Taco Meatball Ring

Taco Meatball Ring

Taco Meatball Ring

Have you ever been invited to a party and didn’t know what to bring? Something going on at work or in the office, you have to bring a dish, and they wanted it cooked in a Dutch oven because that’s what you do? Well, I found just the dish. It’s called the Taco Meatball Ring and it’s easy. And when I say easy, I mean very easy to put together.

I was able to do this with 25 mile an hour gusts blowing me all over the place. It was so windy that I had to set up my equipment behind my truck just to keep everything in place but I was still able to pull this off, present it, and it was gone!   We are talking about 16 servings or 16 slices and it was gone in a matter of minutes! It is super simple, very tasty, and looks fantastic in its presentation.

Now, there are plenty of cooking options for this. You can cook this in an oven. You can cook this in your grill. I did mine with my Mr. Dutch Oven Pizza Rings.

So now, let me tell you how to make your taco meatball ring which takes about 20 minutes to prepare, approximately 30 minutes to be cooked and yields 16 servings.

Ingredients:

2 cups about 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese, divided

2 tbs. of water

2-4 tbs. of taco seasoning

½ lb ground beef or turkey

2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls

½ medium head of iceberg lettuce, shredded

1 medium tomato, chopped

4 green onions, sliced

½ cup ripe olives, sliced

2 jalapeno peppers, sliced

Sour cream and salsa (optional)

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup cheese, water, and taco seasoning. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well and shaped into 16 balls.

Place meatballs on a greased rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until meat is no longer pink. Drain meatballs on paper towels and reduce heat to 375 degrees.

Arrange crescent rolls on a greased 15-inch pizza pan, forming a ring with pointed ends facing the outer edge of the pan and wide ends overlapping. Place the meatball on each roll, fold point over meatball and tuck under wide end of roll (the meatball will be visible).

Repeat this until all 16 meatballs are in place.  Bake this for 15-20 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown. Then transfer the whole thing into a serving platter. Fill the center of the ring with lettuce, tomato, onions, olives, jalapenos, the remaining cheese and sour cream and salsa if desired.

This recipe came from Brenda Johnson of Davison, Michigan via the Taste of Home Magazine.

The Pizza Ring I used to cook this came from Mr. Dutch Oven. He now has 2 sizes available – 12 and 14 inches. Those are for 12-inch Dutch oven lids and 14-inch Dutch oven lids respectively. Give this a try and I promise you, this recipe will be a hit wherever you go if you can get it out of the house and away from your family. Let us know how it went!