Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

I was introduced to this recipe at our church small group (Thanks Amy!) and had to give it a try.  It was a hit with the entire family so I adjusted the ingredients to make more and here it is.  You can serve these as appetizers, as the main dish in a meal, or have spaghetti with cheesy meatballs.    The original recipe can be found here.  That recipe called for these to be cooked in a crockpot so you can find the alternate cooking option at the bottom.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
1 ½ pound ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 mozzarella string cheese sticks
Marinara sauce for dipping

Directions (Oven)
Cut each cheese stick into 6 equal pieces. Place in a small bowl and chill until ready to use.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, eggs, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients with your hands until well blended.

To form meatballs, take 4 tablespoons of  the meat mixture and roll into a ball. Gently push a piece of chilled mozzarella into the middle of each meatball and close the meat around the cheese. Make sure the meat completely covers the cheese. Place on a rimmed baking pan lined with foil or a Silpat.  This should make about 18 meatballs.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until meatballs are browned and cheese is melted.

Alternate cooking directions for Crockpot
Place meatballs in the crockpot, cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours or on low 3-4 hours until meat it cooked through (no longer pink).