Salisbury Steak Meatballs
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These Salisbury Steak Meatballs are comfort food at its finest. Tender, perfectly seasoned homemade ground beef meatballs simmered in their own rich dark brown gravy, made with or without mushrooms, served over fluffy mashed potatoes.
Salisbury Steak Meatballs
Did you eat TV Dinners growing up? For whatever reason, whenever I think of them, I think of the Salisbury Steak dinners. These Salisbury Steak Meatballs are the grown-up more sophisticated older sister to those then foil divided tray dinners. And about the only thing they have in common is the flavor we all know as “Salisbury” with mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Unless you want to make some corn alongside, I suppose.
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Being able to use your own fresh ingredients, and know exactly what’s in this meatball recipe is the best part. No “mystery meat here.”
I always add mushrooms to the gravy, but of course, those can be left out if you prefer.
Salisbury Steak vs. Salisbury Steak Meatballs
When I first started making these back in 2014, I had tried a couple of “scratch recipes” and the family never really thought they measured up to what they were used to with the TV Dinners. Funny, right? Well, after some tweaking, I finally mastered my Salisbury Steak & Mushrooms recipe, Salisbury Steak patties with caramelized onions in a brown mushroom gravy.
But then I thought … wouldn’t these be so good done in meatball form?? So the next time I made them, I made them into meatballs, and we loved this recipe even more! I mean, who doesn’t like meatballs, right? (I mean unless you’re vegetarian, and if you are, I doubt you are looking at this recipe anyway.)
Meatballs Served Over Mashed Potatoes or Noodles
Typically, I serve this meatball dish over fluffy mashed potatoes. Then a reader suggested I try egg noodles. I love it when you guys tell me how you enjoy my recipes, so I gave it a shot.
Sure, you could use the store purchased ones, but I whipped up a batch of my Homemade Egg Noodles, and holy moly! It was sensational.
Salisbury meatballs over noodles or mashed potatoes – you can’t go wrong either way.
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If you can’t wait to try this Salisbury Steak Meatball recipe, make sure you can remember where you found it! Pin it to your favorite Pinterest recipe board before you go!
Ingredients in Salisbury Steak Meatballs
I would have to say that pretty much everything I need to make this recipe I can find in my pantry at all times. Everything is pretty basic, with the exception of the Kitchen Bouquet. Over the years I have gotten many questions about what it is.
It’s a browning agent for gravies and I have come to adore it. It totally takes beef recipes with dark sauces, like stews, or beef broth like in vegetable beef soup, to a whole new level.
This is what it looks like. Find it by the gravy or by the flavoring packets in the grocery store, or order it on Amazon.
After you have mixed the spices and bread crumbs into your ground beef, you’ll form the meat into balls. Using a scoop is always a good idea, it keeps them all the same size.
All ready for the skillet!
Brown meatballs in a little oil over medium heat, rotating them often so they don’t burn. Once they are browned evenly, remove them from the pan and set them aside.
Remove any excess grease from the pan. (Don’t wash) Add butter, and stir in your sliced onions. Cook for about 5-10 minutes over medium-high heat, onions will become golden brown, tender and fragrant. Add mushrooms. Cook for a couple more minutes.
Reduce your heat to medium and add in beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. Stir and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add to this your Kitchen Bouquet and corn starch mixture. Stir to combine, gravy will begin to thicken.
Salt and pepper, to taste.
Return the meatballs to the gravy, turn heat to low, and cover the skillet. Cook meatballs in gravy for 20-30 minutes. This will make them tender, take care while stirring to not break them apart.
Spoon the meatball gravy right over those fluffy mashed potatoes or egg noodles and enjoy!
Recipes with Meatballs
Have you ever asked yourself “what can I make with meatballs?” A question that is more common than you may think.
I have had a couple of readers say that they have used frozen meatballs for this recipe, I have never done that, as I want all of the spices and seasonings that I use in my homemade meatballs to shine through.
Please know that if you try it with frozen meatballs the flavor will definitely be different than my original recipe.
However – I do have lots of recipes for meatball lovers, some using the frozen ones, and some making them from scratch.
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All of these meatball recipes are keepers, for sure, but let’s get back to the Salisbury Steak Meatballs that you came here for.
Comfort Food with a Capitol “C.” The gravy is amazing and then you serve these meatballs and gravy over fluffy mashed potatoes? This has your next Sunday family dinner written all over it!
I hope that you give these a try and that you and yours enjoy them every bit as much as we have.
Let’s get cooking! 
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Salisbury Steak Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
- Meatballs:
- 2 pounds Lean Ground Beef
- 2/3 cup Seasoned Breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons Ground Mustard
- 2 teaspoons Beef Bouillon Granuals
- 4-5 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Ketchup
- Salt And Pepper to taste
- Gravy:
- 1 medium Onion diced
- 8 ounces white mushrooms sliced (can sub two 3 ounce cans of mushrooms)
- 32 ounces Beef Broth
- 4 dashes Worcestershire
- 1 Tablespoon Ketchup
- 2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet
- 3 Tablespoons of Corn Starch dissolved in 3 Tablespoons water
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a bowl combine your ground beef with all of the meat ingredients, and form into balls. Mine were slightly larger than a golf ball. Pour a couple of Tablespoons of oil in a skillet, and add meatballs, brown over medium heat, rotating them often so they don’t burn. Once they are browned evenly, remove them from the pan and set them aside.
- Remove any excess grease from pan. (Don’t wash) Add about 2 Tablespoons of butter, and stir in your sliced onions. Cook for about 5-10 minutes over medium-high heat, onions will become golden brown, tender and fragrant. Add mushrooms. Cook for a couple more minutes. Reduce your heat to medium and add in beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. Stir and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add to this your Kitchen Bouquet and corn starch mixture. Stir to combine, gravy will begin to thicken. Salt and pepper, to taste. Return the meatballs to the gravy, turn heat to low and cover the skillet. Cook meatballs in gravy for 20-30 minutes. This will make them tender, take care while stirring to not break them apart.
- Serve with mashed potatoes.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally shared on May 7, 2014. It has been updated to improve user experience and reshared on October 14, 2020.
(this recipe is inspired by The Pioneer Womans Salisbury Steak Recipe)
We made this last night and it was delicious. My two five year old boys even ate seconds! I made it more into patties than meatballs to make cooking easier, but the patties were so tender and the gravy was tasty! I will definitely be making this again.
Thank you so much for coming back to tell me what you thought of the recipe! Patties or meatballs – either way, they are yummy, right? Happy your boys loved them, too!
Good gracious!! I’m loving all these meatballs, but the Salisbury steak…omg!
One of my favorites! Delicious!!!
Comfort at its best.
Made this Saturday night. A seriously fantastic November comfort-food recipe! Didn’t have Kitchen Bouquet, so I used “Horne’s Gravee Gravy Enhancer Roux” which is both a substitute for the Kitchen Bouquet, and cornstarch thickener called for in the recipe. Also added crushed garlic to the meatball mixture (just because we can’t live without garlic in my household, lol), and eliminated the ketchup called for in the sauce. Deglazed the pan with red wine, after browning the meatballs. The meatballs turn out incredibly tender and flavourful, and the gravy is to die for. It makes a large batch of sauce…so much so, I made another half-batch of meatballs to cook in the leftover sauce the next day! Oh, also used fresh mushrooms sauteed with the onions, instead of canned ‘shrooms.
My husband, after going back for FOURTHS, insisted I take his plate away. Ha! That is the best recipe review ever. Thanks for sharing. This is a keeper I’ll be making again and again.
Pamela, I am THRILLED that you and your husband loved the meatballs!! I appreciate you coming and letting me know!
Hi, I stumbled across this recipe last year, and I cannot thank you enough! I’ve made it multiple times and I think my husband possibly fell in love with me a little more because of it. Ha! As a Canadian-Armenian (now living in the US), I had never heard of Salisbury-steak-anything, so I tried your recipe and wow…swoon! I’m not a big fan of ketchup, so I used a lesser amount in the meatballs (helps them stay really moist), but skipped the ketchup in the gravy and used red wine instead. I had not been familiar with Kitchen Bouquet, but yes, it punches up the gravy flavour, for sure. My husband made meatball sandwiches with the leftovers!
Waking up to this comment this morning made my whole day. Thank you for stopping by to let me know how much you and your hubby enjoy this recipe! <3
I make this as a hamburger gravy for quick weeknight meals, and love this recipe for reference! The gravy is super nostalgic and delicious!
That sounds like a quick way to get the same flavors!! Totally trying it!
Made this last night and it was FABULOUS! Even my wife, who prefers chicken over beef dinners, asked me to save this recipe because it is soooooooo good. Nice job Michaela! (Sorry, no pictures – maybe next time)
Recipe notes: Since I usually cook for just the two of us, I halved everything in the recipe and it turned out just fine. Forgot the mushrooms, too. Oh well, next time.
Bill – I am so happy that you enjoyed it! Great minds think alike – WE had this for dinner last night, too! (and I forgot the mushrooms! LOL!!)
Can you pre make the meatballs and then add everything to a crock pot on low for 6 hours? This looks great just wondering your thoughts on this?
Deena – I have never tried it in the crock pot? The only thing I wonder about is if the flavor would change because the onions wouldn’t be caramelized?
I just made these amazing meatballs for dinner, they were a hit. I used one extra can of mushrooms, just because we are fans of the fungus and added a little garlic powder when the onions had just reached the 10 minute mark. My family really enjoyed the new spin on the meatball. Thank You so much for the recipe.
We, too, are HUGE fungi fans! 😉 It sounds like they turned out delicious! Thrilled you loved them, too! Thanks for the feedback, Kim!
Do you think this would freeze well? And how would you reheat? Oven?
It would freeze really well! Oven or microwave would work!
Please enlighten me to what Kitchen Bouquet is exactly i am Australian and have never heard of this!
It is a browning agent for stocks and gravies. There is a little section where you can read about it in the blog post here. 🙂 Hope that helps.
Can you make this with frozen meatballs? If so, how?
No. It’s the ingredients and the method of preparing them that makes it taste right. If you used frozen, they wouldn’t taste the same and I doubt they would be as tender. The extra work is worth it, I promise!
Delicious flavor, but these meatballs need an egg to hold them together. Without it, you have a meat sauce, not meatballs.
I am not sure why yours didn’t hold together, Nancy? I have made this recipe hundreds of times and I have never had that problem?
Hi Deena. I’m giving it a try in the slow cooker. Cooked my meatballs. Then did onions, mushrooms and added all other ingredients and simmered until thickened then poured over meatballs. We’ll see but I can’t imagine it would not be ok!