Mini Meatballs (Polpettine di Carne)

These mini meatballs are more than just Italian street food.  They are also great for appetizers or snacks – easy to prepare and always a crowd-pleaser!

Yes, they’re not as common as ‘Arancini’ — another Italian street food.  We’re more used to seeing meatballs with pasta, but in some regions of Italy, they are being sold as ‘polpettine di carne’ on the street.  Bite-sized and juicy, we always forget that they are hot when we take our first bite.  (Oopps! Too late. 🙂 )

HOW TO MAKE MINI MEATBALLS

An equal mix of ground beef and ground pork yields the best result for these mini meatballs recipe.  You can even make them smaller, especially if they’re served for kids. I have tried baking and shallow-frying in a cast-iron skillet, but I still prefer deep frying them — and then I let them rest on paper towels to soak up excess oil before serving.

No need to roll them on flour and eggs before frying though, you only need breadcrumbs for these easy Italian meatballs.

Now you’re thinking, ‘where is the sauce…?’. I honestly don’t serve any with these appetizer meatballs. I feel there is no need since they are already juicy on their own.  Always serve them with caution though – when you think these mini meatballs are cool enough to eat, most of the time they’re still not! 😉

If you’re looking for more Italian street food, check out my post on ‘Panelle’ from Sicily and ‘Piadina’ from the Emilia-Romagna region.  Enjoy! 🙂

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Mini Meatballs (Polpettine di carne)

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

Mini meatballs (polpettine di carne), Italian street food that's also great as appetizer or snack! So easy to prepare at home!

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 35

Author: Neriz

Ingredients

• 400 grams ground meat (mix of beef and pork)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
• 3/4 cup parsley, chopped roughly
• 5 to 7 tbsp breadcrumbs (add 5 tbsp first)
• salt and pepper, to season
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 & 1/2 cup vegetable oil, for frying

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine ground meat, eggs, parmigiano reggiano, flour, parsley, salt, pepper and tablespoons of breadcrumbs. Mix. If mixture is too wet, add more breadcrumbs. (I normally use up to 7 tbsp).
2. Cover bowl of mixture with plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Form bite-sized meatballs and roll each one on breadcrumbs. This recipe yields at least 35 pieces of mini meatballs.
4. Heat up vegetable oil in a deep, frying pan. Once oil is ready, fry meatballs in batches. Take meatballs out of the pan as soon as they turned slightly brown in color.
5. Place cooked meatballs on top of paper towels to absorb excess oil.
6. Thread the meatballs on a skewer. (I normally have four mini meatballs on a skewer.)

7. Serve.