Thai Green Curry Meatballs with Zoodles

Share this delicious recipe!

Thai Green Curry Meatballs with Zoodles – A hearty yet healthy dish! These meatballs are flavourful and paired with creamy Thai green curry sauce are an interesting way to switch up dinner from the regular spaghetti and meatballs.

Happy Friday, folks! Congrats – you made it to the weekend. My goodness does time fly. Over a month has gone by since my last post and I’m really feeling the guilt over being such a slacking blogger lately but life has been crazy. In the last month there have been some serious highs and some serious lows, and it’s all been taking my energy. So much of my energy that whenever I am home all my brain can think of is Eat. Sleep. Repeat. I am exhausted!!!

Last month my beloved Baba (grandmother in Ukrainian) passed away. She was 90 years old, and had faced many challenges in her life – surviving the Famine in Ukraine, and World War II, eventually traveling to Canada where she met her husband and raised a family. Growing up we would spend wonder-filled days at the farm, climbing trees, running around her massive garden picking fresh berries off the bushes, naming and playing with the kittens that would be born each spring. Those times were always so much fun for me, and I miss those childhood days spent with my Baba.

I am lucky to have had an amazing visit with my Baba the evening before she passed away. Perhaps I will go into it more in a future post (where I plan to share some Ukrainian food that my Baba loved to make), but for now I will say that it was one of the best visits. We talked about our favourite foods, her garden, and her cats and dogs – things she loved so very much.

So that was the low point of the last little bit. However, as life goes, there have been some ups with the downs, and on the happier side of things I am proud to say that we now officially own our very first home! We took possession a few weeks ago now and have been crazy busy cleaning and painting. Aside from Canada Day I don’t think I’ve taken a day off doing at least a little bit of work there. All this painting is a serious workout though – no gym needed for me recently! In fact I think this is doing more for me than actual workouts at the gym has… Anyway, all the hard work will be worth it in the end though and I can’t wait to have the place pulled together into something wonderful.

Honestly, I have hardly cooked over the last few weeks. There have been a few things here and there but for the most part my “cooking” has been eggs for breakfast, throwing store bought pasta and sauce together, KD, a quick quesadilla and last night we had nachos. Lots of store bought meals and fast food has been had lately! I’m not going to lie, I am really missing the kitchen and can’t wait for life to get back to normal.

Alright so now that you’ve read my little life update as to why I haven’t had any recipes lately let’s get to what you are really here for – the food.

I’ve had a little thing for meatballs over the last little while, which is funny as for some reason growing up I don’t recall liking them all that much. But now that is definitely not the case.

These green curry meatballs are certainly unique but the flavour profile here is quite fun. The green curry surprisingly pairs quite nicely with ground beef, and then by making it with zoodles (zucchini noodles) you add that bit of freshness to the dish that it needs. Zoodles definitely make this a healthier meal as they are much less carb heavy and you get that extra serving of vegetables in for the day.

I’ll be honest, I never saw the appeal of zoodles until recently. I had one of those cheap handheld spiralizers and the darn thing just never worked for me! I would always end up with a pile of mush every time I tried it, and hated wasting good zucchini like that. I was lucky enough to receive a motorized spiralizer this past Christmas, and now I am sold on zoodles! Sometimes I will add them in with regular spaghetti, having half portions of each, and other times, like with this recipe, I have just the zoodles. If you are new to zoodles, or have picky eaters I recommend slowly mixing them this way to introduce them.

There is a bit of spice to this dish, but it is not overwhelmingly spicy. You can always up the green curry paste if you prefer it hotter, or reduce it if you would like less spice. The coconut milk helps cool it down a bit too, and makes for a deliciously creamy sauce. It’s hard to not lick the plate clean when you are enjoying this sauce so much!

Well, I am still drained from a hard day’s work so I will leave you off here for now. I am hoping that in the near future I will have more time for cooking once we get the brunt of the work done, as I have so many exciting recipe ideas in my mind that I would just love to share! Hope you have a happy weekend!

If you make these Thai green curry meatballs with zoodles please let me know! Leave a comment below, rate it, post on the Zest & Simmer Facebook page or share photos on Instagram using the hashtag #zestandsimmer. I’d love to see it and I am always thrilled to hear from you!

Pin it for later!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Thai Green Curry Meatballs with Zoodles

A hearty yet healthy dish! These meatballs are flavourful and paired with creamy Thai green curry sauce are an interesting way to switch up dinner from the regular spaghetti and meatballs.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American, Asian, Thai

Servings: 4 portions

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 4 cloves garlic , minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion , diced
• 3 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 tbsp green curry paste (see notes below)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cornstard + 1 tsp water , mixed together
• juice from 1 freshly squeezed lime
• 2 medium-large zucchinis , julienned or spiralized into noodles*

Instructions

• In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients for the meatballs except for the olive oil. Form meatball mix into 1-inch sized balls.
  
• In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Add in meatballs, ensuring not to overcrowd the pan and cook until browned on all sides. Depending on the size of your skillet you may need to do this in two batches.
  
• Remove meatballs from skillet and set aside.
  
• Reduce heat to medium, and using the same skillet heat the other tbsp of olive oil for the sauce. Add onions to pan and saute for 2 minutes, then add garlic and saute 1 minute more. Stir in green curry paste and cook for another 2 minutes.
  
• Pour  coconut milk, soy sauce, and stock into the pan and stir to combine. Then stir in the brown sugar and cornstarch + water mixture. Reduce heat to low, allowing the sauce to thicken for 5-10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
  
• After sauce has thickened, stir in lime juice and add the meatballs back to the pan, tossing to coat them with the sauce. Allow to cook for another 3 minutes or so while you prep the zoodles.
  
• Add zoodles into the pan with the sauce and meatballs, giving a few good tosses to get them coated with the sauce. Remove from heat so that zoodles do not overcook and get mushy. Serve immediately.
  

Notes

*Zucchini can be made into zoodles using either a handheld or electric spiralizer, or a julienne peeler can be used as well.