Spiced Meatballs with Honey Roasted Carrots & Lemon Garlic Sauce
Baked meatballs with yogurt sauce is far and away my favorite family meal. I always serve it with a veggie side, something fresh and crisp in the warmer months and something roasty, toasty in the winter to counter the savory morsels. To really bring the meal to the top of my kid’s favorites list, I serve it with homemade naan. Every one is happy! I get a balanced meal with lots of protein and adult flavors and the kids get a smorgasbord of morsels for dipping and a pillow of bread to wrap it all up in. This is one we’ll be eating on repeat this winter!
Ingredients:
Makes 8 servings
Meatballs:
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup greek yogurt
zest from 1 lemon
6 cloves garlic, finely grated
handful of fresh parsley, minced
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
2 pounds ground chicken, turkey, or beef
Honey Roasted Carrots:
1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced in ¼ inch rounds
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon harissa powder
salt and pepper to taste
Lemon Garlic Yogurt Sauce:
1 cup greek yogurt
1 garlic clove, finely grated
juice of 1 lemon
salt to taste
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs well. Add the breadcrumbs, greek yogurt, lemon zest, grated garlic, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and salt and give it a vigorous stir. You want it to be all mixed together in one flavor bomb of a mixture! Add the ground meat and use a fork to “cut” through mixture to mix it together. We don’t want to over mix here unless we want dense little hockey pucks of meatballs, but the goal is to have a fairly homogenized mixture. Use a scoop or a large spoon to scoop balls and roll them into a round shape with your hands (again, gently ;) and place them on one of the lined baking sheets.
On the other baking sheet, toss the cut carrots with the olive oil, honey, harissa, and salt. Pop them both in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. While they bake, mix the ingredients for the lemon garlic yogurt sauce together in a bowl and set aside. If you’re making the yogurt naan, you can also cook the naan while the meatballs and carrots cook so they are all ready at the same time! If not, wash up and get ready to serve them hot. Enjoy!
