Herby Meatballs with Yogurt, Pickled Cukes & Cauli Rice

Plus a quick tip to make any meatball recipe better in the future!

Colorful chefs - happy Thursday 🧡

This is where we cook easy, delicious, saucy, colorful meals made from whole, unprocessed foods, and we make it fun, easy, and learn important stuff about metabolic health and home cooking while doing it.

Meatballs are not just a winter-y comfort food, they can be spring-y!!

• Herby Meatballs with Yogurt, Pickled Cukes & Cauli Rice: You asked for more easy but flavorful dinners and this delivers. Also, below I share a fun fact about why adding YOGURT into meatballs is the key to moist, tender meatballs. If you are not adding yogurt into your meatballs, you will after this!

Okay, let’s get to the recipe of the week!

This recipe was inspired by one of my fave chefs, Molly Baz, who taught me the magic of blooming turmeric — a tiny but transformative trick where you warm turmeric in oil before adding it to your dish. It deepens the flavor, tones down the bitterness, and brings out that electric golden color to make your plate even more COLORFUL! In this recipe, it becomes the star of a golden yogurt sauce that ties everything together.

This is my take on one of Molly’s meatball recipes, reworked with blood sugar-friendly swaps and a few nutrient-dense upgrades. I’m using Force of Nature’s ancestral blend — yes, the one with organ meats, but don’t freak out! You can’t even taste them, but you do get all the bonus benefits like iron, B vitamins, and amino acids most of us don’t get enough of. It’s one of the easiest ways to sneak in more nutrient density without doing really anything different.

The meatballs get a subtle sweetness from dried fruit (get a no sugar added dried fruit), and instead of breadcrumbs, I use Chef’s Kiss lupin flakes (code SONJA for 20% off. These lupin flakes are my go-to for any breadcrumb replacement AND it punches up the protein and fiber in meatball. I like to serve this over cauliflower rice (my favorite base to zhuzh up with fresh herbs) or do half white rice/half cauli for something with more carbs.

Home cooking through science tip of the week

This recipe also uses YOGURT IN THE MEATBALLS in addition to in the side sauce. If you’ve been here for a few months you know I’ve been loving reading the Food Lab by J Kenji Lopez-Alt to learn more about better home cooking through science (yes, please). Well guess what, he recommends adding yogurt in meatballs!

Here’s why:

• All meatballs need what’s called a panade to keep them tender and moist. A traditional panade is a mixture of starch (like breadcrumbs or lupin flakes) and liquid (like milk or water)

• This mixture helps prevent the meat proteins from binding too tightly when cooking (which is what happens if you’ve ever had a “tough” tasting meatball)

• Yogurt works especially well in meatballs because the lactic acid in yogurt gently breaks down muscle fibers in the meat, making it more tender and locking in moisture!

• You still need something like lupin flakes or almond flour to help give it extra structure, but this lupin flake + yogurt combo gives you a fiber and probiotic boost.

The whole dish feels spring-y and bright — nothing like the heavy meatballs you might be picturing. Also, IMO the leftovers are even better the next day.

Like all my recipes, this one is endlessly modifiable. Swap in whatever herbs, nuts, or dried fruit you have on hand. Use ground chicken, lamb, turkey—whatever’s in the fridge. Tons of tips and ideas in the recipe to make it your own!

RECIPE AND WALKTHROUGH VIDEO LINK HERE

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If you make this recipe (or ANY of my recipes!) PLEASE share feedback with me! Comment below or on the recipe in the Color Club, and if you are on IG, tag me @sonjakmanning.

Chefs kisses,

Sonja