Juicy, flavorful Italian-style Slow Cooker Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs – perfect for dipping in your favorite marinara or alfredo sauce!
If you’re not following me on Instagram, you might not know that I’ve been in Sacramento for the past couple of days learning all of the ins and outs of Diamond of California and how their amazing walnuts go from the tree to my kitchen. My husband will tell you that I’m a bit of a workaholic, and there may be something to that claim. Lately though, I’ve realized life is flying by way to fast so I’ve been trying (key word: trying) to take little breaks, celebrate tiny personal victories, and savor the moment a little more.
When I arrived in Sacramento, I had a few hours to waste before I was scheduled to be anywhere. I hadn’t had lunch and a girl’s gotta eat, so naturally I beelined for the nearest Mexican cuisine I could find. It is California after all, they know their Mexican. But this story isn’t actually about the amazing chicken burrito bowl topped with 4 kinds of salsa I ate and nearly cried over. This story is about a girl and her gelato.
After my spi-cay lunch and a good walk around the city I was craving something sweet like it was nobody’s business and found a fancy-pants Italian place right on Capitol Mall called Il Fornaio. Inside this classy restaurant (with a floor-to-ceiling wall devoted to every kind of wine you can imagine) there was a teeny tiny bakery in the corner. As I stood in line, I glanced over the menu and saw mostly sandwiches but I spotted a ginormous chocolate chip cookie in the display case and decided that would definitely satisfy my sweet tooth. But then the lady in front of my walked away with a towering cup of ice cream! What?! That was not on the menu, trust me, I would have noticed. So I asked gal at the counter if they had any gelato. Indeed they did and the flavor of the day was…. Cookies n’ Cream.
It was fate.
I really really really love cookies n’ cream ice cream. And gelato?? Well that’s the cream of the crop as far as ice cream goes. Those Italians, they know what they’re doin’. So there I sat in the middle of downtown sacramento with a double scoop of gelato AND a ginormous king-sized soft-baked chocolate chip cookie. And this is where savoring the moment comes in to play. If I had just stayed at the hotel and worked on my computer all afternoon (and I did consider it, heavily) I wouldn’t have found that Italian restaurant with the teeny tiny bakery with the ginormous chocolate chip cookies and the most amazing gelato known to mankind.
If being less of a workaholic means more ice cream in my life, I’m on board. I mean, why didn’t you lead with that. I would have quit my job years ago.
Now on a less sweet, more savory, but equally delicious Italian note, let’s talk about the meatballs you will every taste, which also happen to be filled with ooey gooey melty mozzarella cheese and are made in a slow cooker. Yes, these are a crockpot wonder my friends. But! If you are short on time or don’t have a slow cooker or whatever, these can also be baked so you have no excuse not to be making, eating, and singing praises for these meatballs. The meatballs alone are wonderfully tasty and seasoned perfectly, but anything filled with cheese is better right?? As a side not, they also freeze very well if you want to make them ahead and bake or slow cook them at a later time!
What people are saying about these Slow Cooker Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
“This was so freaking good! I doubled the recipe and used the oven baked method and they came out extremely tender. To my own fault, I should have incorporated the bread crumbs better (had a few bites of highly seasoned crust!) but I’ll remember that for next time and there will be a NEXT TIME! My husband and kids loved them over spaghetti and sauce. Big hit and I can see how they will be great for parties. Even with the cheese seeping out, they still held up together.” – Kimberly
“I tripled the recipe (wanted to save some for the freezer for another meal! :)) , and it was absolutely delicious. I did make the balls about 1/2 the size and still had lots of cheese left over. I made it gluten-free by using crushed Rice Chex instead of bread crumbs.” – Mary
“Made these for dinner tonight with breadcrumbs made from our leftover gluten free bread (hubby is allergic to wheat) and I swear these are the best meatballs I’ve ever had! Thanks for sharing this recipe! Made twelve HUGE meatballs, so with a side of spaghetti, two dinners and two lunches worth 
” – Karen
“I made this for my chris party on Saturday and everyone raved About them and they were gone in a hour! So good im making them for Dinner!!” – Jessie
Try these Baked Meatballs next!
Slow Cooker Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup bread crumbs - (panko or regular, Italian seasoned or plain)
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic - (or 2 teaspoons garlic powder)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3-4 mozzarella cheese sticks - (string cheese)
- marinara or alfredo sauce - for dipping
Instructions
- Chop each cheese stick into half inch pieces (about 6-8 pieces for each cheese stick). Place on a plate and chill in the freezer until ready to use.
- Add ground beef, bread crumbs, egg and egg yolk, garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to a bowl. Mush the ingredients together with your hands until everything comes together.
- Remove cheese from freezer. Scoop out about 4 tablespoons of meat mixture and roll into a ball. Gently push a piece of chilled mozzarella into the middle of the meatball. Roll the ball in your hands to cover the hole where the mozzarella cheese was pushed in. Place inside a greased slow cooker and repeat with remaining meat and cheese.
- When all meatballs are in the slow cooker (*see note for alternate cooking method), cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours or on low 3-4 hours until meat it cooked through (no longer pink). The cheese may start melting out of the meatballs, that’s okay.
- If desired, sprinkle with a bit of fresh chopped parsley or dried Italian seasoning for garnish. Serve with your favorite marinara or alfredo sauce for dipping.
These are in the crockpot right now! I did forget the extra egg yolk, but they seemed to hold together pretty well. I got about 20 meatballs out of the recipe, if not more! Excited to try! 😉
Hellooooo Tiffany!! Bon Jour!
Just sayin’ here, that when I make meat-a-balls, I don’t use the salt. Depending on how many I want-a-to-make, I use everything that you do here AND, I get a box of Lipton Beefy-Mushroom soup-a-mix and-a-add that-a-too-a. {Just tryin’ to make-a-that-a- sound-a-like Italiano; LOL-a! 🙂 } And instead of “mushing” it together, I squish it! Again; LOL 🙂 Anyway, always looking for new ideas on what to make for dinner, as my hubby and myself have a somewhat lacking appetite these days.
Have-a-yourself a WONDERFUL time, traveling, cooking, baking and eating! 🙂
Sharon
4 tablespoons made MASSIVE meatballs. I did 2 tablespoon meatballs and they came out fine. The meatballs also came out a little dry doing the oven metho. Next time I am going to add some ricotta and add less breadcrumbs.
Do you think it’s possible to through some pasta noodles like penne or somethibg in the last 30 minutes or so to go along with this?
Hi Brianna, I’m not sure how that will work out because noodles need liquid to cook and these meatballs aren’t being cooked in liquid. You could cook them on the stove though and serve them up with the meatballs!
I love this recipe and the whole idea behind it! However, I made it tonight with ground turkey and tried the slow cooker approach for the first time. At one hour on high I checked the meatballs and they were very far from being cooked. Checked them again an hour later and they were just starting to brown on the outside, but raw on the inside. Ended up moving them to the oven to finish them. Still totally delicious, but wondering what might have gone wrong with the slow cooking. Could it have been that it was turkey? Or was my 6 quart crockpot too big? Thoughts?