddar cheese for a Jucy Lucy-esque take on meatballs. If you don’t want to stuff the individual balls, you can also simply put some cheese on top of each one, but either way, be sure to provide plenty of pickles and sauce. These are pretty perfect party bites. Get the recipe.
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Damn Delicious
Speaking of perfect party food, check out these buffalo chicken balls. They’re a far healthier (and arguably more convenient) alternative to wings with all the same delicious flavors. Serve with blue cheese, ranch, and celery on the side and watch these vanish in record time. Get the recipe.
Blog Chef
If you’re cutting carbs or just don’t want to fuss with crust, try these on for size. For an easier take, you can make this low-carb pizza meatball casserole, but there’s something really delightful about gooey cheese stuffed inside each sphere. The pepperoni is chopped up in the tomato sauce, but you could try adding some to the meat instead (or in addition to). Put these on a pizza for a meta meal, spoon over pasta, or just serve them with toothpicks as a game day appetizer. Get the recipe.
Low Carb Loaded Nacho Meatballs
I Breathe I’m Hungry
Attempting to eat healthier? Or just wary of soggy chips? These low carb keto meatballs pack bold nacho flavor into each bite. If you want a bit more goo, you could opt for a nacho cheese sauce on your Mexican-spiced meatballs, but these do have cheddar on top and mixed into the meatball itself. Get the recipe.
Kevin is Cooking
Peanut butter, chile paste, and soy sauce lend amazing flavor (and moisture) to these chicken meatballs, which are topped off with a quick kung pao sauce and plenty of peanuts, scallions, and dried chiles. Serve over rice for a full meal, or as a novel and delicious appetizer or cocktail party nibble. Get the recipe.
Foodie with Family
In case it’s been long enough since Thanksgiving that you’re actually starting to crave those flavors again, these meatballs combine stuffing and ground turkey for a much easier take on the classic holiday tastes. Serve with cranberry sauce, or make a cranberry glaze to coat the meatballs. And it only makes sense to serve them with mashed potatoes and gravy. Get the recipe.
It’s about this time of year where the impact of daylight savings time and early evening darkness gets the better of me. I try to combat the lack of light with outdoor daytime activities and then lots of warm cozy soups, bright fresh salads, and vegetable dishes for dinner.
These remind me winter won’t last forever and the freezing wind won’t always settle in my bones.
Continue reading "Meal Plan for January Week 2" »
Let’s get real for a second. For your grand plans and well-meaning intentions to start the year off on a healthy, clean-eating foot, sooner or later you’re going to break. For me, the tipping point usually comes at some point during the third week of January (seriously, every year like clock work).
After much trial and tribulation with this struggle—wanting to remain “good” but needing to scratch the sweet tooth itch—I’ve found that having some tasty low-guilt desserts in my back pocket really helps. Here are six favorites.
Strawberry-Blood Orange Pavlovas
Chowhound
Yeah, okay, so the recipe calls for a cup of sugar. But you’ve got to admit that this crisp, vanilla-scented meringue topped with strawberry-blood orange compote is a lot more guilt-free than a thick slice of double chocolate fudge cake. Get our Strawberry-Blood Orange Pavolva recipe.
Sour Cherry and Green Tea Granité
Instead of reaching for the pint of ice cream (tempting though that sounds), you can satisfy your sweet tooth with this tart, refreshing granité—that’s French for shaved ice—featuring unsweetened sour cherry juice, fresh ginger, and earthy, aromatic green tea. Get our Sour Cherry and Green Tea Granité recipe.
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites
Smile Sandwich
On first glance, they may look like your average chocolate-covered sandwich cookies, but these clever sweets opt to replace the cookie with a healthier stand in: slices of banana. The result is nostalgically delicious. Get the recipe.
Chowhound
Inspired by the classic Italian panforte, this chewy bar combines honey, dried figs, pungent spices, and toasted nuts to create a sweet bar that not only satisfies but also energizes. A pre-game treat before you hit the slopes, if you will. Get our Dried Fig and Nut Bars recipe.
Baked Pears with Honey, Cranberries, and Pecans
This Gal Cooks
As much as we love pears poached in sweet port or vanilla-infused simple syrup, this seasonal dessert offers a healthier alternative. Aside from the drizzle of honey, baking helps caramelize the natural sugar in the fruit, which is smartly paired with tart cranberries and crunchy pecans. Get the recipe. (If you’d like to expand on this idea, here’s a more family style, less dinner party-fancy expansion on the idea). Get the recipe.
MJ’s Kitchen
Juicy, ripe persimmons mixed with tangy, chewy cranberries, chopped almonds and granola served over maple yogurt (okay, okay Greek yogurt if you’re feeling extra healthy): Now, doesn’t that just sound perfect? Get the recipe.
