Meatball Stew With Potatoes and Carrots

It is definitely one of our weeknight dinner recipes. We often enjoy it with rice orzo pilaf or bulgur pilaf and a bowl of yogurt cucumber cacik  on the side.

Meatballs are a staple in our kitchen and we make a variety of meatball recipes. Although hearty and rich Turkish Izmir kofte is always our son’s top favorite, we all love kadinbudu kofte (meatballs with rice) and eggplant and meatball kebab too. 

We always have meatballs in the freezer so making this meatball stew gets even easier. We skip the first step of the recipe this way. So if you want, you can double the amount of meatballs, shape them into small balls and freeze for later use. Please read how to freeze them properly below in the ‘How to Freeze’ section. 

About The Ingredients

For this easy meatball stew recipe, you only need a few basic ingredients to create a delicious and hearty meal. Let’s have a look at them.

Meatballs: For these meatballs, we use a combination of ground meat, spices, egg, breadcrumbs, and pureed onions. This simple mixture gives your meatballs great soft and moist texture and a fantastic flavor!

You can also use other types of ground meat including ground lamb, pork, chicken, and turkey. All of these will make excellent substitutes!

Vegetables: We use carrots, potatoes and peas (fresh, canned or frozen) in our meatball stew recipe. But, feel free to add some more vegetables for color, texture, and flavor. Some of our favorite add-ins include garlic, green beans, red potatoes, red or green bell pepper and celery.

Tomato paste: Tomato paste helps deepen the flavor of the entire stew. We highly recommend adding it even if you use pureed tomato. They take the stew to the next level when used together.

Liquid: For this recipe, we only use water. But, you can use beef broth instead. If you use another type of ground meat, then use a similar stock, for example, chicken stock with ground poultry.

Alternative Add-Ins: Finally, if you want to bulk up this homemade meatball stew, then add in some pasta or noodles. This will add more consistency to the stew and make it much more hearty and satisfying.

How to Make

Let's have a look at exactly how to make meatball stew in under an hour with only a few simple ingredients.

1. Make the meatball mixture. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pureed onion, crumbled bread, egg, salt, pepper, cumin, and alone oil. Mix the ingredients together until they are well combined. Then, add in the ground beef and make a uniform mixture using your hands. Don't over-mix the mixture, you will get dense meatballs otherwise. Just mix until everything holds together. 
2. Shape the meat mixture into balls and place them onto a clean plate. We make them into mini balls so our stew looks like a meatball soup, but you can shape them into larger meatballs if you want.

3. Cook the meatballs. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Then, working in small batches, cook the meatballs for about 2-3 minutes per side. Shake the pan occasionally to prevent the meatballs from sticking.

Also, keep in mind that the meatballs don't have to be fully cooked. They just have to be nicely browned on all sides. Remove the cooked meatballs from the pan and place them on a plate.

4. Make the stew base. In a separate pan, heat some oil and add the tomato paste. Cook for about a minute and then add in pureed tomatoes. Cook the tomato mixture for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Then, add your diced potatoes and carrots. Allow the ingredients to cook together for 5 minutes so that the flavors can blend together smoothly.

6. Cook the stew. Add in your browned meatballs and hot water. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring every now and then. Once boiling, reduce the heat and allow the stew to simmer for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables become tender but not mushy.
7. Add in your peas, salt, and black pepper, and cook for another 5 minutes. If you want, you can add some dried thyme too. Remove your stew from the heat, garnish it with some fresh parsley and serve it immediately.

Cooking Variations

The biggest variation of this recipe probably is the cooking method you can use. Naturally, we make our easy meatball stew recipe in a deep pan or dutch oven. But, you can also make it inside a slow cooker or instant pot.

To make this meatball stew in a slow cooker: Cook the meatballs in a pan as described in the recipe below. Then, simply add all of the remaining ingredients inside of the slow cooker. Cook the stew on the high setting for 4-6 hours or on low setting for 6-8 hours. 

To make it in an instant pot: cook the meatballs in a pan first. (You won't need this if you are using pre-cooked frozen meatballs). Put them in the instant pot. Then add all of the remaining ingredients, and set the pressure to high for 10 minutes. Wait for another 10-15 minutes when it is done. Then let the steam release as you would normally do and carefully open the lid. Give the stew a stir and serve.

Serving Suggestions

This stew is incredibly versatile when it comes to what to serve with it. Some simpler accompaniments include some type of fresh tomato salad or rice pilaf with raisins. And, you can even use a rice substitute like healthy bulgur wheat.

You can also make a wide variety of bread. We especially love flatbreads or crusty cornbread to soak up the juices. You can also make dinner rolls or Turkish pide bread.

We often have a bowl of homemade yogurt on the side as well.

How to Store

To store any leftover meatball stew, you can simply allow it to cool completely at room temperature. Then, place it inside an airtight container and store it inside the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

And, if you decide to freeze it, just cover the container with a layer of aluminum foil. This will help protect the stew from freezer burn. It will keep well for up to 3 months. 

Alternatively, you can freeze the meatballs only. After shaping them into mini balls, place them on a baking sheet or a small tray that fit into your freezer. Make sure they are in a single layer. Put the baking sheet in the freezer and let it sit there for 30 minutes. 

Then remove from the freezer and put the frozen meatballs in resealable bags. Make sure you write the date on the bags. They keep well for 4-5 months. When you are ready to cook them, you can thaw them in the refrigerator overnight. But you really don’t need to. Just cook them frozen as you would normally do. And follow the remaining steps as described in the recipe below. 

Tips

• Don’t overcrowd the frying pan when you are browning the meatballs. If you do, the pan will not get hot enough and the meatballs will end up being steamed, rather than fried. This will give them a bland color and semi-cooked flavor. Not the nicely browned and caramelized meatballs you are looking for!
• Remember, the aim of frying the meatballs is simply to give them some color on the outside. They don’t have to be completely cooked. They will finish cooking once they have been added to the stew.
• You can use either a heavy-bottom oven-proof pan to make these meatballs or a dutch oven.
• If you want to save yourself some time, you can also pre-make these meatballs and freeze them. Once you are ready to use them in this stew, you can simply thaw them for a couple of minutes, then add them directly into the stew.
• You can also buy pre-made frozen meatballs if you don’t want to make meatballs from scratch.
• Adjusting the consistency of the meatball stew is incredibly easy! Simply add more water to make it saucier (runnier) and add less to make it thicker. The exact amount of water you will end up using will also depend on the amount of heat you use.

FAQs

More Stew Recipes

• Turkish Beef Stew Dana Guvec
• Turkish Lamb Stew Kuzu Guvec
• White Bean Stew
• Cabbage Stew
• Okra Stew

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