Along with a decadent, flavor-packed sauce, these outstanding Saucy Creole Meatballs and Grits make for one of my family’s all-time favorite dinners. The meatballs float in a cheesy sea of creamy grits, and make for one very special meal. Served with a simple, crisp green salad, this stunner can’t be beat. Read on for a few easy meatball tips or just jump ahead to the recipe itself.

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What is Creole food?

Creole cuisine is food that hails from colonial-era Louisiana and reflects a style of cooking that blends West African, French, Spanish, and American Indian influences, as well as influences from the more general food of the Southern United States. In many cases, Creole food is grouped together with that of Cajun culture, and while there are definitely some similarities between the two, and lots of crossover, they are two distinct cuisines with their own recipes and histories.

Creole food, specifically, is so intriguing to me because of the beautiful mix and blending of cultural influences that combine to make what is known as Creole cuisine today. Spanish, Mexican, West African, French – the influences are vast and result in a truly special and unique cuisine, one that I’m always trying to learn and share more about.

Interested in trying more Creole or Cajun recipes? Try these.

Try my best ever Shrimp Creole recipe
Or, if you really want to impress people, my Chicken, Sausage and Shrimp Etouffee is a more formal version of these saucy Creole Meatballs and Grits.
Or, maybe you’d be into the more Cajun-influenced Chicken Fricassee – which is also ridiculously delicious.

What You’ll Need to Make my Creole Meatballs and Grits

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground beef

One pound ground pork

1 egg

10 Ritz crackers, crushed (or any cracker you like; ⅓ cup Italian breadcrumbs also work

2 celery stalks, leaves and stems separated, both parts chopped

1 medium-sized onion, diced (this doesn’t need to be an exact thing)

3 teaspoons Creole seasoning, divided

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced or grated

1 teaspoons salt

Lots of freshly cracked black pepper

1 poblano pepper, roughly chopped

¼ cup banana pepper rings

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon paprika

½ cup light-bodied beer (cook gets to drink the rest; wine or stock can be subbed)

1 teaspoon chicken or beef stock concentrate

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

For the Grits:

1 cup instant grits

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

How to Make These Saucy Creole Meatballs and Grits

This is * slightly * more involved than my usual recipes, but it’s still easy and very delicious. We’ll make the meatballs, which is just dumping things into a bowl and mixing with our hands. No big deal. Then. we’ll make a veggie mixture in the food processor to help flavor the sauce. Then, after baking, the meatballs will go into the sauce and simmer away until we lovingly spoon them down into a big, creamy pile of cheesy grits.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Adjust the rack to the middle position. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the beef, pork, egg, cracker crumbs, chopped celery leaves, ¼ of the diced onion, 1.5 teaspoons of the Creole seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and half of the minced garlic. Gently mix together just until well combined.

Divide into 1.5-inch portions and roll into meatballs, evenly spacing them on your baking sheet. You should get about 16 to 20-ish, depending on how big you make them. Bake until deeply browned and just cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes. They’ll finish up in the hot sauce.

Meanwhile, add the butter to a large, deep saucepan over medium heat. When it melts, add the flour and let it gently cook with the butter (you’re making a roux) until the color of almond butter – about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

While that’s happening, combine the remaining onion, the poblano, banana pepper rings, chopped celery, and remaining garlic in a food processor, and process until it’s all a fine pulp.

When your roux is almond butter colored, add the veggie pulp, remaining Creole seasoning, and the paprika and cook for about 5 minutes. Deglaze with the beer and let that cook off for 1 minute. Add the stock concentrate and the stock and bring the whole mixture to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, and then reduce to a simmer. Taste it and adjust anything as needed. You can add water if it gets too thick or too salty, for example. Add the meatballs to the pan and coat in the sauce. Let it all simmer over low heat for at least 5 minutes to reduce, thicken, and concentrarte.

For the Grits:

Prepare the 1 cup of instant grits according to the package instructions, but use the chicken or vegetable stock instead of water (always!). When your grits are done, add ⅔ to 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese and/or a little goat cheese to taste. Season with salt and pepper as needed.