Easy Baked Blueberry Breakfast Meatballs
These blueberry breakfast meatballs are the perfect combination of sweet and savory. Plus, they come together in just a few minutes of prep time and are a great make ahead easy meal for busy mornings!
I’ve often found that breakfast can be the most stressful meal of the day. When you need to get out the door early, making sure your whole family has a nourishing breakfast can be hard!
That’s why we love these baked meatballs. They are perfect for making in a big batch and freezing to have on hand when you just need to pull out something that’s quick but satisfying!
In my experience, when I have prepped breakfast in advance, the whole day gets off to a better start and can quickly become everyone’s favorite meal of the day!
Blueberries in Meatballs?? Breakfast Meatball Ingredients
It may sound strange but the sweet and savory combination of the blueberries with the ground meat pairs so well together!
Currently, it’s March on our homestead. This means we are looking for all the creative ways to use the food we have stored away from harvest season. We still have plenty of carrots, frozen berries, and dried greens. This meatball recipe became the perfect way to turn what we had available into something unique and different—but also delicious!
These meatballs have quickly become one of our breakfast favorites! We also love that it’s an easy breakfast recipe option with only a handful of simple ingredients. There are no added sugars and it’s a great alternative to eggs for getting a hearty breakfast that’s rich in protein!
Most premade or store-bought sausage links or sausage patties contain all sorts of added sugars (often corn syrup), additives, preservatives, and unwanted ingredients. When you make your own breakfast sausage meatballs, you are in charge of all of the ingredients. This makes them a great option for the whole family to eliminate the unwanted junk and only include the nourishing, real stuff that our bodies were intended to eat.
What You Need – Ingredient List and Substitutes
Ground Pork – This is our favorite ground meat to use in these tasty meatballs. But if you are looking for an alternative to pork, ground turkey or even ground beef could be used instead.
Blueberries – Either fresh or frozen blueberries will work!
Carrots – We like to use shredded carrots because we grow them in abundance on our farmstead. But, shredded sweet potatoes, or even shredded winter squash, would be great alternatives in this recipe.
Dried Greens or Kale – Every spring we harvest and preserve several quarts of dried nettle to nourish us through the winter when we aren’t growing other greens. But, if you don’t have dried nettle or greens, using finely chopped kale works great too!
Herbs – Thyme, sage, and salt are our favorite spices to add to give it more of the sausage meatballs flavor. But you can play around here with adding other herbs and spices.
Maple Syrup (optional) – We typically leave this out to avoid adding extra sugar to our breakfast. However, for meatballs with more of a sweet maple flavor, adding a tablespoon or 2 of maple syrup would be a tasty addition!
Baked Blueberry Breakfast Meatballs Recipe
Yield: 32-40 Meatballs
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground pork
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (I like to cut them in half)
¼ cup of dried nettle or greens or 2 stalks of finely chopped kale
1-2 large carrots, shredded (or substitute 1 medium sweet potato)
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)
Directions:
1. In a large bowl mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Don’t be afraid to get in there and use your hands for this.
2. Form the meat mixture into golf ball sized balls.
3. Place meatballs in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet or 9×13 glass pan.
4. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through.
Store leftover meatballs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for later (see below).
How do I serve breakfast meatballs?
Some of our favorite ways to serve these meatballs are alongside baked oatmeal or easy oatmeal blender muffins, yogurt, or fruit. These meatballs also make a really easy snack, could be a perfect addition to a brunch menu, or sometimes we even have them for lunch or dinner!
Can I make these ahead and freeze?
Yes! Making ahead and freezing these meatballs is a great way to make a large amount and get ahead on some meal prep to make future meals go so much more smoothly. To freeze, we line the already cooked meatballs in a single layer on a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Freeze until solid and then store in a Ziplock freezer bag. To reheat, warm in the oven, or microwave, until warmed all the way through.
More of our favorite hearty breakfast recipes:
Maple Sage Sausage Patties
Egg Muffin Cups with Ham
Apple Sweet Potato Hash with Greens and Sausage
Gluten Free Potato Crusted Quiche
Easy Baked Blueberry Breakfast Meatballs
These blueberry breakfast meatballs are the perfect combination of sweet and savory. Plus, they come together in just a few minutes of prep time and are a great make ahead easy meal for busy mornings!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (I like to cut them in half)
- ¼ cup of dried nettle or greens or 2 stalks of finely chopped kale
- 1-2 large carrots, shredded (or substitute 1 medium sweet potato)
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Don’t be afraid to get in there and use your hands for this.
- Form the meat mixture into golf ball sized balls.
- Place meatballs in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet or 9x13 glass pan.
- Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through.
Pin it for later!
These are amazing! The only boy substitution I made was swapping the nettle for kale. I used 1 1/2 cups of kale chopped finely. I have never left a comment before for a recipe I’ve tried but felt compelled do so!!! They are that good!!!
Wonderful!! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I’m so glad that you love these and thanks for sharing your substitutions.
I should add that I sautéed kale, carrot and 2 cloves of garlic before mixing it in with the pork.