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Tender meatballs of lean ground beef baked in a garlicky tomato and spinach sauce under melted mozzarella. Five small meatballs and a slice of toast make a plate that is easy to finish.
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains eggs, gluten, milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
Heat the oven to 220°C / 425°F (200°C fan). Put the beef, breadcrumbs, egg, Parmesan, half the garlic and half the oregano in a bowl with a good pinch of salt. Mix with your hand only until the egg and breadcrumbs disappear, then roll into 20 meatballs, each about 4 cm across, with damp hands.
Brush a baking dish about 30 by 20 cm with half the oil, add the meatballs in one layer and roast for 12 minutes, until browned on top.
Meanwhile, warm the rest of the oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat and cook the rest of the garlic and oregano for 1 minute without letting it colour. Add the passata, simmer for 5 minutes, then stir in the spinach until it wilts.
Spoon off any fat from the baking dish, pour the sauce around the meatballs and bake for 10 minutes. Scatter the mozzarella over and bake for 5 to 8 minutes more, until it has melted and the meatballs are cooked through to the centre.
Cooked when: 71°C / 160°F in the centre, with no pink left. A food thermometer is the reliable way to tell.
Tear the basil over the top and serve five meatballs each with the sauce and a slice of the toasted sourdough bread.
Mix only until the breadcrumbs and egg disappear into the beef. Working lean mince longer makes it springy and dense, closer to a sausage than a meatball; a light hand keeps it tender.
One serving is 5 meatballs in sauce with a slice of sourdough bread. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Cooked brown rice instead of sourdough, 100 g a person
A bowl rather than bread to mop with; spoon the sauce over the rice.
Per serving: about 15 kcal more, about 2 g less protein, about the same fat.
Allergens: Removes gluten from the bread; the breadcrumbs still contain it.
Turkey mince instead of beef
Softer and milder. Cook the meatballs to 74°C / 165°F, the poultry endpoint.
Per serving: about 5 kcal less, about 3 g less protein, about 2 g more fat.
Gluten-free breadcrumbs and bread
They bind the meatballs the same way. Nutrition is not recalculated.
Allergens: Removes gluten. Check both labels.
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
Most of the protein is in the beef meatballs, with the mozzarella adding more, and the spinach and tomato make the sauce the vegetable part of the plate.
| Energy | 545 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 47 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| of which saturates | 9 g |
| Carbohydrate | 44 g |
| of which sugars | 9 g |
| Fibre | 5 g |
| Sodium | 740 mg |
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 4. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lean beef mince | 500 g | FDC 173110Beef, ground, 93% lean meat / 7% fat, raw | 760 kcal | 104.3 g |
| dried breadcrumbs | 40 g | FDC 174928Bread, crumbs, dry, grated, plain | 158 kcal | 5.3 g |
| eggs | 56 g | FDC 171287Egg, whole, raw, fresh | 80 kcal | 7.0 g |
| Parmesan | 20 g | FDC 170848Cheese, parmesan, hard | 78 kcal | 7.2 g |
| garlic | 15 g | FDC 169230Garlic, raw | 22 kcal | 1.0 g |
| dried oregano | 1.5 g | FDC 171328Spices, oregano, dried | 4 kcal | 0.1 g |
| olive oil | 9 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 80 kcal | 0.0 g |
| passata | 500 g | FDC 170460Tomato products, canned, puree, without salt addedCalculated with FoodData Central's unsalted tinned tomato purée record, the closest match to sieved passata. | 190 kcal | 8.3 g |
| spinach | 200 g | FDC 168462Spinach, raw | 46 kcal | 5.7 g |
| mozzarella | 125 g | FDC 170847Cheese, mozzarella, part skim milk | 318 kcal | 30.3 g |
| fresh basil | 15 g | FDC 172232Basil, fresh | 3 kcal | 0.5 g |
| sourdough bread | 160 g | FDC 172675Bread, french or vienna (includes sourdough)Calculated with FoodData Central's French or Vienna bread record, which it states includes sourdough. | 435 kcal | 17.2 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 4 | 2175 kcal | 186.8 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
A thick, smoky chilli of lean ground beef and black beans, finished with a spoonful of lime yoghurt. A small bowl goes a long way, and it cooks on the hob or in a slow cooker.
About 1 hr 5 min · 415 kcal · 41 g protein per serving
Everything you like about a cheeseburger in a bowl: lean ground beef with melted cheddar, air-fried potatoes, crisp salad and a tangy yoghurt burger sauce. Smaller and lighter to eat than a burger in a bun.
About 32 min · 480 kcal · 38 g protein per serving