It seems that, when I wasn’t looking, I became “onions and cheese are my favorite foods” years old. I don’t know how that happened, but I have very few regrets, other than the fact that I’m now disappointed by every burger that doesn’t come with some kind of onion situation.
Well, it seems the Great Wide Internet has that figured out, because all of a sudden I kept seeing recipes for French Onion meatballs everywhere. First Pinterest, then TikTok, and then Facebook suggested posts – they were inescapable. They haunted my dreams. I tried to fight it knowing how impossibly long it takes to caramelize onions, but my resolve is weak, particularly against food.
Finally, on a lazy Sunday, I caved. I did what I normally do: look through at least 5 different recipes of the same thing to figure out which one balances tastiness with my desire to do as little as possible and finally found this recipe from How Sweet Eats. It has everything: a ton of cheese (but you know ya girl is going to add more, right?), potential for serious customization, and infectious enthusiasm for the recipe.
The more I thought about it and read how folks were serving them, the more I realized that this was an opportunity to level up one of my other favorite foods: meatball parm sandwiches. They’re my go-to Wawa order, where it’s especially delicious after a concert when I’m in my car ready to go home and my ears are still ringing. Just me? Oh, okay.
Anyway, I hunter-gathered all the ingredients (had them delivered by Instacart because it was raining and cold and after a particularly brutal week, my interest in leaving the house was nonexistent) and got to work.
Warning: this fucking recipe takes forever. All told, including caramelizing the onions of course, it took me about two and a half hours, which earns it the designation of a Sunday recipe for sure. It also gives your home and clothes a delightful perfume that will have people asking you where you bought it and also could you please stand over there?
Anyway, thanks to How Sweet Eats for the base recipe!
French Onion Meatball Subs
Savory, melty, and satisfying. Enjoy these on rolls!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil + more for browning meatballs
- 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 4 minced garlic cloves
- 1 LB brick of gruyere cheese: 1 C finely grated, some more cut into slices for melting onto the rolls, and some more for snacking on while you wait for the interminable onions to finish fucking caramelizing
- 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
- 1/4 C seasoned bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 ½ C (12 ounces) low sodium chicken or beef stock
- 1 tsp flour
- 6 French bread steak rolls (6″ sub rolls)
Instructions
- Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-low heat and add the olive oil.
- Stir in the onions with a big pinch of salt.
- Cook, stirring often, until the onions caramelize to the point where they’re golden (see the photo above), about 40 minutes. Add about a teaspoon of sugar around 20 minutes in. (NOTE: if you want some solid advice on how to caramelize a significant amount of onions in a way that’s somewhat organized and won’t make them cook unevenly, refer to this Bon Appetit step-by-step).
- While the onions caramelize, prep the meatballs: in a bowl, place the turkey, garlic, 1/2 C grated gruyere, all the parmesan, the breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. Don’t mix yet – overmixing meatballs is a recipe for disaster (texturally)
- Once the onions are golden and gooey, transfer them to a plate and spread them out a bit to cool them down.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- After the onions are cool enough to handle, roughly chop half of them. It won’t be a clean cut type situation – they’re sticky and gooey.
- Add the chopped caramelized onions to the meatball mix. Mix until the meat is just combined.
- Roll pieces of the mixture into 1″ meatballs.
- In the same skillet you used to caramelize the onions, heat a splash of olive oil over medium heat. Arrange the meatballs in a single layer and brown them on all sides. You should turn them with tongs every 2 minutes or so.
- While the meatballs are browning, mix together the stock and the flour in a measuring cup.
- Pour the mixture into the skillet with the meatballs. Add in the remaining caramelized onions, packing the spaces between the meatballs. Top the meatballs with the remaining gruyere cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes (internal temperature of the meatballs should read 165 degrees).
- When you have about 5 minutes left on the timer, cut open the rolls.
- Cut slices of gruyere and place on the roll and toast until desired doneness. I did this in a toaster oven but you could do it in your oven too!
- Serve immediately with potato chips or french fries – whichever your potato-y heart desires. (I considered making fries but by the time this ordeal was over, I just went for chips because they were easier.)
Notes
Low-sodium stock is key here! I used Better Than Bouillon and the sauce was really salty as a result. I separated it from the meatballs when packing everything up and just add a small drizzle to the leftovers to add some more moisture in.
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