These tangy, zesty Baked Cheddar Bacon Ranch Meatballs have a to-die-for flavor combo and are baked in the oven for a delicious, quick and easy appetizer recipe for the holidays.
Baked Cheddar Bacon Ranch Meatballs
I feel like the holidays are really sneaking up on me this year! I mean, I can't believe it was already Thanksgiving, and we're moving right along to Christmas! And with every year that my kids are getting a little older, we have way more on our plate. More projects, more parties, more effort in playing Santa (and moving that darn elf around the house...).
It's so easy to get caught up in all the activities and baking and cooking that it feels like you kind of missed everything. So this year, I'm going to make my life way easier by sticking to my favorite easy recipes, like these Baked Cheddar Bacon Ranch Meatballs.
Cheddar bacon and ranch are one of those flavor combinations that you just can't go wrong with. They're so good together that it's just wrong to keep them apart. And the ranch mix makes these meatballs both simple and delicious.
To make these Baked Cheddar Bacon Ranch Meatballs even easier, you can sub pre-cooked bacon bits for the uncooked bacon. BUT I really recommend using uncooked because the bacon juices cooking together with the ranch and beef and cheddar flavors is ah-mazing. You can throw the bacon in the processor to chop it up really quick.
These meatballs are just plain delicious plain. But if you're a dipping junky, like me, they're also delicious when dipped in pretty much anything.
Hidden Valley Ranch is an obvious choice because it's classic, yummy, and goes great with the ranch flavors already in the meatballs. I also love dipping them in a sweet barbecue sauce because I think the sweetness complements the tangy, zesty ranch flavors perfectly. Which is why I will sometimes also just go for broke, and mix the barbecue and ranch together to make the perfect tangy, creamy, zesty, and sweet dipping sauce!
Baked Cheddar Bacon Ranch Meatballs Recipe
Baked Cheddar Bacon Ranch Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup chopped red onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 8 bacon slices uncooked and finely chopped
- 1 packet Hidden Valley® Ranch Dips Mix
- 1 cup finely shredded cheddar
- ⅓ cup bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup Hidden Valley® Ranch Dressing
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat with olive oil.
- Add red onion, garlic, and half of the Hidden Valley Ranch Dips seasoning, and saute until onion is translucent and tender and garlic is fragrant. Set aside to cool slightly.
- While onions are cooling, Add remaining ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Add onions and garlic when they're cool enough to touch.
- Mix all ingredients together (I think using your hands is easiest, but you can also use a hand mixer)
- Scoop out 1.5 ounces of meat mixture (you can use a scale to be exact, but it should be about a slightly rounded tablespoon. So you can just scoop out the meatball mixture with a tablespoon or cookie scoop to make it easier).
- Roll each portion into a ball and place in a lightly greased mini muffin tin.
- Bake at 400 for 17-20 minutes, until cooked through.
- Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauces.
Quin @Butter Be Ready says
Wow, these meatballs look insanely good. I'm definitely gonna try these asap!
Moses Brodin says
For the chicken part of the recipe. It says canned roasted tomatoes but under instructions it says sundried tomatoes. Which is correct, canned roasted or sundried (not talking about the noodle part, I know that’s sundried)?
Michelle says
There are no tomatoes in this recipe.