The canned meatballs and gravy in this picture are made of 100% ground pork because we raised our own and I had plenty of it to try my hand at canning meatballs with it. I made this delicious looking plate of food in about 15 minutes from starting the boiling water to putting on the plate. The recipe in the link I am going to share with you used ground beef, but I know for a fact that it works perfectly with pork as well. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
I found this recipe for home canned meatballs a few years ago and I’ve been using it successfully and everyone here loves it so I thought I would just share the link with you instead of trying to rewrite the recipe. Don’t forget to come back here to find out how to make these canned meatballs into an eatable meal once you have them canned. Here is the recipe for canning them:
The Iowa Housewife’s recipe for canning meatballs that I use.
Here’s my secret at getting them all to be the same size:
OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop
This little tool makes all the difference in being able to get 12 canned meatballs in a pint sized jar. It really cuts down the time it takes to prep them for canning as well.
When I make these meatballs, I can them in a beef or chicken broth so that when I go to make a meal with them, I can just thicken the liquid with a little cornstarch or brown gravy mix and put it over some sort of pasta for an instant meal like the one pictured above. Adding a little fresh parsley or even the green tops of the celery stalks really bring this dish to life.
Of course you can use these canned meatballs in your spaghetti dishes but I would recommend canning them in tomato juice, however I have used them from the beef broth in tomato dishes and never had any complaints.
These canned meatballs are good alone or added to any kind of pasta you have on hand. My personal favorite is to top a big pile of egg noodles with them and allow the gravy to flow down through the noodles. You can make mashed potatoes to go with them but I rarely do. I just add a piece of bread and butter to sop up the gravy at the end and never want for more.
I hope you try out the Iowa housewife’s recipe for these canned meatballs so that you will have quick and easy meals that come straight out of your pantry and are on your plate in less than 15 minutes. You will be so glad you do!