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These Crock Pot Meatballs with Creamy Mushroom Gravy are another recipe for the mushroom lovers! Making meatballs in your slow cooker is the best way, low and slow all day – and you come home to a hot, delicious meal!
How to Make Crock Pot Meatballs
Crock pot meat balls are a lifesaver and are so easy to make! You can use any sauce you want on these meatballs, and it’s really as easy as one, two, three! Here’s how to make basic crock pot meatballs that will hold together and last all day long in the crock pot.
Crock Pot Meatball Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Crock Pot Meatball Instructions
- Combine together the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Form the meat into 24
large meatballs. - Get out a large skillet and place the meatballs into it. Over medium high heat, fry
the meatballs until they are golden brown on all sides. The more browned they
are, the more flavour you will get and the better they will hold together. - Drain the grease well and place the meatballs into the bottom of a large Crock
Pot.
Do you have to cook meatballs before putting them in a crock pot?
Cooking the meatballs before you add them to your crock pot adds flavour. Period. Make your choice according to that fact and the following situations. There isn’t one right answer to this question as it all depends on your beef and the recipe that you are making. There are many reasons why you do and don’t have to cook meatballs before putting them into your crock pot.
- If you have super lean ground beef, you don’t have to precook your meatballs before placing them into the crock pot, however you are definitely going to miss out on that browned flavour. The choice is up to you.
- If you are using regular ground beef, you WILL end up with a greasy dish. Even in this recipe and with precooking my meatballs, I had grease on top.
- If you are using frozen meatballs, they are always super lean and precooked most of the time anyway. Don’t cook them again.
- If you have a creamy sauce with fatty ingredients like this one (butter and cream) you should precook your meatballs. It will be too rich and greasy.
- If you are trying to cut out calories and fat you definitely want to fry them and get the grease out, it will save hundreds of calories in the end and a ton of fat!
Browning Meatballs Before Putting Them into the Crock Pot
You don’t want to just cook the meatballs before putting them into the crock pot. One of the secrets to why this is such a decadent recipe is these gorgeously browned meatballs. I cooked them until they had a dark, gloriously flavoured crust on them – and look how it stayed on them after 4 hours on high in the crock pot! The photo below shows you how if you brown them really well, they will stay in one piece!
- Browning the meatballs with a good, thick outside crust will ensure that your meatballs will stay together after cooking in a crock pot all day. I have had other recipes fall apart on me!
- Flavour, flavour and more flavour! It’s not longer a chef’s secret that browning infuses your dish with a depth of flavour that can’t be missed.
Tips & Tricks for Making Crock Pot Meatballs
- Make sure that you cook the meatballs well before placing them into the crock pot. You want to cook off the grease as much as you can, leaving only the inside to slowly cook all day.
- You can use frozen pre-made meatballs in this recipe as well and those tend to be very low in fat and precooked. Those can go straight into the crock pot.
- Do not put the cream into the sauce until you are ready to serve, dairy will curdle when heated all day.
- Make sure you have a good strong beef broth to make a good salty, strong sauce in the end.
More Delicious Meatball Recipes
- Try my Sweet & Sour Meatballs – this truly is the BEST recipe out there! Just use this recipe for meatballs and you are set!
- These Crock Pot Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy are a reader favourite!
- My Mom’s Porcupine Meatballs are the best!
- Want an appetizer meatball? These Grape Jelly Meatballs are it!
- Homemade Meatballs – simple and you can batch freeze them!
So here is another one for my fellow mushroom lovers! Make sure to check out my Ground Beef Stroganoff and my Creamy Mushroom Beef Chuck Roast Recipe if you love mushrooms!
Happy cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
Crock Pot Meatballs with Creamy Mushroom Gravy
Ingredients
Crockpot Meatball Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Creamy Mushroom Gravy Ingredients
- 1 pound whole cremini mushrooms
- 1/3 cup grated white onion
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 cups beef stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley if desired
- Mashed potatoes for serving
Instructions
Crock Pot Meatballs
- Combine together the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Form the meat into 24 large meatballs.
- Get out a large skillet and place the meatballs into it. Over medium high heat, fry the meatballs until they are golden brown on all sides. The more browned they are, the more flavour you will get!
- Drain the grease well and place the meatballs into the bottom of a large Crock Pot.
Creamy Mushroom Sauce
- In a large skillet, fry the mushrooms and onion in the butter until the onions are soft and the mushrooms have reduced in size and released most of their moisture. Add in the garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes until browned and fragrant.
- Pour in the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce. Stir and scrape any browned bits off of the bottom of the pan for extra flavour.
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs in the crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hours, or 6-8 hours on low.
- When you are ready to serve, remove the meatballs and place into a large serving bowl. Cover to keep warm.
- Whisk together the whipping cream and the cornstarch, then whisk into the still hot mushroom sauce in the crock pot. Whisk until the sauce thickens, 2-3 minutes.
- Serve the meatballs with the mushroom gravy poured over top. We like to make mashed potatoes for serving with these.
Notes
Nutrition
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Mark says
The sauce tasted good, but was not a great crock pot recipe. The cornstarch never cooked down and I had to transfer to a pan to heat up. For a crock pot recipe, this felt like a of work.
Abby says
It’s not giving. Too subtle
Janet McKennedy says
Please stop pushing these recipes to me. Thank you.
goody says
When making a mushroom gravy, I like to use Campbells wild mushroom soup, so much better than normal mushroom soup, it really makes a big difference 🙂
Samantha says
Delicious!!!!! I got a standing ovation!
Nancy Spencer says
Can you use button mushrooms instead of cremini?
wellsleah2@gmail.com says
Very yummy!
Adrienne says
Delicious! I used Costco meatballs because I was on a time budget to get the dish in the pot.
I can’t wait to make the meatballs but I really love the gravy! All the mushrooms! Wonderful sauce! Great over smashed potatoes but I can see it over rice too.
Brenda says
I didn’t make the meatballs, but I did make the gravy because I don’t care to use condensed cream of mushroom soup as a recipe “ingredient” as in all the other mushroom gravy recipes I came across. Unfortunately, this is not something I will repeat. Perhaps less cream would have given a tastier result, but somehow I doubt it. Since I couldn’t quite swallow (pun intended) either grated onion – it just makes a soupy mess – or whole mushrooms, I diced the onion and quartered the mushrooms. The ‘shrooms still could have been smaller – my bad. Thanks anyway!