Hungarian Meatballs in Tomato sauce
This delicious Hungarian meatballs recipe is one of our favourites in the winter. It is deliciously tasty and easy to make. Even though it does take a while to prepare, it is something you can make upfront and pop into the oven before you want to eat.
Hungarian cuisine is something everyone should experience at some time. We were lucky enough to visit the beautiful city of Budapest a few years ago and had a wonderful time there. While there, we visited some wonderful restaurants like Getto Gulyas and Menza where we ate the most delicious food. We shall definitely return there at some point.
In this authentic Hungarian meatballs recipe, the choice of paprika is up to you – we like to use quite a hot paprika to give the creamy goulash type sauce a bit of a kick. But you can also just use a sweet Hungarian paprika or a smoked paprika. If you cannot get a real Hungarian paprika then use whatever alternative you can get your hands on. Obviously if you want it a bit spicy you should use some hot paprika.
Types of Meatballs
There are lots of different types of meatballs. But I think recipes using meatballs are best when they have the mix of pork and beef in the meatballs. Pork and beef meatballs in this creamy meatball sauce make the perfect combination and just taste better. This recipe for meatballs is in fact really easy and satisfying to cook.
Frozen meatballs
If you have some meatballs leftover we put them in the freezer and the frozen meatballs then just need to be re-heated in the microwave. This beef and pork meatball recipe does freeze well, and as we are just 3 of us we always have some leftover.
For those of you that like cheese with your meatballs we added an option of grating some Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan on the top when you serve up. But it is still not quite a meatball parmigiana or meatball parmesan as you know it in the US. But we were kindly given some Parmigiano Reggiano by the consortium so we thought we would use it in this recipe, and it worked!
How to make Hungarian Meatballs
Hungarian Meatballs
These delicious Hungarian Meatballs with paprika are great to make ahead if you have people round for dinner. Easy to prepare, delicious and they freeze well!
Ingredients
- 500g lean pork mince
- 500g lean beef mince
- 1 large and one small onion
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 tbsp seasoned flour
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 red bell peppers
- 50 breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp Vegetable oil to brown the meatballs
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 x 400g tins of chopped Italian tomatoes
- 120ml Crème Fraiche
- 1-2 heaped tbsp Hungarian Paprika (sweet or hot, depending on your preference)
- Salt & pepper
Optional
- Garnish with:
- Grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- And some chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Start by chopping the large onion and one of the red peppers into very small pieces and put into a large bowl. Add the minced meat, the breadcrumbs, the chopped parsley, half the minced garlic and the whisked egg.
- Then thoroughly combine by hand until you have an evenly distributed mixture. Then take a piece of the mixture and roll it into a ball. I make the meatballs quite big and I will get about 20-22 balls out of these ingredients.
- Then roll the balls in the seasoned flour (on a plate) and fry them in a skillet in vegetable oil over medium heat. Do this in batches until they are golden brown on all sides. (I actually use 2 pans to do this to speed it up). Then place them apart on a plate.
- In the meantime, chop the other red pepper and the small onion, again into small pieces. Take a casserole pan and heat the olive oil in it. Then add the rest of the garlic, and the chopped onion and pepper and fry for about 4-5 minutes on a medium heat.
- Then add the meatballs to the pan and the 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and the paprika. Season with some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then mix carefully, being wary not to break the meatballs.
Then cover the casserole and place in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 75 minutes. - Although delicious smells will be coming from the oven during this time, do not be tempted to open the pot.
- After the 75 minutes take the casserole out of the oven and remove the lid. Then carefully mix in the 120ml of crème Fraiche into the sauce which will make it deliciously creamy.
Notes
Garnish with some chopped parsley and some grated parmesan and serve up on a bed of noodles. I normally use green or white tagliatelle or a combination of both.