Juicy little sheet pan meatballs that are salty, zesty, briney, and so so delicious. Pile them on tzatziki, spoon some punchy green sauce over top, and serve with a simple salad and crusty bread.
Sheet Pan Meatballs with Tomato Salad and Green Sauce
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This was delicious! Definitely will be a keeper. I made it with the tomato and cucumber salad and it was so fresh and full of flavor.
This post is sponsored by ButcherBox
We’re no strangers to sheet pan meatballs around here. We love to love them! Easy clean-up, no frying mess, but still oven-crisp goodness, and they’re always the easiest option for straight-off-the-pan sneaks.
Super juicy and deeply flavored thanks to some delicious briney green sauce – made with parsley, cilantro, walnuts, capers, garlic, and more – that will go not only inside but also on top of these little beauties. Serve them alongside some juicy marinated tomatoes, swoop them through tzatziki, douse them in that green sauce, grab yourself a buttery hunk of crusty bread, and let’s have the best meatball party in town, shall we?
Salty, Zesty, Briney Goodness
This isn’t just any old meatball. Not only is the quality of beef A+ (we’re using ButcherBox Grass-Fed Grass-Finished – more on that later), but that little green sauce magic concoction in the mixture brings a whole explosion of flavor with salty brininess from the capers, a little zest from the lemon, and our favorite punch of all punches, the garlic punch. It all just sort of swims together to bring maximum flavor to this little guy. It’s like a whole meal of tastes in one bite!
And you better believe you save some of that green sauce to put on top of your meatballs, and bread, and any kind of veggies. We’re nothing if not sauce hogs.
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A Word About This ButcherBox Beef
Okay, if you’re not on the ButcherBox train yet, we highly recommend you climb aboard! The quality of their meat and seafood is top-notch.
This is why we love them:
- They are a certified B Corp company, which means they are mission-driven to do some environmental good in this world and that is always something we can get behind.
- They source from family farms and are committed to humane practices, and have a focus on sustainability for their seafood offerings which we also feel really good about!
- Plus, sustainable and recyclable insulation and packaging whenever possible? Yes, please.
There is so much care put behind their product and it really shows. And, ultimately, this grass-fed, grass-finished ground beef is SO flavorful and cooks up beautifully.
ButcherBox has a deal going right now where you get two pounds of free (yes, FREE) grass-fed grass-finished ground beef in every single box for the life of your membership. WHAT.
Click here to learn more about the boxes (or add this deal to your existing membership)!
For burgers, for spaghetti, for meatballs, and everything else in between, this ground beef is such good quality and it is a total freezer essential. And it’s free in every box right now. Do not miss this deal!
How To Make These Meatballs (Sheet Pan FTW!)
Get your sheet pans and your food processor at the ready and let’s get down to business.
- Green Sauce. Pulse everything up in a food processor until chopped very finely (but not a paste). This is your flavor base! Transfer half of the flavor base to a large bowl for the meatballs and then use the rest make your sauce.
- Meatballs. Mix the egg, paprika, salt, panko, ground beef, and reserved flavor base green sauce in a bowl until evenly distributed. Roll into balls. Place the rolled meatballs on sheet pan, brush with olive oil, and bake!
Then serve those meatballs over creamy tzatziki, heavily dolloped with your green sauce, along with a pile of tzatziki and simple tomato salad, add a big torn-off hunk of rustic bread, and oof, what a satisfying flavor extravaganza you’re in for!
Will these juicy delicious little sheet pan meatballs absolutely steal your hearts? Yes. Does green sauce, just in general, make the world better? Also yes. Let’s get to it, pals.
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Sheet Pan Meatballs with Tomato Salad and Green Sauce
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Juicy little sheet pan meatballs that are salty, zesty, briney, and so so delicious. Pile them on tzatziki, spoon some punchy green sauce over top, and serve with a simple salad and crusty bread.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Green Sauce:
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 cup parsley
- 1 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup capers or pitted castelvetrano olives
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- juice and zest of a lemon
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt to taste
Sheet Pan Meatballs:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup panko
- 1 lb. ground beef (the ButcherBox grass-fed grass-finished ground beef is top-notch)
Extras:
- 1 small baguette for serving
- 1 cup tzatziki (I used store-bought)
- 1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 1 clove garlic, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon freshly minced herbs (I like parsley)
- salt to taste (I use about 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt)
- 1 cucumber, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Make your tomato salad and throw in some sliced cucumbers too!
- Pulse the garlic, parsley, cilantro, capers, and walnuts in a food processor until chopped very finely (but not creamy / not a paste – you just want a fine chop! and you could do this by hand as well). This is your flavor base!
- Transfer half of the flavor base to a large bowl for the meatballs. Add all other meatball ingredients and mix thoroughly with your hands to combine. Roll into balls and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Add the other half of the flavor base to a smaller bowl; add lemon zest and lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste to make your sauce. Add red pepper flakes for heat if you want. It should look similar to a loose pesto or chimichurri.
- Serve meatballs over a swipe of tzatziki, with a hunk of rustic bread and a scoop of tomato salad. And drizzle, dip, and swish all of it through that punchy green sauce! BIG, BIG FLAVORS! So good!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Mediterranean-Inspired
Keywords: sheet pan meatballs, meatball bowls, green sauce
Thank you to ButcherBox for sponsoring this recipe!
More Meatball Recipes We Can’t Stop Talking About
- Harissa Meatballs with Whipped Feta (the perfect SOS dinner)
- Chicken Meatballs with Peppers and Orzo (one of our fave combos!)
- The Best Swedish Meatballs (perfectly tender, perfectly spiced)
Filed Under: All Recipes Bowls Dairy-Free Dinner Healthy Lemon Main Dishes Meat and Chicken Quick and Easy Sheet Pan Spring Sugar-Free Summer Tomato
March 21, 2022
Created By The POY Team
Lindsay Ostrom
Recipe Developer
Rita Boersma
Writer
Eman Kemp
Editorial
Hi! Just wondering if any suggestions for a swap for the walnuts? We have a tree nut allergy! Thanks!
As a fellow tree nut allergy myself I’m wondering as well!
These little meatballs are amazing! I have made them about six different times at this point and they always turn out delicious=)
You could try sunflower seeds or pepitas!
I just made these substituting pistachios for the walnuts. Oh my goodness! Delish!
I found the quality of ButcherBox to be hit or miss (especially with steaks and cubed beef). And their customer service is pretty bad. I encountered total disinterest in trying to resolve repeated and ongoing carrier issues. My boxes would be dumped at the end of my very long driveway, and I’d get an email over 24 hours later from ButcherBox telling me it was “just delivered”.
I have had similar problems with ButcherBox – I have put them on pause for now.
Hi Jen! Thanks for the comment!
In the 6 months I’ve been a customer, personally I’ve never encountered any shipping issues with timing or quality of packaging.
And I can’t speak to the quality of the cubed beef since that is a product I haven’t ordered, but I especially feel like the quality and taste of the ground chicken, chicken tenders, ground turkey, ground pork sausage, and ground beef (what we featured in this post) is significantly better than what I’m able to find in the grocery store, which is why I always look forward to my boxes!
Always appreciate hearing people’s real experiences, so thanks for sharing your thoughts! ❤️
For vegetarians, is there a substitute for the beef? Like lentils?
My family really enjoyed this recipe tonight! Thank you!
They are a certified B Corp company, which means they are mission-driven to do some environmental good in this world and that is always something we can get behind. Scents n Stories
These sound delicious. I am just wondering if I can sub pecans for the walnuts?? Would this change the flavour substantially?
Pecans would be a great substitute and shouldn’t alter the flavor too much!
Excited to try it! Question…. what are your thoughts on making the green sauce in the morning (during lil one’s naptime!) or even the night before and then pulling it out later when I’m ready to make the meatballs at dinnertime? Can it be stored in the fridge during the day like that? The meal prep series inspired me to get a little more organized! 🙂 we needed that here as we enter toddlerdom in our house!
For sure! You can definitely prep the sauce ahead the night before or in the morning.
Thanks!! We had it last night and it was AMAZING
This recipe turned out great! It was delicious and pretty quick and easy to make and not too time consuming for a week night dinner. Thank you!
Glad to hear it!
yummy and mouth watering. I just cant get over the pictures of the recipe. Definitely gonna try.
Could I use panko crumbs instead? I do low carb always. Looks amazing!!!!
For sure!
it looks very very yummy ! can’t wait to test it for my kids and I 🙂
Made these and LOVED the flavors. Accidentally put the olive oil and lemon juice while pulsing the herbs and made the meatballs with the sauce. Turned out great! Didnt have walnuts so subbed pistachios and made the tzatziki recipe from the sheet pan chicken pitas. Great for lunch the next day too!
This was so delicious!! The flavor base is truly amazing. We also threw some green beans on the sheet pan with the meatballs because most of my family doesn’t enjoy tomatoes and I was looking for a way to easily incorporate a veggie. We will definitely be keeping the recipe in our regular rotation.
This was delicious! Definitely will be a keeper. I made it with the tomato and cucumber salad and it was so fresh and full of flavor.
Super delicious! I made the meatballs with ground chicken instead of beef for a cheaper version and they were excellent.
Thank you for this comment! Trying to keep it low fat:)
I think garlic is the most important ingredients. Delicious recipe.
great idea to pair them with tzatziki, just what I was craviing but didn’t realize it, thank you!
This is going to be a new family favorite in regular rotation. Everyone loved it! I tossed the tomatoes in some of the green sauce to marinate them. We ate with some cauliflower rice and hummus. From the hubs- “This looks and taste like a restaurant.”
This was so tasty and fresh! We used venison and it was so good. Dipping bread in the green sauce and tzatziki, yes please!
Made this for dinner tonight and my husband asked for it to become a regular – it was so good! I didn’t have capers or olives so had to leave those out of the sauce, but even without it was delicious. We will definitely be making it again!
So easy and fast- loved these meatballs and will definitely be making again!
So delicious. Loved the briney meatballs with the sauces and cucumbers. Deeeeeeeeelicious.
Im making it now but just saw that i ran out of olive oil.. can i sub it with safflower oil?
That should work just fine!
I made this last night. The meatballs were amazing and the green sauce was drinkable. I used pistachios instead of walnuts (bc that’s what I had), otherwise true to recipe.
I served with rice, tzatziki and a cucumber tomato salad. The whole family loved, 5 & 9 year old included. Highly recommend.
Meant to add 5 stars!
Loved this recipe! Was wondering if the meatballs would be good to freeze and if so what timing would look like for cooking? Thanks for all the help and my family and myself just love Pinch of Yum!
Hi Corrine! So glad you enjoyed it! Yes, you can freeze the meatballs. I’d try reheating at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
Loved this! Amazingly flavorful and very easy weeknight meal. Thank you!
Another fantastic recipe from POY! I made this just as directed (including the tomato cucumber salad) except I wanted to try making the meatballs in the air fryer. 375 for 13 minutes worked for me, in case anyone else wants to try it that way. I also used homemade tzatziki (Alton Brown’s recipe is the bomb). Thank you Lindsay & Co! Love, love, love this blog!