Crunchy Taco Meatballs
Crunchy Taco Meatballs are an easy dinner recipe for a busy weeknight! Ground beef seasoned with taco spices, chopped black beans then rolled in toasted Panko and baked until crispy. Serve a spicy chipotle sauce, taco sauce, or sour cream.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 17-20 meatballs
- Category: Mexican
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (as close as you can get to 1lb, I find the packages are always a little higher or lower then exactly one pound)
1 cup Panko crumbs (you’ll use 3/4 cup for rolling, and 1/4 cup for the meatball mixture)
Cooking Spray
1/2 cup black beans, drained then roughly chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon cumin
1 packet taco seasoning
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil and spread out all of the Panko crumbs in an even layer and spray with some cooking spray. Bake for 3 minutes, remove from oven and stir the crumbs then place back in the oven for another 1 minute. (Watch them because they can go from nice and toasty to not so nice and burned very quickly.)
2. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, roughly chopped black beans, cumin, taco seasoning, the egg, the remaining 1/4 cup of the toasted Panko. Mix until combined, then form into meatballs about the size of slightly larger than a golf ball. Roll each meatball in the remaining 3/4 cup of toasted Panko.
3. Bake the meatballs slightly elevated on cooling racks as seen in the photo above, this helps keep some of the fatty oils away from the meatballs. Bake at 400 for 25 – 27 minutes.
Serve with taco sauce, a chipotle sauce, or sour cream. I also add lots of taco toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, queso fresco, and avocado!
Keywords: taco meatballs