Salisbury Steak Meatballs served with whipped potatoes and gravy makes a delicious, comforting meal for the whole family. Best of all, this meal is budget friendly and easy to make.
This recipe gives me all the cozy feels! Its one of those dishes that just hugs you from the inside and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. I love those kind of meals.
We love a good meatball in this house. We have a lot of tried and true meatball recipes that are made on repeat in our home including Butter Chicken Meatballs, Greek Spanakopita Chicken Meatballs, and Keftedakia – Greek Meatballs.
These Salisbury Steak Meatballs are another meatball favorite. This delicious comfort meal is served over a pile of pillowy whipped potatoes and swimming in gravy. The meatballs themselves are tender, juicy, and full of flavor. This dish is a pure comfort meal and one that even the picky eaters can enjoy.
This dish is not only cozy but it is relatively easy to make and budget friendly too. This makes it a true winner around here. Winner winner, meatball dinner.
Ingredients in Salisbury Steak Meatballs with Whipped Potatoes and Gravy
This dish is relatively easy to make and takes less than an hour from start to finish. I placed the cook time at 35 minutes but if you are able to simultaneously prepare the components, it is really takes more like 25 minutes. You’ll need:
- Ground beef
- Bread crumbs: I use panko breadcrumbs but you can also use regular breadcrumbs.
- Onion: shredded onion is added to the meatballs for flavor and added moisture. Onion is also used in the gravy.
- Ketchup
- Worcestershire sauce: helps give these meatballs that “Salisbury” flavor we all love.
- Egg: used to bind the meatballs.
- Herbs and seasonings: parsley, salt and black pepper.
- Potatoes: Russet or yellow potatoes.
- Butter: used in the whipped potatoes and the gravy.
- Milk
- Flour: used to make a roux for the gravy.
- Beef broth: Used to make the gravy.
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
How to make Salisbury Steak Meatballs with Whipped Potatoes and Gravy
While the full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post, this recipe essentially comes down to these easy steps:
- Make the meatballs: Mix all of the meatball ingredients together, form them into balls and bake them.
- Prepare the whipped potatoes. Boil, drain, then whip the potatoes with butter and milk.
- Make the gravy: Saute the onions in butter and then sprinkle them with flour to create a roux. Add the beef broth and seasonings and stir until thickened.
- Plate the dish and enjoy!
The three components of this meatball dinner (the meatballs, the whipped potatoes, and the gravy) can all be cooked at the same time. While the meatballs are cooking, prep and begin boiling the potatoes. Then while the potatoes are boiling, you can make the gravy. This makes the dish come together in much less time than you would think.
Can you prep this meatball dinner in advance?
You can easily take some steps to prep this dinner in advance to make it quicker and easier to get dinner on the table on a busy weeknight. The meatballs can be prepped in advance. I like to make the entire meatball mixture ahead of time and store it, covered with plastic wrap, in the fridge overnight. You can even shape the meatballs in advance if you like. A third option is to completely bake the meatballs ahead of time and store them in the fridge once they are cooled.
Whipped potatoes are always the best when they are made fresh so I recommend waiting to do those. You can however, wash, peel, and cut the potatoes ahead of time. Then place them in a large bowl covered in cold water and store them in the fridge until dinner time.
Can you freeze the meatballs?
Another great way to simplify dinner time is to have batches of meatballs cooked, cooled, and stored in the freezer.
You can make the meatballs, bake them, cool them, and then transfer them to a freezer bag and store them in the freezer. Then when you want to make dinner quickly, all you have to do is arrange the frozen meatballs on a parchment lined baking dish and bake them at 350F until heated through.
I often make a double batch of meatballs when I make this dinner so I can have a freezer stash ready to go.
Storing leftovers and reheating
Leftover meatballs and gravy and the whipped potatoes can be stored in separate airtight containers in the fridge. To reheat them, I recommend heating the meatballs and gravy in a skillet over medium heat until the meatballs are heated through. The whipped potatoes can be added to a saucepan with a little more milk and heated through while stirring.
Another option is to assemble the leftover dish on a microwavable plate and microwave it to warm it up. This definitely makes it easy to bring to work and enjoy a lunch far tastier than a boring old sandwich.
What to serve with Salisbury steak meatballs
This easy meatball dinner recipe is perfect served with a side salad or some veggies on the side. Some of our favorites include Orange Pomegranate Salad with Citrus Poppy Seed Dressing or a Swiss Chard Salad with Ancient Grains. We also love these veggie sides: Green Beans Almondine, Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan, and Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots.
I hope you enjoy this comforting dish as much as I do!
-Cathy
You may also like these other meatball recipes:
Baked Swedish Meatballs with Gravy
Butter Chicken Meatballs
Chicken Zucchini Meatballs
Keftedakia – Greek Meatballs
Greek Spanakopita Chicken Meatballs
Salisbury Steak Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 onion shredded
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Whipped Potatoes
- 3 lbs potatoes Russet potatoes or Yukon Gold, peeled and cubed
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2/3 cup milk
- salt
Gravy
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/4 cups beef broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
For the meatballs
- Preheat oven to 400F and prepare a baking sheet with a baking rack. (You can bake directly onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you are doing this, be sure to flip the meatballs halfway through the cooking process. Cooking time may also need to be adjusted.)
- To make the meatballs, mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. I recommend using a fork to mix the meatballs as this will help keep your meat tender and soft. Roll into balls and place on the baking rack.
- Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until completely cooked through. Use a meat thermometer to check internal temperature.
For the whipped potatoes
- Add the peeled and chopped potatoes to a large pot and fill with water, covering the potatoes with about an extra inch of water. Bring to a boil and then lower the temperature to medium and continue to cook until the potatoes are fork tender about 15-20 minutes).
- Drain potatoes and place them in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whip attachment (or in a large mixing bowl using if using a hand held mixer).
- Add the butter and begin to whip on low speed, slowly adding the milk. Once the milk is added, increase speed and whip on high until the potatoes are nice and smooth. You may need to stop the machine and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure all of the potatoes are whipped. Add more milk if needed.
- Season with salt to taste.
For the gravy
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onions. Saute until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Sprinkle the onions with flour and whisk together to create a roux. Then add the beef broth, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce and continue whisking. Season with salt and pepper as needed. If the gravy doesn't thicken, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water to create a slurry. Add the slurry to the gravy and whisk until the gravy thickens.
Assemble the dish
- When meatballs are cooked, add them to the gravy and toss to coat. Spoon mashed potatoes onto plates, top with meatballs and gravy and sprinkle with parsley.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
