Cajun Meatball Stew

Name: Cajun Meatball Stew
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 600 g ground beef; 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (, grated); 3 cloves garlic (, minced); 1/4 cup parsley (, chopped); 1 large onion (, minced); 1 large egg; 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 1/2 tsp dried oregano; 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce; 1/2 cup milk; 1/3 cup breadcrumbs; 1/2 cup all purpose flour; 1/2 cup vegetables oil; 2 cups onion (, chopped); 1/2 cup green bell pepper (, chopped); 2 stalks celery (, chopped); 5 cups beef broth; 2 cloves garlic (, minced); 3 green onions (, chopped); 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper

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This Cajun Meatball Stew is a simple, easy and delicious dish made with meatballs and veggies cooked in a flavorful roux gravy.

There’s nothing quite like this tasty, filling, and protein-filled Cajun Meatball Stew. It not only triggers nostalgic memories of the quiet and peace one associate with home, but it is also an all-in-one meal that is complete with nutrients with a delicious taste that will surely leave you wanting more.

Check also Seafood Gumbo and Chicken Lentil Soup.

This Cajun Meatball Stew recipe is roux-based. Its stew is made up of the perfect combination of flour and fat that results in this thick, savory, and filling stew that sets this recipe apart from all other soups and stew recipes.

If you’re a fan of stews in general, you can never go wrong with this Cajun Meatball Stew recipe. It is in a league of its own and will surely make the list of your go-to home-cooked meals that never fail.

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Why Does This Recipe Work?
Ingredients
How To Make Cajun Meatball Stew
Top Tips!
Recipe Variations
Serving Suggestions
Storage
Recipe FAQs
More Easy Stew Recipes
Recipe
Comments

Why Does This Recipe Work?

This Cajun Meatball Stew recipe is complete with protein, carbs, and veggies, making it a complete meal all on its own.
This Cajun Meatball Stew is not spicy but is instead savory and will appeal to a wider range of palates, making it a family-friendly stew.
There is a lot of space to practice creativity with this recipe. You can add more kinds of protein and more veggies to the recipe.
For a stew, this recipe does not take a long time to make. It is a budget-friendly meal that is filling and hassle-free.

Ingredients

Meatball Ingredients

Ground beef: Ground beef is the meat of your meatball and is the main source of protein for this recipe.

Fresh parsley: It is used to add garnish to your finished stew. It also provides its subtle aroma and helps balance the flavors in the stew.

Egg: The egg helps to make the meatballs form their shape while holding the meat together.

Parmesan cheese: Parmesan cheese adds flavor to the meatballs and makes their texture creamier. A perfect combination of the savoriness of the stew.

Garlic: Garlic is another secret ingredient that renders the meat with flavor.

Salt and black pepper: Salt and Pepper are mainly used to balance the different flavors that go into your meat mixture.

Milk: Milk works to make your meatballs soft and moist.

Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs provide a crunchy texture to your meatballs and go well with the creaminess provided by the milk and the parmesan cheese.

Worcestershire sauce: Worcestershire Sauce is another ingredient that gives your meatballs their delicious and savory flavor.

Dried oregano: Dried oregano is a common spice that is popularly used in making meatballs.

Stew Ingredients

All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour is essential for making the roux of this recipe.

Onion: Onion adds depth of flavor and savoriness to the recipe.

Green bell pepper: Green bell pepper adds color to your stew, it also serves as the veggies in the final dish.

Celery: Celery is another common ingredient that is included in any kind of stew, such as this Cajun Meatball Stew

Green onions: Green onions add both color and subtle flavor to the stew.

Beef broth: Beef broth is crucial in this recipe because not only does it add its meaty flavor to the stew it also works to balance the consistency of the roux, not making it too thick or too watery.

Vegetables oil: To make the roux mixture. You can use olive oil instead.

Cajun meatball stew in a bowl and a white rice bowl is in the background.

How To Make Cajun Meatball Stew

First Step - Make The Meatballs

Preheat the oven to 350F/176C.

Mix all the meatball ingredients in a mixing bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, mix ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, parmesan cheese, egg, garlic, breadcrumbs, milk, onion, salt, pepper, and or oregano until combined.

Form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs and put them in a baking sheet.

Form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs arrange them on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Second Step - Make The Stew

Heat the oil and add the flour and cook until dark brown.

Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat and stir in flour constantly until flour is dark brown now, you made the roux, which is the base of your gravy.

Add in garlic, onion, celery, and bell peppers. Then add beef broth and green onion.

Reduce the heat to medium and add in minced garlic, onion, celery, and bell peppers; cook for 1-2 minutes or until softened.

Add the beef broth, green onion, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add the meatballs and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Garnish with parsley and serve with white rice!

Top Tips!

It’s hard to go wrong with this recipe, but you can follow this tops tips just to make extra sure.

Make sure that you don’t burn the flour, it should be a dark brown (much like the color of gravy). Burnt flour will make your stew taste bitter.
Always make sure to check the consistency of your stew, it should not be too thin and should not be too thick. A quick tip if you have a very thin stew is to mix cornstarch with a bit of water and add them to the stew.
Choose ground beef that has a good ratio of lean meat and fat, this would make for a better-tasting meatball.
Don’t stress out about the size of the meatball, you can make it as big or as small as you like.

Recipe Variations

There are recipe variations that you can use for this recipe:

You can play around with the proteins. Aside from ground beef meatballs, you can also do chicken meatballs.
You can also add more veggies into the recipe such as fresh baby carrots or potatoes to add more carbohydrates to the stew.
Add a pinch of red pepper flakes or chili powder.

Serving Suggestions

As this is a savory stew, it is best served hot topped on steaming, newly cooked rice. But it can also be eaten without the rice on its own.

If you’re not a fan of rice in general, this stew also goes well with naan or hot bread.

You can also serve Japanese Seaweed Salad (Wakame), Beetroot and Goats Cheese Salad or Italian Tomato And Onion Salad as a side dish.

Storage

To store: The stew should be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

To freeze: If you store this stew in the freezer, then it can last up to 3 months. You can also store the extra meatballs that you have made in a freezer in a Ziploc bag so you can use them for other recipes, such as spaghetti meatballs, or you can fry them as is.

Recipe FAQs

How to know if meatballs are cooked?

You can easily tell if a meatball is cooked when its outer layer turns a golden brown; you can also use a kitchen thermometer. A cooked meatball usually has a temperature of 165F.

My stew is too thick; what should I do?

If your stew is too thick, just add a bit of bone broth and mix until you get your desired consistency.

More Easy Stew Recipes

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Cajun Meatball Stew

Why Does This Recipe Work?