Mama’s Meatballs in a Creamy Mushroom Gravy
Don’t know what to cook for supper? I didn’t either until I opened our cookbook and I found it. There it was, Mama’s old-fashioned meatballs. But today we’re taking it a step further and making a creamy homemade mushroom gravy to go with it!
Some of you might remember a while back we did a video and recipe for smothered steak, and we made a creamy mushroom gravy. Our original recipe for meatballs calls for canned of mushroom soup, and if you’re in a hurry, you can use that. But for the homemade gravy, grab it here.
Now, Let’s Get Going!
Dice up a yellow onion and 6 mini sweet peppers. I like the subtle sweetness that the peppers add. I also like to add 2 fire-roasted hatch green chilies (or Anaheims) to put in there. Be sure all the veggies are diced up well.
Next, I’ve cooked up 8 slices of thick-cut bacon until they were about half done. When it’s cool enough to handle, dice the bacon well and set aside.
Keep that bacon grease in the skillet and add the veggies. Cook over medium heat, until they begin to soften and all that good bacon flavor gets absorbed.
Chop the onions and peppers and cook them until they are soft.
I’m using 2 pounds of Certified Angus Beef, 80/20 hamburger meat. Put that in a bowl and mash it up well with your hands. Now mix in half of the veggies and half of the bacon with your hands. Mix in the remaining veggies and bacon.
Mix the onions, peppers, and bacon in with the beef and mash them together.
Form the Balls
Let’s go ahead and form the balls. Now, you can make them whatever size you want, but I like to make them about a golf ball-sized. That will make about 16–17 meatballs.
Form the meatballs.
Pour about 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil to the skillet and warm over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs to the skillet and brown all around. You don’t need to cook these all the way through, you just want to brown the outside so it stays together.
While they’re frying, I like to give them a little shake of our Red River Ranch Original Seasoning, for more flavor.
Fry them until they are good and brown.
I’ve already made our homemade mushroom gravy (recipe here), but if you’re looking for a quicker deal, we’ve also got the mushroom canned soup recipe below.
Time to Cook Our Meatballs
Cook the meatballs finely covered with the creamy mushroom gravy.
Pour a little of the soup on the bottom of a Dutch oven or casserole dish. Place the seared meatballs on top of the soup and then cover with the rest of the gravy.
If you’re doing this in the house, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and cook for about 25 to 30 minutes.
Check our video below for outdoor cooking tips!
Since we’re cooking this outside in a Dutch oven, I’m going to place a pretty heavy set of coals around the bottom and on top, because we want this to come to a good simmer. You’ll want to rotate this a few times while cooking.
When they firm up and gravy settles, that is a done deal!
You might be asking yourself, how do I know when these are done? When you press them lightly with a fork, you’ll notice them firming up and that’s when they are close to being done.
Enjoy onion meatballs with creamy mushroom gravy!
This is a pretty versatile dish because you can serve these meatballs with mashed potatoes, pasta, over rice or even toasted bread.
Don’t forget to check the video for more tips (with a big shout-out too!) and enjoy the meatballs with the homemade creamy mushroom gravy!
Mama's Meatballs with Creamy Mushroom Gravy - Cowboy Kent Rollins
Ingredients
- 2 10.5-ounce cans cream of mushroom soup concentrate
- 1 soup can warm water
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 8 slices thick-cut bacon
- 2 cups diced assorted sweet mini peppers
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 2 pounds ground beef
- Red River Ranch Original seasoning or salt and black pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the mushroom soup, soup can of water, heavy cream and sour cream. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until warmed through and smooth. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter an 11-x-13- inch dish or 12-inch Dutch oven.
- In a large cast iron skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until about halfway done. Dice and set aside.
- Add the peppers and onion to the skillet with the bacon grease and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, crumble the beef. Using your hands, mix in the bacon and onion mixture. Season to taste with the Original seasoning or salt and pepper.
- Shape the beef mixture into golf-ball- sized balls. Place the balls in the skillet with the oil and brown the outsides over medium-high heat.
- Pour half of the mushroom gravy into the casserole dish. Or Dutch oven. Place the meatballs in the dish and pour the remaining gravy over the meatballs.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot with the gravy over rice, pasta, toast or mashed potatoes.