Crockpot: Mexican Meatball Stew

Sorry for the absence, it's been a crazy week and my husband has been out of town.

Crockpot! Who doesn't love it? I love when I find yummy meals to make in it.


This stew is even better with homemade meatballs (recipe below).


Ingredients: (I love the simpleness of these ingredients)
2 14.5-oz. cans Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
2 12-oz. packages frozen cooked Italian-style turkey meatballs (24 total), thawed*
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14-oz. can seasoned chicken broth with roasted garlic*
1 10-oz. package frozen corn, thawed*

*One package of meatballs (beef) was a little more than $3 and I needed to buy 2. I decided to cook my own and freeze them for this stew and they are to die for. Could be used in spaghetti or anywhere else you need meatballs. I did not buy the chicken broth with roasted garlic since I already have tons of chicken stock. I just added a teaspoon of garlic powder and called it good. I had a mishap with my corn so I just added a can of corn. All of these changes worked out great - that's what I love about the crockpot, it makes anything work.


Dump in all the ingredients. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours. I cooked mine on low for about 8 hours and added my meatballs frozen. They would have fallen apart if I had added them thawed so I think the original recipe is wrong in that regard. If using frozen corn I would also put it in frozen. Why thaw really?

It was definitely too spicy for my kids and I had set aside a few meatballs anyways for them before freezing. You could do 1 can regular tomatoes and 1 can mexican or just 2 cans regular diced tomatoes if you want.


Seriously so delicious and the meatballs made all the difference. I could eat a bowlful of these diddies all on their own!

Mexican Meatballs Stew and Meatballs printable recipes

Italian-style Turkey Meatballs - makes about 36 medium meatballs
1 small onion, grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg
1/4 - 1/3 cup dried bread crumbs*
3 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground turkey
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
Add the onion, garlic, egg, bread crumbs, ketchup, parsley, Parmesan, Pecorino, salt and pepper to a large bowl and blend. Mix in the turkey. Shape the turkey mixture into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a large plate or baking sheet.

Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and saute until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat.

Alternatively you can cook them in the oven on 400 for 10-15 min.

After cooking, let them cool completely and place on a cookie sheet and stick in the freezer. Once they are completely frozen transfer to a freezer ziplock and use in your Mexican Meatball Stew or other crockpot meals. Even better - make a double batch!

*I did find that 1/4 cup breadcrumbs is not enough. Some of them were falling apart as I cooked them. I'm going to up the breadcrumbs to 1/3 cup next time as it was a pretty loose mixture. I'm also going to try cooking them in the oven next time and see if that will help keep them together better. A few fell apart in the crockpot, but freezing them first worked great in the recipe.