Salisbury Steak Meatballs
An easy, comforting, budget-friendly meal that the whole family will love. You can also make the meatballs ahead of time or freeze them as needed!
We’re smack dab in the middle of bikini season, and my marathon is less than 3 months away. That means I need to stick to salads, fruits and veggies. But sometimes you just have to cheat a little bit and throw in some good ol’ comfort food like these salisbury steak meatballs.
Now these meatballs have all the flavors of a glorious salisbury steak, conveniently portion-controlled for those who have no self control. They also come together very quickly and easily, especially if you have the meatballs made ahead of time. You can even double the batch and throw half the uncooked meatballs into the freezer for next time! Easy peasy, right?
When you’re ready to serve, go ahead and boil up some egg noodles before making the gravy. From there, you can let the meatballs cook through, simmered in a homemade gravy of beef broth, ketchup and Worcestershire. It’s so good, you’ll want to skip the meatballs and drink the gravy with a spoon!
Salisbury Steak Meatballs
Ingredients
- 8 ounces egg noodles
- 1 pound ground beef
- ⅓ cup Italian style bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 large egg yolks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the gravy
- 2 cups beef broth, divided, or more, to taste
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire and egg yolks; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch meatballs, forming about 20 meatballs.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- To make the gravy, whisk together 1/2 cup beef broth and cornstarch in a small bowl; set aside.
- Add onions to the skillet and cook until golden brown and translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Whisk in remaining 1 1/2 cups beef broth, Worcestershire and ketchup until well combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and gradually whisk in cornstarch mixture. Stir in meatballs until cooked through and the sauce has thickened, about 3-4 minutes. Add more beef broth as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve immediately with egg noodles, garnished with parsley, if desired.
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Made this a few times already. It’s absolutely delicious. Thanks
I’ve made this recipe three times, and it’s resulted in a completely delicious and satisfying meal each time. I followed the recipe as written and served over egg noodles. Super yummy comfort food! Thanks for the recipe.
Added a few additions to this recipe such as: 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (instead of 1/3 cup) & 1/4 cup parmesan cheese to meatball mixture and seemed to hold together better . Also baked meatballs on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, because it ensures meatballs do not stick to the baking sheet. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-24 minutes. Meatballs do not fall apart like they tend to do while browning in a pan.
Marion, when did you add the butter flavored with beef drippings or did you just cook the onions in the butter?
My idea is to melt the butter in a cast iron fry pan, add the meatballs, then cook in oven on 400° until browned. Then remove and add onions and continue to cook on stove top.
I made these meatballs for the second time and they were even better than the first time I made them! I had a little bit of trouble with a few of the meatballs breaking apart in the gravy but it didn’t affect the taste at all. I served them over mashed potatoes. My family devoured them! Thanks for the recipe!
You are so welcome, Eva!
Found this recipe on Pinterest. Thank you for sharing. Everyone in the family approved. Half had them over egg noodles, the other half over mashed potatoes. We’ll be keeping this!
I made this recipe tonight and it was an epic fail. The meatballs completely fell apart. I just cooked it up anyways and then added it to the gravy….the texture was complete mush. I was really disappointed and even the flavor wasn’t that great.
Husband sayz delicious! Melt in your mouth – I say smelled so good while cooking – could not wait to try. Recipe did not disappoint – fabulous
I was out of breadcrumbs so i made my own with smushed saltines, salt, pepper and italian seasonings. This recipe is to die for yummy. I have never had salisbury steaks before. Wow. Used ground serlion from the butcher.
This is one of my family’s favorite meals but the gravy is always really thin. Is there anyway to make it thicker?
My meatballs fell apart a bit, so I am crumbling it and resuming with recipe.
I hope it is good for my two friends. I am thinking of putting a little spinach in it too. What do you think?
Question: Does the recipe call for ground mustard, or yellow mustard?
The recipe calls for yellow mustard.
I am wondering if I can freeze the meatballs and sauce together? How would the sauce hold up. I’m in a freezer meal exchange and I know this would be a hit
Made these tonight for supper…I did bake the meatballs due to time constraints and multi-tasking 🙂 All in all…delicious! Definitely will make it into our monthly menu rotation. Thanks again for another wonderful family recipe!
Made this dish for dinner tonight ..it was DELICIOUS!! Husband who put everything on a piece of bread/roll ended up making meatball subs with it..lol the flavors mixed in the ground beef were amazing. Must Try!!
Hi what kind of beef do you use! 80, 85 or 90%? I have tried so many of your recipes and they are always crowd pleasers! Thank you!
I prefer to use 80/20, but please feel free to use what you like best!
Wondetful dish. I went a little crazy with the salt. I guess thats why I don’t normally cook with it. Other than that outstanding… will go in rotation.
Live alone and was glad I left recipe as written. Really good! I just finished third meal and have enough leftovers to freeze for another meal. Served with a hardier wide Pennsylvania dutch noodle and corn on the side to sop up some of that yummy gravy. Reminds me of good ole times for taste and texture. Thanks so much!!
Could you make them in to like patties rather than meatballs?
A good tip if you want to try the flavor before you go through all the work of rolling all the meatballs is to just take a tiny amount of the raw meat mixture and give it a quick fry in the frying pan, then you can taste how it will turn out! I do this with a tiny piece of my meatloaf as well to see if I have salted it enough. Totally worth the 5 min of extra work!
this was amazing!!!! really enjoyed it!!
Hi! I found your blog via Pinterest and have now pinned a ton of your recipes! Thank you. They all look so yummy. I plan on making this recipe tonight and was wondering if ground turkey would be okay to use or does it have to be ground beef? We’ve recently cut down on our red meat intake so I only have ground turkey at the moment.
I haven’t tried turkey but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work!
Looks great! I can’t wait to try it! I was wondering how it would be if I added a little sour cream to the gravy. Kind of like a stroganoff. Has anyone here tried this? Either way, I’m sure it will be delish!
I actually haven’t given that a try but it sounds like an amazing addition!
I always find this a funny instruction in many of the recipes…”…add meat and mix with…then add salt to taste…”. That suggests I taste the raw meat to see if I’ve added enough or not salt. I know, I know, that is just a guestimate of how much salt to add, I just saw that as funny.
Anyway, sounds like a great recipe, going to give it a try tonight.
My mother taught me her method: mix all the meatball ingredients together and then fry up a big pinch of that, so you can check the seasoning without eating any potentially-risky raw meat.
Maybe a dumb question but do you use dry mustard or yellow mustard (i.e. Frenchs)? Thanks. Looks yummy
It is best to use yellow mustard.
Those were the best meatballs EVER……the texture is perfect! Will be a go to recipe in the future!
Can’t wait to try these bad babies. Luckily, I had almost all ingredients on hand. Quick question though. Will regular breadcrumbs work and taste as good as Italian? Every store I went to was out. Or can I add anything to these to spice them up? Thanks!
You can definitely spice them up with a little bit of pantry spices like Italian seasoning. A little bit goes a long way!
Hello again! Wanted to come back and give my 2 cents since we just finished having this dish. I did end up adding some Italian seasoning to my regular bread crumbs. Our family also doesn’t care for egg noodles one bit so I used regular spaghetti pasta instead. So no major changes really. Weeeeeel, let me just say that this dish is definitely going into the rotation. I as worried the meatballs wouldn’t be cooked all the way through since I wasn’t sure if 4 minutes was the total cooking time so I think I did la few more than you suggested. Just enough so that ALL sides had no pink left. Maybe 8 min altogether. Perfect recipe that really worked. Loved it! Thanks again for sharing.
I’m having the same problem with my meatballs falling apart. Hopefully it will still be good as just a meaty gravy over noodles!
Diana – I recommend adding 2 large egg yolks for next time.
DO YOU COOK ONIONS IN MEATBALL GREASE?
YES!
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Made this last night for the fam. The LOVED it! It was SUPER easy and so tasty!! I will add it to my rotation!
I just made these tonight-YUM! I used oatmeal instead of breadcrumbs to keep them gluten-free.
Question about the breadcrumbs. Do you use fresh breadcrumbs or the dried/crushy ones?
I don’t have any Itailian style breadcrumbs, so I figure I make them myself using Italian herbs and onion and garlic powder.
Saskia, feel free to use fresh or dried breadcrumbs.
Definitely making this for dinner tonight! Although I might add a few mushrooms to the gravy and serve over potatoes instead of noodles. My hubby is not too fond of pasta 🙁
So glad I found this to add to my (rather small) list of ground beef recipes!
Looks delish! Definitely a go to recipe for a simple, yet yummy meal!
I just made this for dinner tonight and it was wonderful! My husband says the recipe is a keeper and that is a high compliment 🙂 So thank you for a pretty easy and delicious dinner idea.
Made these tonight… Yum! Only thing was the meatballs fell apart a bit? I’m wondering if I didn’t mix it up enough?
Yes, that can very well be the issue. It is also easier to roll meatballs with wet hands to help “seal” them up.
Meatballs need an egg to act as a binder. I would add an egg next time and double the bread crumbs so that they stay together better. Great flavor, its a new family favorite 🙂
I Love this recipe. I make on very similar with mushrooms and a thicker sauce. It’s so nice to change it up from traditional meatballs with tomato sauce.
Hi, this looks great…could I leave the meatballs in the gravy for an extended period of time? I am having a family gathering and would like to have people serve themselves – approx 30 people….don’t laugh…
Yes, that should be fine. That is how we saved our leftovers and it tasted just as amazing.
Just made the Salisbury Steak Meatballs and it was excellent. It’s a keeper! I wouldn’t change and thing the next time I make it. Thanks for this great recipe!
Yum! I’ve actually been looking for meatball recipes that just use ground beef, so to keep it simple. This looks great.
Amazing comfort food!
Yum! You are my go to for Girl.
That gravy looks so darn good! I also like to make no more than what is served in order to sort of behave myself, somewhat 🙂 If I make extras, I always stick them in the freezer for fancy work lunches, a proper pick-me-up in the middle of a shift 🙂
I hope you have a wonderful weekend 🙂 x
These look amazing. And, perfect for those cheat days when dieting 😉 Pinned!
These are making my stomach growl! I have always loved Salisbury steak. Could definitely go for some comfort food myself right now. 🙂 Good luck with the marathon training!
I grew up on salisbury steak for dinner! These look so good!
Oh Gosh… My mouth is watering! I totally agree with you sometimes we all just need a comfort dish like this for summer dinner!
Nice recipe. Thank you.
These looks great Chung-Ah!
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This reminds me of something my grandma used to make because those are the type of noodles she always used for…everything! From soup to casseroles, just seeing those noodles remind me of her 🙂