Tamale Balls {Slow Cooker}

It seems as if slow cooker meals have become the new “it” thing.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that I’ve had mixed opinions on slow cooker recipes/meals.  But last month’s Cookbook of the Month really inspired me to use my slow cooker more.  In fact, there was a week last month when I was making recipes from that book that I developed 4 more slow cooker recipes as well.  I had 1 or 2 slow cookers going every day for that whole week!!  Luckily, only 2 recipes that I made didn’t turn out like I wanted them to, but everything else turned out fantastic.

Among those recipes was this recipe for Tamale Balls.  Well, I can’t take all the credit.  A few weeks back, I was talking to my mother-in-law about recipes.  We were actually discussing stuffed peppers, and different twists you could make on them.  My mother-in-law then told me about a recipe she used to make for her kids when they were growing up – these tamale balls.  She said that a pepper stuffed with the tamale ball mix would probably be fantastic!!  That evening, she sent me home with a copy of an old family cookbook with the recipe.

A couple of days later, I decided to try it out.  But instead of just baking them off, I thought I’d try them in the slow cooker.  And while the end result was edible, it wasn’t really what I was going for.  I’m not sure a pepper can really hold up to the slow cooker, because they were falling apart, and the filling was just a little bit too much.  Luckily, I had made the whole recipe for the tamale filling, and only used half for the peppers, so the next day I turned the remaining mix into balls.  I still wanted to make them in the slow cooker, so into the slow cooker they went, covered by the tomato sauce.  When they were done, I served them over rice, and I found out that I had found my new favorite meatball recipe!!

These meatballs are so good.  They have the flavors of tamales, all rolled up into a little ball.  I can see why my husband and his siblings loved these meatballs growing up.  And I love that they were so easily made in the slow cooker!!

Tamale Balls {Slow Cooker}

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Author: Deborah Harroun

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours hours

Total Time: 6 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 servings

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Meatballs with a Tex-Mex flair made easy in the slow cooker! These can also be frozen before being cooked to make for an easy meal another day.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 pound ground beef
• ▢ 1 pound ground pork
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• ▢ 3/4 cup tomato juice
• ▢ 1/2 cup flour
• ▢ 4 cloves finely chopped garlic
• ▢ 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 2 teaspoons salt

Sauce

• ▢ 5 cups tomato juice
• ▢ 1 tablespoon chili powder
• ▢ 2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

• In a large bowl, combine all of the meatball ingredients. Form into balls the size of a golf ball. Place in the bottom of a slow cooker.
• Combine the tomato juice, chili powder and salt. Pour over the tamale balls.
• Cook in the slow cooker on low for about 6 hours, or until cooked through. Serve over rice.