Guest Post: Beef and Mushroom Meatball Sliders by Living Lou
We’ve got a familiar guest in our kitchen today! We’re welcoming Louisa of Living Lou back to our kitchen to share her first Blend & Extend recipe. Combining mushrooms and ground beef gives this party favourite a healthy twist.
I’m all about celebrating the summer with burgers and sliders. Up until last summer, I never really understood the point of sliders because if I want a burger, I want a juicy burger that’s the size of my face. But in a strange twist of fate at the last minute I decided to host a Canada Day barbecue. By the time I made it to the grocery store, all that were left were slider buns. Cue the panic. Without any other option, I ended up making sliders for the first time for a hungry group of 20-somethings, and they were gobbled up within minutes. This grocery store panic ended up being more of a blessing in disguise because now I’m all about sliders, meatball sliders to be exact.
I wanted to lighten up my favourite meatball sliders and using the Blend and Extend method is the perfect way to do this. Who would’ve thought that finely chopped mushrooms would blend in seamlessly with ground beef? It’s quite the revelation and something that I’ve been using in all sorts of recipes in my kitchen. Not only does it add volume, vitamins and minerals to dishes, it makes eating beef more affordable.
Sliders are great for feeding a crowd and are especially kid friendly. These sliders are a little on the spicy side, but you can definitely omit the red pepper flakes if you want to keep things on the mild side.
Beef and Mushroom Meatball Sliders
(makes 12)
Ingredients
4 oz white button mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground beef
1/3 cup bread crumbs
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 egg
2 tbsp +1/4 cup barbecue sauce
½ tsp red pepper flakes (can omit)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil.
2. In a food processor, process mushrooms and garlic.
3. In a large bowl, combine mushroom mixture with beef, bread crumbs, parsley, egg, 2 tbsp barbecue sauce and red pepper flakes.
4. Using a standard ice cream scoop, scoop mixture into 12 even meatballs.
5. Brush with remaining ¼ cup of barbecue sauce.
6. Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes or until fully cooked.
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Wow, this recipe sounds and looks fantastic! Knowing that these are a healthy version, I may be tempted to eat all 12 to myself. I can’t wait to prepare these for my next get together. A big thank you to Louisa for sharing such an affordable, kid-friendly recipe!!
Follow Louisa online at Living Lou, on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram!
