Baked meatballs (Kotleti)

Baked meatballs are in no way inferior to their fried “relatives”. Use this Ukrainian kotleti recipe for the juiciest meatballs in the world!

If you were told to choose one of the most favorite dishes from your school years…

What would you choose? Some kind of dish that, at the very thought of it, makes your heart beat faster, your brain simultaneously activates all 40 million olfactory receptor neurons and starts receiving signals as if you are really inhaling the molecules of your favorite childhood dish at this moment, and the salivation reflex works as if you have Niagara Falls in your mouth!

Yes, the choice is not easy! I know … if I was told to choose one favorite dish from my school years, I would be confused for a few seconds …

The fact is that:

• our school cafeteria cooks baked the world’s most delicious pizza. My Italian husband would not understand this pizza, he would have said that it was a bun with stuffing, well, in extreme cases, a flatbread with stuffing, but by no means a pizza… and for me and other students of our school, it was the most delicious pizza you can bake! During the break the students were standing in kilometer-long queues to buy that pizza, and when suddenly it wasn’t still your turn but all the pizzas were sold out – it was equivalent to the end of the world…
• our school cafeteria cooks baked the most delicious cream buns … In the case of these buns, the students of our school were divided into two groups: representatives of the first group immediately bit a large piece of the bun so that both the dough and the cream got into their mouths at once. Representatives of the second group (including me) first licked the vanilla buttercream, and then took up the dough. It was so tender that it resembled a pillow, such a tiny soft pillow of some elf or Thumbelina, because the buns were usually small in size, and it made their taste even better!
• our school cafeteria cooks prepared the most fabulous fluffy kefir pancakes. Over the years, I have tried many different pancakes, but those school ones still occupy the first place for me. They were traditionally served with sour cream and jam – such a combination (not refined at first glance), was actually perfect.

But after a few seconds, my favorite dishes clearly add up to a logical row in my head, and without a doubt one dish comes out on top …

… unique, the most delicious, the most beloved baked meatballs (Kotleti) from my school cafeteria!

These school cafeteria baked meatballs (in Ukraine we call them Kotlety or Kotleti) were a real historical phenomenon during my childhood, which no one has been able to explain for so many years. At home, mothers and grandmothers prepared meatballs in oven using the meat of the best quality,  while the school canteen kotleti consisted of only half meat… the rest was bread.

But all the children undoubtedly wanted exactly those school juicy meatballs! The day when our school cooks were making meatballs in oven was special, that day everyone felt happier! There must have been some secret in that dish of ground meat and bread. I think the secret was precisely in the baked meatball recipe simplicity: bread, ground meat, onions (it makes kotleti fantastically juicy), salt and pepper. Usually, those baked meatballs were served with mashed potatoes and some kind of salad.

But most of all, all the students simply adored kotleti with bread – we took a slice of bread (rye flour bread was the best  … well, normal white bread was good as well… it didn’t matter what kind of bread was used… ha ha), and we put a baked meatball on the bread (it was ideal if the latter was still hot and drops of fat dripped from it directly onto the bread). It was such a divine delight that any fashionable hamburger would hide somewhere far away in the corner of the room and sit quietly there.

I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t add something of my own to this baked meatball recipe, so I added milk and eggs to it (for even more tenderness and a more stable consistency).

I love these juicy meatballs not only for their taste, but also for the fact that you don’t need to fry them. Don’t let this fact mislead you – the meatballs in oven are no less juicy and crispy than the usual fried ones, I give you my word.

Ingredients:

• Ground meat. The ideal proportion is half ground pork and half ground beef, don’t use chicken (it will make the baked meatballs too dry)
• Breadcrumbs.Use dried breadcrumbs.
• Water (it should be at room temperature).
• An onion. It will make kotleti incredibly juicy.
• Salt and ground black pepper (you can add these spices to your taste. I always add 1tsp salt and ¼ tsp black pepper).
• Eggs. They will help hold the meatballs together.
• Milk. This ingredient is important in this recipe, thanks to the milk, the cutlets will not be dry.

Baked meatball recipe

In a large bowl combine water with the breadcrumbs, mix quickly and leave until the water is absorbed. Then add ground meat, raw ground onion, salt and black pepper

Add eggs and milk to the meat and breadcrumbs mixture. Mix everything well (you can mix by hand for 10 minutes or use a mixer with a paddle attachment at a low speed)

Cover the baking sheet with baking paper and grease it with oil. With wet hands, form meatballs of the same size (so that they cook evenly) and put them on a baking sheet (Ukrainian kotleti aren’t too small – their size is something between small Italian meatballs and classic hamburger patties)

Bake for 25 minutes at 400F (200C), then turn kotleti to the other side and bake for another 20 minutes until ready. If the meatballs are very browned, but still raw, cover them with foil and cook further. Enjoy these delicious baked meatballs and have a nice day!

What to serve with baked meatballs

There are a lot of ideas and opportunities here:

• mashed potatoes (classic – it’s always a classic)
• carrot puree (it’s a fantastic combination, give it a try)
• polenta
• baked potatoes
• baked vegetables
• vegetable salad
• rice

Well, you know what I’m getting at … any side dish will be happy to share a plate with these delicious kotleti.