Mini Bison Meatball Recipe
Full of flavor, these Mini Bison-Bacon Meatballs are the perfect party appetizer.
Ingredients
- 1.25 pound bison ground
- 1/2 cup celery finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 4 slices bacon fat trimmed and cut into small pieces
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 1 Tbsp fresh sage chopped
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1/2 tsp black pepper ground
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cover an oven-safe baking sheet or baking dish with parchment paper or just lightly brush with coconut or olive oil.
- In a large bowl place all ingredients except for the bacon; set aside.
- In a small pan, lightly fry the bacon on low. You want the bacon to be nearly done, but not overly done, since it will still be baked. (Note: you do not need to fry the bacon in oil. Real bacon produces its own cooking grease.)
- Add the bacon to complete mixture and mix by hand once bacon has cooled a little.
- Form into mini meatballs. The best way to do this is with semi-wet hands so nothing sticks.
- Place in single layer on your baking dish, and bake for about 30 minutes.
- Once they have cooled a little, poke them with an appetizer pick and serve.
Notes
- If you truly do not like the way Bison tastes, you can swap the ground bison for ground beef.
- Can't do egg? You can use 1 Tablespoon chia seed OR ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tablespoons of water (let it sit for a few minutes to "gel") to replace the egg. Both chia seeds and flax seeds are great options to use in place of an egg.
- Remember, we are using almond meal not almond flour for this recipe.
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When I make these meatballs, I use the leftover almond meal “pulp” from my Vanilla-Mint Almond Milk Recipe. You’ll notice in the video that there is a lot of leftover pulp, and I always choose to keep and freeze this pulp until I need it for recipes like this. You can also sub in hazelnut pulp or any other nut you might use to make homemade nut milk.