With the first taste of these Slow Cooker Moroccan Meatballs you’ll discover light, juicy meatballs infused with a spice bomb of cumin, coriander, sweet paprika, cinnamon, ginger, garlic and onion that will melt in your mouth and leave you wanting more.
Do the Meatballs Have to Be Pre-Cooked?
Super simple to make in your Slow Cooker, or Multi Cooker, there is no pre cooking of the meatballs required. All you need to do is get the spice mix together, add the egg, beef, breadcrumbs, cilantro and get rolling. With half a kilogram of beef mince (or 1 pound of ground beef), you’ll end up with 17 to 18 golf ball sized meatballs. Just the right amount for 4 or 5 people, depending on how hungry they are!
Want to make this recipe on the stovetop or in the oven? Check out the instructions in the recipe notes below.
Which Cut of Meat Is Best?
I tend to buy the leanest beef mince I can find and I still end up with super juicy meatballs, not tough, or dry like you sometimes get if you cook them for too long in the oven or on the stovetop.
You could equally consider using any other type of ground meat, like lamb, chicken or even turkey.
Love meatballs? You might like to try my Chicken Meatballs with Peanut Satay Sauce. You can have it on the table in 30 minutes
Do the Meatballs Hold Together?
Absolutely the meatballs hold together thanks to the egg used to bind the ingredients together. There’s no falling apart, even when you get them out of the slow cooker and serve them up, they hold their shape. Typically you might find meatballs struggling to hold their shaped during cooking, if there is no binding ingredient. Or they go as hard as rocks and end up tasting like dry rubber.
This recipe for Slow Cooker Moroccan Meatballs is unlike any I have ever made before. Being that the meatballs are slow cooked over 8 hours, in a lightly spiced aromatic tomato base the flavour is locked in and the meatballs stay nice and juicy. That’s the secret. You’ve got to have a great sauce to lock in that flavour and juiciness.
What To Serve With the Meatballs
There are a number if options that work really well. I often serve mine with plain pearl cous cous to keep with the Moroccan theme. Instead of the 2 cups of cous cous you could try the same quantity of:
- Mashed sweet potato/white potato
- Brown Rice
- Cooked quinoa
- Spaghetti or other type of pasta
- Zucchini noodles if you have a spiralizer
TIP: This recipe freezes really well and is a great one to make on the weekend so you have healthy dinners on tap mid week. I like to store my freezer meals in see through containers and I write what it is and when I made it on the container. (I use masking tape for this, and before putting into the microwave it, I rip it off)
More Freezer Friendly Recipes —– >>> Authentic Made From Scratch Clean Eating Butter Chicken, Savoury Mince Curry (on of my favourites), Super easy Pressure Cooker Lamb Stew, and this yummy Shepherds Pie Lasagne.
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Slow Cooker Moroccan Beef Meatballs that are slow cooked for 8 hours, infused with a spice bomb of cumin, coriander, sweet paprika, cinnamon, ginger, garlic and onion that will melt in your mouth and leave you wanting more.
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- 500 grams /1 pound beef mince
- 1 small egg
- 1 tablespoon Coriander/Cilantro fresh and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
- 2 teaspoons Ground Coriander
- 2 teaspoons Sweet Paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- 1 teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- 1 small brown Onion finely diced
- 2 tablespoons crushed Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Tomato paste
- 3 cups Tomato Passata/Puree
- ½ cup Beef stock/broth
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cups pearl Cous Cous
- In a large mixing bowl, place the breadcrumbs, beef mince, egg, half the onion, half the garlic, the freshy chopped coriander/cilantro, and ground cumin, ground coriander, sweet paprika, ground ginger and ground cinnamon.
- Using a large dessert spoon, mix all ingredients so they come together.
- Make 17 to 18 meatballs from the mixture (about the size of a golf ball) and as they are rolled, place them in the base of the slow cooker.
- Once all the balls are in the slow cooker, heat a saucepan on medium heat. Add the remaining onion and garlic and cook until the onion turn translucent.
- Add the salt/pepper, tomato paste, passata/puree, honey and stock/broth. Stir to combine and heat through.
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs in the slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 6 hours.
- Cook Cous Cous according to packet instructions.
- Serve meatballs over the cous cous, with a drizzle of Greek yoghurt and additional chopped coriander/cilantro.
To make on the stove top – follow all the same instructions to end of step 3, placing meatballs in a large saucepan, off to the side. In a clean saucepan, make the sauce as per step 4 and 5, then pour sauce over the meatballs in the other saucepan. Cook covered with a lid on low to low-medium heat for 2 hours, checking every 30 minutes.
To make in the oven - follow all the same instructions to end of step 3, placing meatballs in a baking try with a lid, off to the side. In a clean saucepan, make the sauce as per step 4 and 5, then pour sauce over the meatballs in the baking dish. Cook covered with a lid at 180 degrees C /360 degree F for 50 minutes
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