Meatballs au Poivre
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Meatballs au Poivre combines the goodness of juicy, tender meatballs, with a tasty black pepper crust, and a flavorful creamy pan sauce, to give you the ultimate comfort food meal! If you love the rich, bold flavors of steak au poivre, you’re going to be obsessed with these Meatballs au Poivre! It’s an elevated recipe that feels fancy enough for entertaining, but simple enough to make for a cozy weeknight dinner.
Bring the flavor to your next meatball dinner
We’re a peppery household. The amount of Costco-size containers of ground black pepper that we go through in a year would shock most people. But if you’re in the shocking-how-much-I-love-black-pepper camp, then these meatballs are for you!
- The meatballs themselves are perfect. I’ve made 26 different meatball recipes over the years. Some might say that makes me a meatball expert at this point. All I know is that these meatballs are tender, juicy, and full of the most delicious peppery flavor!
- The creamy sauce is the kind that makes you want to lick the plate. It’s also peppery, but not in an overpowering way. It’s creamy, it’s got all of the tasty drippings from the meatballs, and a splash of cognac that adds complexity and a subtle caramel sweetness.
My husbands exact words after I had perfected this recipe was “all meals should taste like this.” But seriously, it doesn’t get much better than these meatballs in a creamy sauce with tender noodles. This definitely ranks up there as one of my top 3 favorite comfort food meals!
Key ingredients
Above I show you all of the ingredients for the recipe to give you a good visual for your shopping list. Below I’ll give you some notes on specific ingredients in the recipe. You can find the full list of ingredients with measurements in the recipe card.
- Ground beef and ground pork – this combination will give you the juiciest meatballs with the best flavor and texture. Beef offers a firm structure for the meatballs, while pork adds fat that keeps them juicy and tender.
- Cognac (or brandy) – we’ll use the liquor to deglaze the pan and scrape up any browned bits from searing the meatballs. While it’s great for deglazing, it also adds a caramel-like sweetness to the pan sauce, and it’s the perfect flavor enhancer for rich meaty dishes like these meatballs au poivre.
- Shallot – this variety of onion has a sweet, delicate flavor with a hint of sharpness. You can substitute onions in this recipe, just know that they’ll have a more sharp, pungent, less sweet flavor than the shallots.
Instructions
I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe super easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions and video, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Make and sear the meatballs.
- Combine ground beef and pork with breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg yolks, and salt. Add in cooked shallots and garlic and stir to combine, but don’t over-mix or it will make the meatballs tough.
- Form the mixture into about 30 golf-ball sized meatballs. Sprinkle coarse-ground black pepper evenly over the meatballs, flip them over and pepper the other side.
- Sear the meatballs in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until they form a nice, brown peppery crust on the outside.
Make the pan sauce and finish the dish.
- Remove the meatballs from the skillet and set them aside on a clean cutting board. Add butter to the pan drippings in the skillet. Once melted, add shallots and black pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour the cognac into the skillet and let it deglaze the pan, while you scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. Stir in beef broth and bring it to a simmer. Whisk in cream and let the pan sauce reduce down. Season the sauce with salt and dijon mustard.
- Add the meatballs to the pan sauce and spoon the sauce over the meatballs.
I like to serve the meatballs with pappardelle pasta. I cook the pasta on the side while the sauce is reducing, then add it to the pan with the sauce and meatballs. This way it really soaks in the sauce and it’s easy to serve. You can also serve the meatballs over mashed potatoes, or with cooked rice.
Meatballs Au Poivre
Video
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- ½ cup shallots, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons coarse-ground black pepper
Pan Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup shallots, minced
- 1 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
- ¼ cup cognac, or brandy
- 1 ½ cups beef broth
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Meatballs
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a large skillet on the stove over medium high heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the ½ cup shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, panko breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg yolks, and salt. Add the cooked shallots and garlic, then use your hands, or a spatula, to combine all of the ingredients.
- Once the ingredients are combined, form the mixture into about 30 golf-ball sized meatballs. Sprinkle the coarse-ground black pepper evenly on all sides of the meatballs.
- In the same skillet you cooked the shallots and garlic, add an additional tablespoon of olive oil, bring to medium-high heat and place the meatballs in the skillet, brown on all sides for 3-4 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
- Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside.
Pan Sauce
- Keep the pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter. Once melted, add the minced shallot and ground black pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the cognac and cook down for 3-4 minutes, then stir in the beef broth and bring to a simmer, stirring and scraping up any browned bits. Whisk in cream, then simmer, stirring often, until sauce has reduced enough to glaze a spoon. Whisk in the dijon mustard and season with salt.
- Add the meatballs back to the skillet and spoon the sauce over the meatballs. Serve immediately with mashed potatoes or cooked egg noodles.
Notes
- These meatballs are very peppery, hence the name au poivre “with pepper”, but you can certainly reduce the pepper used to crust the meatballs down to 2 tablespoons and you’ll still get a nice peppery crust.
- To make these meatballs gluten-free, replace the panko breadcrumbs with gluten-free breadcrumbs.
- Store any leftover meatballs and sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can reheat them in a skillet on the stove, or in the microwave.
Nutrition Facts
More meatball recipes
If you love this recipe for meatballs au poivre, I know you’ll love these other popular meatball recipes!
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