Feta Stuffed Greek Meatballs

Enjoying a Mediterranean diet means that we get to eat meals that are healthy, fresh, and packed with flavour. 

Some form of the cuisines found all across the Mediterranean Sea are enjoyed here at our place weekly. Whether Greek, French, Spanish, Turkish, Cypriote, etc, the flavours are always bright, fresh, light, and full of veggies and citrus. And with a little prep, it is even easier.  Today I’m going to share my prep method for my Greek Meatballs, kicking them up a notch by stuffing them with Feta Cheese.  These are easy to make, bake, and with a variety of ways to serve up.

Ingredients

Meat: The ones I’m showing here are made with bison (Costco has been carrying ground bison meat, at a really good price, check it out in your area) and pork.  Often I will replace the beef with lamb. Yes, you can use Chicken if you want, the only thing that changes is the baking temperature and time.

Vegetables: shallot or red onion, garlic, these can be minced or grated finely.  Chopped fresh herbs: parsley, mint, oregano or dill.

Seasoning: Cinnamon, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Binders: Fresh or panko breadcrumbs (sure, feel free to use dry breadcrumbs, but be prepared to add more milk to increase the moisture content) Egg, olive oil, and milk.

Feta Cheese: Cut into 1/2 inch cubes to stuff into the middle of the meatballs.

Method

Combine the meat, vegetables, seasonings and bread crumbs with your fingertips till evenly dispersed.  In a small bowl, whisk the egg, oil and milk together.  Pour this over the mixture and blend well with your fingers.  Stop before you overmix, as this will cause them to become tough when cooking.  You will wait about 8-10 minutes and then return to the bowl.  Is the mixture moist and easy to work with, or is is a little dry?  This is usually affected by the breadcrumbs you use.  At this point you will add more milk, a tablespoon at a time till the mixture become looser but still easy to hold together.

Non-Negotiable Step

Take a small portion of the mixture and form it into a patty (about the size a bit larger than a quarter.  Cook this in a small skillet set over medium heat with olive oil.  Turn till cooked through.  Let it cool down till easy to eat.  Eat and taste to see if you are happy with the seasoning.  If not, this is the time to add more salt, pepper, oregano, chilli flakes etc to the large mixture.  This way you guarantee that all you hard work in rolling out all the meatballs is worth it.  You don’t want to discover that they are on the bland side when you go to serve them to company.

Stuffing and Rolling

Take the feta cheese and cut into 32 cubes, and have them ready on a small plate beside your work station.  Pat the mixture down till the surface is even, and then use the side of your hand to create four equal quadrants.  From each quadrant you should be able to create eight meatballs or so.

Take a small portion, about the size of two tablespoon’s worth or a bit more and roll it between your hands.  Keep a bowl of water, or use olive oil to moisten your hands, to keep the mixture from sticking in your palms.  Roll till you have a ball achieved.  Now create a hole in the middle, and drop one piece of feta into it.  Use your fingers to wrap the meat mixture over and around the cheese, and roll between your palms till round and smooth.  Repeat with all the meat and cheese.  Transfer the ones you want to eat to the fridge to chill, this will help them to keep their shape once in the oven.

Prep for Freezing

If you are making these Feta Stuffed Greek Meatballs as part of a prep day, have a baking sheet lined with wax paper ready.  Place all the meatballs onto the baking sheet.  Transfer this to your freezer.  Once completely frozen you can transfer the meatballs to a freezer bag.  Now they won’t stick to each other.

Baking

When ready to bake these meatballs, drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet, and pre-heat the oven to 425F.  Once the oven is nice and hot, place the chilled meatballs onto the baking sheet, brush the tops with more olive oil (or you can use veggie spray)  Bake in the centre of the oven till browned and cooked through, about 20 minutes.  Thankfully, thanks to the feta cheese in the middle, you won’t need to worry about the very centres of the meatballs being undercooked!

How to Serve

I often prepare these for large crowds by having serving platters or containers ready with fresh herbs like parsley for the meatballs to sit on.  Load up the platter with meatballs, have a bowl of tzatziki sauce for spooning onto individual plates, along with sliced cucumbers, green or red peppers, and lemon wedges for squeezing over everything.  These meatballs are always a hit!

If you want to serve them at home, why not create a Mediterranean bowl of sorts?  Have rice prepared, sliced vegetables, plenty of tzatziki sauce, kalamata olives, feta cheese, and add the meatballs.  Serve with pita bread if you desire.  In fact, you can take all of the above ingredients and serve them in or rolled up in warmed pita bread.  These Meatballs work great served with this creamy velvety Hummus as well.

Alternatively, you can serve these meatballs with Greek Potatoes, and a Horiatiki or Village Salad.  Make extra salad dressing to drizzle over the meatballs.  A simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and red wine vinegar, dried oregano, salt and pepper is all you need.

Leftovers

Any leftover cooked meatballs can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days.  You can reheat them in a skillet, toaster oven, or even the air fryer. If you want to toss them in a tomato sauce, or add to a lemony orzo soup, go for it!

The Labneh Tzatziki sauce I am showing here is from my Cookbook.  It is the easiest way to create a creamy tzatziki sauce, without having to go through the step of draining the yogurt!  I also have a fabulous Eloté-Inspired Greek Grilled Potatoes recipe in the book, which would be amazing with these meatballs.

For other Mediterranean inspired dishes, check out my Pork Souvlaki, Horiatiki Pasta Salad, Zucchini Halloumi Fritters with Barberries, Fattoush Salad with Grilled Halloumi, Mediterranean Rice and Shrimp Bake, Uber Lemony Chicken and Orzo Soup.

If you make these Feta Stuffed Greek Meatballs, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, and you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.

Love Jen

5 from 2 votes

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Feta Stuffed Greek Meatballs

Juicy and tender, these flavour packed Greek flavoured meatballs get an extra boost from feta cheese stuffed in the middle. Serve these as part of a Mezes spread, or as a Mediterranean bowl or stuffed pita bread meal, with tzatziki, rice, fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, red onion and lemon.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Greek, Mediterranean

Keyword feta cheese, lemon, meatballs, mediterranean, mint

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 32 meatballs

Ingredients

• 454 g / 1 lb ground beef or lamb, see Notes
• 454 g /1 lb ground pork or more beef
• 4 medium shallots or 1 medium red onion grated or finely minced
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 60 g / 1 cup freshly torn or panko breadcrumbs or use normal, but you will need to add more liquid.
• 4 tbsp packed fresh finely chopped parsley
• 3 tbsp packed fresh finely chopped mint
• 2 tbsp packed fresh finely chopped dill, or fresh oregano
• 3/4 tsp dried oregano or to taste
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon or more to taste
• 3/4 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper or to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes, optional
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp milk, or more if needed
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 85 g / 3 oz feta cheese, cubed into 1/2 inch cubes. You will need about 32 cubes.

Instructions

Make the Mixture

1. Mix the meat, shallots or onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, chopped herbs, and seasonings in a bowl with your hands till evenly combined. Do not overwork.

2. In a small bowl whisk the egg, milk and olive oil together. Pour this over the meat mixture, and mix with your hands till just evenly combined. Do not overwork, or this can cause the mixture to turn tough when cooked.
3. Take a small portion and form a patty. Heat oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Cook the patty till browned on both sides and cooked through. Once cool enough, eat and to see if you want to adjust any of the seasonings in the raw mixture. Do so now, before you go through the work of rolling them all up.

4. Flatten the mixture in the bowl to create an even top. Use the side of your hand to divide the mixture into four equal quadrants. You should be able to get 8 meatballs per quadrant.

5. Using damp or oiled hands, roll about 2 large tablespoons worth of the mixture into a ball. Press down on the ball to create a dent to drop one feta cube into. Wrap the meat mixture back over the cheese and roll to close and smooth out. Place onto a wax paper lined baking sheet. Repeat till all the mixture is used. You should be able to get 32 meatballs.

Freeze

1. Place the baking sheet with the meatballs into the freezer. Once frozen, transfer to a freezer bag. Use within three to four months ideally. Any meatballs that you want to bake should be thawed and then stored in the fridge to keep firm till ready to bake off.

Bake

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Pour one to two tablespoons of olive oil on a baking sheet. Spread out the meatballs on the baking sheet, making sure they aren't touching. Brush or spray a little more oil on top of the meatballs.
2. Bake on the centre rack till a lovely brown crust has formed, and the meatballs are cooked through, about 15-20 minutes or so. You don't need to worry about the meat in the centre being cooked through, there isn't any! The feta in the middle guarantees that these meatballs will not be overcooked, but rather will stay nice and juicy.

Serve

1. Serve these on a platter with toothpicks, with Labneh Tzatziki, lemon wedges and sliced cucumbers and bell peppers.
2. To serve these as part of a Mediterranean Bowl, serve with Lemon Rice, Tzatziki, cut up tomatoes, red and green peppers, red onions, and crumbled Feta Cheese. Always have some extra fresh herbs and lemon wedges handy.
3. You can also take all of the above and fill warm pita breads for a great hand held meal.
4. Expect to use between 4 and 5 per person, depending on how large you rolled them, and how hungry everyone is.
5. Any leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge, and re-heated in a skillet set on medium low, in a toaster oven, or even the air fryer.

Recipe Notes

Feel free to use ground chicken instead of beef/pork, ideally chicken thigh meat for a juicy result. You will need to adjust the temperature to 400F.  Add 1 heaping teaspoon of sweet paprika to the olive oil before brushing the meatballs.  This will help the meatballs get some extra colour.
Feel free to serve these meatballs with a Greek Horiatiki Salad, using some of the salad dressing to drizzle over the baked meatballs.

Recipe inspired by one over at My Greek Dish, additional herbs and the feta are my own, as well baking over frying on the stove top.