Brie Cheese Stuffed Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce
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Brie Cheese Stuffed Meatballs are tender meatballs with a creamy surprise inside. Each one is filled with a piece of Brie cheese that melts as they cook, creating a rich, gooey center. These flavorful bites are perfect for parties, appetizers, or adding a unique twist to pasta dishes.
Ooey and Gooey Cheese Stuffed Meatballs
I’m sure you’ve heard of them before but if you haven’t, let me introduce you to a little bit of heaven. This meatball dish is filled with velvety smooth Brie cheese and adds such decadence to a really simple dish. If you’ve ever had Grape Jelly Meatballs, the sweet and tangy flavors from the leftover cranberry sauce are reminiscent of that common appetizer. With just a few steps and simple ingredients, you can completely transform your Thanksgiving or holiday leftovers into a dish that adults and kids can’t help but love.
Ingredients
The full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post. You can save a tree and the recipe to your personal and private recipe box here on Call Me PMc. This way, you’ll never misplace it.
- ground beef 80/20
- bread crumbs
- 2 eggs
- Italian seasoning
- salt
- black pepper
- zest of half a lemon
- Brie Cheese 1/2 inch cubes
- cranberry sauce
How to Make Brie Cheese Stuffed Meatballs
Select the Leftovers: At my house, we love Brie cheese. It’s always on the cheese board around the holidays. But you can easily substitute with cheddar, mozzarella, or whatever cheese you have. It doesn’t matter if it’s cubed or shredded. Both will melt nearly the same. Cubed is just usually easier to form the meatball around.
Create the Meatball: If you have a secret family recipe for meatballs, use that. Our meatballs have always been simple and delicious, using 80/20 ground beef, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and occasionally eggs. Either way, mix up the meatball recipe of your choice in a large mixing bowl and form pockets one at a time, using about 2 Tablespoons of the meat mixture for each meatball.
Wrap the cheese: Place a decent-sized cheese cube about 1/2 inch in the center of your meat mixture and pinch it closed. Gently roll around in your hands to form a ball. Set the cheese-stuffed meatballs on a 12-inch skillet as you roll them.
Bake in the Oven: The easiest way to cook meatballs is by baking them in the oven. You don’t have to worry about rolling them or hot spots. And with stuffed meatballs, you want to fiddle with them as little as possible to minimize the risk of squeezing cheese out.
Top with a Cranberry Glaze: Much like grape jelly, cranberry sauce will reduce and become sticky as it’s cooked. With about 10 minutes left on the meatballs, I remove the skillet from the oven, generously top it with the leftover cranberry sauce, and use a pastry brush or the back of the spoon to coat them. Then, return to the oven and let the oven create a tangy, sticky glaze on the meatballs.
Equipment you’ll need
- Bowls
- 12-inch cast iron skillet
- Wood Stirring Spoon
- 2 Tablespoon spring-release scoop
- chef’s knife
- Cutting Board
- pastry brush
- tongs
Common Questions About Meatballs
What to Serve with Thanksgiving Leftover Meatballs?
One of the beauties of this dish is its versatility. You can easily serve this with a side of leftover mashed potatoes or stuffing. But you can also serve this with asparagus, green beans, or as a festive appetizer!
Storing Brie Cheese Stuffed Meatball
Storing leftovers of leftovers might sound a little off, but hear me out. You will likely have a load of Thanksgiving leftovers; even a few days later, you may be tired of your favorite dishes. Thankfully, you don’t have to toss those leftovers. You can use this recipe as a make-ahead meal for one month or even three months!
To freeze these meatballs, season, stuff, and shape them into cheese-stuffed meatballs. Freeze on a sheet pan until firmly frozen. Then, toss them into a Ziploc bag or vacuum sealer bag and back into the freezer. Freeze the cranberry sauce separately. The day before you’re ready to serve, remove both packages from the freezer, allow them to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and continue with the recipe as usual the next day. Easy enough, right?
If you’re looking for a more short-term solution, you can, of course, save any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Just use it within 5 days.
Cranberry Brie Meatballs Conclusion
Brie Cheese Stuffed Meatballs with leftover Cranberry Sauce is the perfect leftover Thanksgiving dish. Take a break from the turkey, but use up some of the other leftover components from your meal. This is also a winner of an appetizer dish on the day of – and no one complains about the cranberry sauce.
Brie Cheese Stuffed Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef 80/20
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- zest of half a lemon
- 4 ounces Brie Cheese 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the ground beef, breadcrumbs, eggs, and spices. Mix well.
- Cut the Brie cheese into about 1/2 inch cubes. Use a cookie scoop to measure out equal portions of the meatball mixture.
- Form a dimple or pocket in the center of the meatball with your thumb. Place the cube of cheese in the center and pinch the meat up and around the cheese. Roll between hands to form a nice ball. Place formed meatballs onto the 12 inch skillet as the rest are finished.
- Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Halfway through remove the skillet from the oven and spoon or brush cranberry sauce over the meatballs. Return to the oven for the remaining 10 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.