Instant Pot Cajun Breakfast Meatballs- Change up your morning breakfast routine with these Cajun Breakfast Meatballs. The Instant Pot makes whipping up a batch of these savory Cajun inspired meatballs a breeze. Eat now, meal prep for a week of healthy breakfasts (or snacks) or freeze for later.
A recipe review: Cajun Breakfast Meatball from Instant Pot Recipes Magazine Centennial Kitchen
Meatballs for breakfast? Right? That’s what I said too! But when I saw these perfectly golden savory looking meatballs nestled in right beside a sunny-side-up egg I found myself wanting to dig right in!
I think you’re going to be just as surprised as I was. Turns out meatballs made with ground turkey and spiced with Cajun Seasoning, red bell peppers, green onions and sharp cheddar cheese are the perfect accompaniment to morning eggs (like this Instant Pot Frittata) or pancakes/waffles etc.). Seriously good!
How to Make Instant Pot Cajun Breakfast Meatballs:
1. In a large bowl lightly beat egg and milk together. Add oats, green onions, bell peppers, salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and cheese, stir to thoroughly mix. Add turkey , mix well.
2. Using a spoon (or ice cream scoop) shape turkey mixture into 18 (2 inch) meatballs . Turn on the Sauté function on Instant Pot. Once pot is hot, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Working in batches (half the meatballs at a time) sauté the meatballs, carefully turning occasionally so they brown on all sides (approx 8-10 mins). Repeat with remaining meatballs adding additional olive oil if necessary to prevent sticking. Once browned remove meatballs from the Instant Pot and set aside.
3. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the Instant Pot. Place a steamer basket (or trivet) in the Instant Pot. Arrange browned meatballs on the rack, stacking as necessary to fit all meatballs in the pot.
4. Set Instant Pot to MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK on High Pressure for 6 minutes. Once cooking cycle is complete do a QUICK RELEASE to remove pressure from the pot. Serve immediately. Sprinkle with additional Cajun Spices if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Spices/ Salt
The amount of salt can vary widely between different types of Cajun Spice blends. You may want to adjust the salt added to this recipe depending on how much salt is already included in your spice blend. ( I omitted the ¼ teaspoon of salt because I felt the Cajun spice mix I used had enough salt in it for my tastes). I used Tony Chacheres Creole Blend (this stuff is so good!)
Saute in the Instant Pot or a Skillet
The recipe calls for browning the meatballs in the Instant Pot. I opted to brown them in a skillet on the stove-top. I just find it easier to saute in a skillet, plus I could fit more meatball in the skillet at one time vs. Instant Pot.
Perfectly imperfect
My meatballs didn’t turn out quite as perfectly round as the meatballs in the magazine but it really didn't matter…the flavor was just so INSANELY good. Some of the meatballs got really brown when I was sauteing them in the skillet…in hindsight those extra brown bits turned out to be part of what made these meatballs so good! Don’t skip this step and don’t worry if they get a bit toasty.
Recipe modifications:
The only modifications I made to the original recipe was to substitute red bell pepper for green bell peppers (a personal preference) and to reduce the amount of cheese to ½ cup vs. 1 cup to keep things a little lower in calories/fat. I also sprinkled a little more Cajun spices on the finished meatballs.
The verdict:
This recipe is a keeper! I might need to work on my meatball rolling skills a bit but the flavors were just so fantastic!
Instant Pot Cajun Breakfast Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ cup quick-cooking oats
- ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
- 1 small red bell pepper finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon salt*
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning
- ½ cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1-2 tablespoon Olive oil or cooking oil for browning meatballs
- 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
- In a large bowl lightly beat egg and milk together. Add oats, green onions, bell peppers, salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and cheese, stir to thoroughly mix. Add turkey , mix well.
- Using a spoon (or ice cream scoop) shape turkey mixture into 18 (2 inch) meatballs . Turn on the Sauté function on Instant Pot. Once pot is hot, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Working in batches (half the meatballs at a time) sauté the meatballs, carefully turning occasionally so they brown on all sides (approx 8-10 mins). Repeat with remaining meatballs adding additional olive oil if necessary to prevent sticking. Once browned remove meatballs from the Instant Pot and set aside.
- Add 1 ½ cups of water to the Instant Pot. Place a steamer basket (or trivet) in the Instant Pot. Arrange browned meatballs on the rack, stacking as necessary to fit all meatballs in the pot.
- Set Instant Pot to MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK on High Pressure for 6 minutes. Once cooking cycle is complete do a QUICK RELEASE to remove pressure from the pot. Serve immediately. Sprinkle with additional Cajun Spices if desired.
