Salisbury Steak Meatballs

Coated in a rich brown gravy with little bits of onion and then topped with fresh chopped parsley, these delicious Salisbury Steak Meatballs are the ultimate classic comfort food. It’s a super easy 2-step recipe that your whole family will love!

Easy Salisbury Steak Meatballs Recipe

For this recipe, I took the classic American Salisbury Steak and turned it into super tasty meatballs! Truth be told, I love making meatballs. In fact, I sort of consider myself a meatball expert. Being from Romania, whether we are talking about my all-time favorite Romanian Meatballs, Italian Meatballs, or Indonesian Meatballs, I enjoy them all! 

So for these Salisbury Steak Meatballs, it was a no-brainer for me to turn hamburger steaks into little bite-size balls of deliciousness! Basically, it’s just a difference in how you form the ground meat. I did make a few changes to the meatball gravy like not adding mushrooms, but you can actually modify the gravy any way you like. That’s part of the beauty of cooking. 

This recipe makes a great main dish when paired with traditional mashed potatoes and green beans. But is also a fantastic party appetizer or filling for a simple meatball sub!

Meatballs

• Beef – We want lean ground beef for this salisbury steak meatball recipe.
• Breadcrumbs – I used Panko but you can substitute it for any breadcrumbs you have on hand.
• Egg – The binder in our meatballs. If you’re egg free you can use ¼ cup of ricotta per egg.
• Condiments – Ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and coarse grain mustard.
• Seasoning – We’re using seasoning salt and pepper today, regular salt can be used.
• Spices – Onion powder for a bit of onion taste.
• Olive oil – To fry our meatballs. Neutral vegetable oil can also be used.

Gravy

• Butter – Unsalted as we want to control the sodium in our dish.
• Onion – An onion that cooks down well such as white or yellow should be used.
• Condiments – Ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.
• Broth – I used beef broth today but feel free to substitute with chicken or vegetable broth. Look for no sodium or low sodium.
• Cornstarch or Flour – This will thicken up our gravy for our salisbury steak meatballs.
• Seasoning – Seasoning salt or regular salt.
• Parsley – A little bit of fresh parsley for garnish.

This recipe is broken down into 2 simple steps. First, you need to cook up some salisbury meatballs and then make a gravy in the same skillet. The entire process takes just about 40 minutes and the results are absolutely delicious. 

Form The Meatballs

To begin, add the ground beef along with all the other meatball ingredients to a large bowl and mix them together well using your hands. Yes, your hands! They are the best tool you’ve got when it comes to making any type of meatballs. Then form the meat mixture into about 30 small meatballs that are each 1-inch in diameter. Yet, they don’t need to be perfect. However, to make them all the same size, I usually use a small cookie scoop to scoop up meat mixture.

Also, if you are having trouble shaping your meatballs. They may be too wet or too dry to hold together. It’s likely an issue with the amount of egg or breadcrumbs that were used to bind the meat together. But it’s easy to fix, so don’t worry. If the meatballs are too wet just add a little more of the breadcrumbs and if they are too dry add a little more egg. 

However, when adding more egg, I suggest that you whisk an egg in a small bowl and then add a little at a time to the meat mixture until the meatballs begin holding their shape. If you just toss in another whole egg you may find yourself with a mixture that is now too wet!

Fry The Meatballs

With the meatballs formed it’s time to get them cooking! Heat the olive oil over medium to high heat in a large skillet. Now, add the meatballs to the pan in a single layer and cook them for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. And unless your pan is huge, you will likely need to do this in a couple of batches to brown them properly. Then once the meatballs are fully cooked, transfer them from the skillet to a plate, and set them aside for a later step.

Or Air Fry Them

To be honest, I prefer air frying my meatballs, they come out perfect every single time, plus you don’t have to worry about them crumbling up as they cook. To air fry them, all you have to do is place the meatballs in the air fryer basket and cook them for about 15 minutes at 380°F.

Make The Gravy

Now that the meatballs are made, you will make the gravy in the same skillet using all those yummy drippings. Start by melting the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Next, add the onions and cook them for about 2 minutes until they are both soft and translucent. 

Sprinkle the flour over the onion and stir. You’ll want to cook this for about a minute to remove the raw flour taste. Pour the beef broth in the skillet along with the remaining gravy ingredients and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes while constantly stirring with the whisk until it thickens up. However, if it gets too thick just add a little more broth and if it seems too thin just let it cook a few more minutes to reduce more. Then taste the finished gravy and season with salt and pepper to your liking. 

Finish And Serve

You’ve got your cooked meatballs, you’ve got your gravy, and now it’s time to marry the two. Put the meatballs back into the skillet with the gravy and toss them around until they are fully coated. 

Finally, garnish the Salisbury steak meatballs with some fresh chopped parsley and serve them with your favorite side such as Mashed Potatoes, between bread, or as an appetizer!

What Is Salisbury Steak

Salisbury steak is a ‘steak’ made from ground beef and served with a gravy or brown sauce. It’s amazing what you get when you mix some ground beef with some delicious condiments! So essentially it’s shaped to resemble a steak and it’s usually served atop mashed potatoes or noodles. It’s not the most glamorous dish but I think I’ve turned this American dish into a work of edible art!

Other Cooking Options

Oven

Besides frying or air frying, you could also bake the meatballs. I bake meatballs all the time and they turn out great. To bake them, coat a baking sheet with cooking spray, or use a baking rack. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Slow cooker

Make your gravy first, then the meatballs. Hold onto some cut onions and use those to line the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the meatballs on top and pour the gravy over top. Cook on LOW for 3 – 4 hours before serving over mashed potatoes.

Pressure cooker

Brown the meatballs with butter on the sauté setting. Remove the meatballs once browned and deglaze your pressure cooker with the beef broth. Add the rest of your gravy ingredients (save the flour or cornstarch) and place the meatballs back in. Cook on manual HIGH for 4 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally, should take around 10 minutes before removing the lid. Add the cornstarch slurry or flour to thicken the sauce and serve over mashed potatoes.

Storing leftovers

Meatballs

They can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Gravy

Gravy will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days and in the freezer for up 3 months. pull the gravy from the freezer the day before you’d like to use it to allow it to thaw fully before reheating on the stove.

Other Delicious Meatball Recipes To Try

• Chimichurri Meatballs
• Sweet and Spicy Korean Meatballs
• Dutch Meatballs
• Stout Meatballs with BBQ Sauce
• Swedish Meatballs
• Porcupine Meatballs