Bowl meals. They are a thing. My kids love them. I love them because they are simple and comfort food. It makes meal time easier! These teriyaki beef meatball bowls will tick all the boxes for family dinners!
Surely meatballs are the ultimate kids food. They are one bite. ONE BITE is awesome for kids meals, no cutting or chopping needed! And that means they have fun eating…which means they do more eating.
I wanted to make meatballs, but wasn’t sure how to make them a bit more fun, so I decided to make a sticky teriyaki sauce on them…and I have to say, that was pretty much a stroke of genius. My kids love all things teriyaki, and these meatballs hit the spot.
I put my rice in the rice cooker at the same time as I started frying off the meatballs and the whole thing was done and dusted by the end of the meatball cooking. Popping the veggies into a steamer basket in the rice cooker when there were 5 minutes to go before the rice was done meant that they were steamed to perfection without using any other pans.
If you don’t have a rice cooker and are cooking the rice on the stove, just put the steamer basket in 5 minutes before the end of cooking and it will be perfect.
Not only are these meatballs delicious, but they are also helping kids to get used to different flavours. I know as a kid I didn’t try many different flavours and everything was new when I was an adult and taking care of my own food. But I don’t want my kids to be like that. Exposure to different flavours and textures really helps them to be more comfortable with new foods.
We steamed broccoli and snow peas, but seeing as the meatballs will probably be a new flavour for your kids, stick to veggies they know and love. That way the whole experience is far less daunting.
Want more meatball ideas? There are quite a few different ones on the blog!
- cheesy meatballs in a tomato sauce
- chicken parmesan meatballs
- turkey meatballs with sweet potato noodles
But, back to the teriyaki beef meatball bowls…because you’re going to love them!
Teriyaki beef meatball bowls
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 500 grams beef mince I use 5 star
- ¾ cup panko crumbs
- 1 egg whisked
- 2 spring onions finely sliced
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- oil for frying
Sauce
- ¾ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup honey
- 3 tsps sesame oil
- ⅓ cup mirin
Rice
- 2 cups brown rice
Veggies
- 1 head of broccoli chopped into florets
- 300 grams snow peas trimmed
Instructions
- Combine all the meatball ingredients except the oil in a large bowl and mix well.
- Roll into 24 meatballs.
- Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Put the rice in a ricecooker or saucepan to cook- following packet instructions.
- Heat a medium frypan over medium heat.
- Fry the meatballs in batches until brown.
- Remove to a plate
- Put the soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin and honey into a jug and mix well.
- Pour into the fry pan and bring to the boil.
- Cook 3 minutes or until starting to thicken.
- Return the meatballs to the frypan with the sauce, coating in the sauce and cooking for 5 more minutes.
- Add the broccoli and snow peas to the rice cooker or saucepan in a steamer basket. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the rice to the bowls first, then the veggies and finally the meatballs, drizzling any extra sauce over the op.
Tanith Flayol says
What is the measure for Soy Sauce?
Kylie says
oops! 3/4 cup!