French onion meatballs are a true comfort food. Juicy, delicious meatballs smothered in rich caramelized onion gravy and topped with melty flavorful Gruyere cheese. Caramelized onions and Gruyere are in the gravy AND in the meatballs making them really over the top and the BEST chicken meatballs I´ve eaten. This recipe is a little bit time-consuming but SO worth it!
If you love French onion soup, you will also love this recipe!
Ingredients
Below you will find information about the ingredients and how to prepare the recipe. For the measurements and detailed instructions scroll down to the printable recipe card.
Here´s what you need to make French onion meatballs:
- Ground meat – I used ground chicken in this recipe, I have ground the meat myself and used half chicken breast and half boneless chicken thighs. This results in a really juicy meatballs. You can also use ground lean beef. I prefer chicken in this recipe, because the meatballs are already quite rich thanks to the addition of caramelized onions and Gruyere cheese.
- Caramelized onions – NOT sauteed onions. Caramelizing onions is really simple but take some time – you have to stir the onions from time to time to prevent them from burning. The whole process takes about 40 minutes. I´m using the time in between to prepare other ingredients and sides. You could also prepare more caramelized onions and use it for other recipes such as French onion soup
- For caramelizing the onions there is no sugar needed. What caramelizes is natural sugars that occur naturally in onions!
- Gruyere cheese – is a Swiss cheese that has an amazing flavor. You can use Swiss cheese instead, or Appenzeller cheese.
- eggs, thyme, fresh garlic (you can also use dried), milk, fine breadcrumbs (not Panko)
Here´s what you need for the gravy:
- Good-quality beef broth. Store-bought beef broth usually doesn´t taste very good. If you don´t have good beef broth, just use chicken broth. Store-bought chicken broth taste usually ok.
- White wine – it need to be dry. It adds acidity and flavor. If you don´t want to use it use more broth and then add an acidic ingredients to the sauce, for example more Worcestershire sauce or a little bit lemon juice.
- flour (thickens the gravy, you can also use corn starch), garlic, butter, Worcestershire sauce, parsley.
How to make French onion meatballs step by step
STEP 1+2: Make caramelized onions:
Peel the onions and cut them into thin slices.
Heat olive oil in a large pan (or pot, preferably heavy-bottomed), add the onions and a big pinch of salt.
Cook the onions until golden brown and caramelized (you can take a look at the photos in the post above) – it will take about 40 minutes.
At the beginning you can stir the onions only from time to time but as they darken you will need to stir more often. While stirring make sure to scrape all the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Be careful not to burn the onions – they will be bitter. Anytime the onions look like they are starting to burn on the bottom of the pot – stir them with a spatula or deglaze the pan with a small amount of water.
The heat will depend on the stovetop and it can vary. Start cooking the onions on medium or medium-high heat (to evaporate excess liquid from the onions), then reduce to medium/medium-low, then cook the onions on low at the end of the cooking time. Adjust the heat to lower if you see that the onions are browning too fast, and increase the heat if you see that the onions are cooking/browning too slow.
I´m using the time between stirring the onions to prep all the other ingredients and cook mashed potatoes which I like to serve most with this dish.
Transfer the caramelized onions to a plate.
Make the meatballs:
STEP 3: Add all the ingredients for the meatballs to a large bowl: ground meat, 1/3 of the caramelized onions (roughly chopped), garlic pressed through a garlic press, thyme, milk, eggs, breadcrumbs, grated Gruyere, salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients until well-combined using your hands or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (just don´t beat the mixture for too long – until just combined).
If you´re not sure about the seasoning, you can cook a small amount of the meat mixture in the pan until cook through, taste it and add more seasonings if necessary.
STEP 4: Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the mixture into rough balls on a prepared baking sheet or wooden board.
STEP 5: Coat your hands in olive oil (to prevent sticking) and roll the mixture into meatballs.
STEP 6: Heat the frying oil in a large frying pan (you can use the same pan you´ve used to cook caramelized onions). Cook the meatballs over medium/medium-high heat until browned on all sides, they don´t have to be cooked through, they can finish cooking later in the sauce.
Transfer the meatballs to a plate.
TIP: Instead of pan-frying meatballs you can bake them at 400°F/200°C for about 12-15 minutes.
Make the sauce:
STEP 7: Add butter and garlic to the pan. Cook for 30 seconds over low heat, stirring.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
STEP 8: Add the wine and cook for 1-2 minutes or until almost evaporated.
STEP 9: Add broth and cook for a couple of minutes over medium heat until thickened.
Season the sauce with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.
STEP 10: Add your meatballs back to the sauce. Spread the remaining caramelized onions on top.
STEP 11: Top with Gruyere cheese, cover the pan with a lid and cook until the meatballs and cooked through (or just heated through) and the cheese is melted (the meatballs are cooked through when their internal temperature is 165°F/74°C).
STEP 12: Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Enjoy!
Serving suggestions
- mashed potatoes (my favorite way to serve these meatballs)
- crusty cheesy bread
- pasta or these garlic butter noodles
- cauliflower rice or mashed cauliflower for a low-carb option
Storage
You can keep these meatballs in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in a 325°F (160°C) oven or in a pan covered with a lid. If you planning on reheating them in the pan it´s better to do it without the cheese or it will melt into the sauce while the meatballs are heating through.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
French Onion Meatballs
Ingredients
caramelized onions:
- 2 pounds (900g) yellow onions
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- pinch of salt
for the meatballs:
- 2 pounds (900g) ground chicken or lean ground beef
- 1/3 of the caramelized onions
- 2 cloves garlic pressed through a garlic press
- 2 teaspoons thyme
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup (65g) fine breadcrumbs
- 1 cup (100g) grated Gruyere cheese
- 1 tablespoon fine sea salt or to your taste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons frying oil for cooking the meatballs
for the gravy:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped with a knife
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/3 cup (80ml) dry white wine
- 2 cups (480ml) good-quality beef broth or chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2/3 of the caramelized onions
- 1 1/2 cups (150g) grated Gruyere cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions
Make caramelized onions:
- Peel the onions and cut them into thin slices.
- Heat olive oil in a large pan (or pot, preferably heavy-bottomed), add the onions and a big pinch of salt.
- Cook the onions until golden brown and caramelized (you can take a look at the photos in the post above) – it will take about 40 minutes.
- At the beginning you can stir the onions only from time to time but as they darken you will need to stir more often. While stirring make sure to scrape all the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Be careful not to burn the onions – they will be bitter. Anytime the onions look like they are starting to burn on the bottom of the pot – stir them with a spatula or deglaze the pan with a small amount of water.
- The heat will depend on the stovetop and it can vary. Start cooking the onions on medium or medium-high heat (to evaporate excess liquid from the onions), then reduce to medium/medium-low, then cook the onions on low at the end of the cooking time. Adjust the heat to lower if you see that the onions are browning too fast, and increase the heat if you see that the onions are cooking/browning too slow.
- I´m using the time between stirring the onions to prep all the other ingredients and cook mashed potatoes which I like to serve most with this dish.
- Transfer the caramelized onions to a plate.
Make the meatballs:
- Add all the ingredients for the meatballs to a large bowl: ground meat, 1/3 of the caramelized onions (roughly chopped), garlic pressed through a garlic press, thyme, milk, eggs, breadcrumbs, grated Gruyere, salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients until well-combined using your hands or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (just don´t beat the mixture for too long – until just combined).
- If you´re not sure about the seasoning, you can cook a small amount of the meat mixture in the pan until cook through, taste it and add more seasonings if necessary.
- Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the mixture into rough balls on a prepared baking sheet or wooden board. Coat your hands in olive oil (to prevent sticking) and roll the mixture into meatballs.
- Heat the frying oil in a large frying pan (you can use the same pan you´ve used to cook caramelized onions). Cook the meatballs over medium/medium-high heat until browned on all sides, they don´t have to be cooked through, they can finish cooking later in the sauce. Transfer the meatballs to a plate.
Make the sauce:
- Add butter and garlic to the pan. Cook for 30 seconds over low heat, stirring.
- Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the wine and cook for 1-2 minutes or until almost evaporated.
- Add broth and cook for a couple of minutes over medium heat until thickened.
- Season the sauce with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.
- Add your meatballs back to the sauce. Spread the remaining caramelized onions on top.
- Top with Gruyere cheese, cover the pan with a lid and cook until the meatballs and cooked through (or just heated through) and the cheese is melted (the meatballs are cooked through when their internal temperature is 165°F/74°C).
- Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
- Enjoy!
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