One-Pan Spicy Meatballs With Lentils and Fennel Recipe (2024)

Delicious weeknight meal. Subbed celery for fennel and pan seared the meatballs first to render out some of the fat. Also cut down to 1.5 c lentils and 3 c stock. Turned out perfect. Will make again!

Really delicious! I'll definitely make this one again. Used a fairly small fennel bulb, and plan to add more next time. Carrots would be a great addition. Vinegar added a wonderful brightness. Don't skip it. Roughly chop the parsley before mixing into the dish - flavor of the whole leaves was a bit much.

We loved this easy, flavorful dinner on a chilly evening. I imagine you could make it even easier by just roasting whole Italian sausages instead of making meatballs - though the crispy, juicy meatballs were really tasty. I doubled the fennel and wound up adding a bit more water as the lentils cooked. A keeper.

Added carrots and French Beans to the fennel. Love this dish!

Be careful about putting cold chicken stock in a hot pan. I had a Pyrex explode on me after roasting the fennel and attempting to add the stock.

Needs at least 4 cups of stock for two cups of lentils

VERY IMPORTANT! Heat the chicken stock before adding to the casserole dish.I added room temp stock to a very good casserole dish after roasting the fennel and the dish cracked. Can’t believe this isn’t in the directions. Would some people know better? Sure, but not everyone.

This was a great, easy dinner. Because I used green lentils, I simmered them in the stock with the herbs while I prepared and roasted the fennel and made the meatballs (about 15 mins total.) When the meatballs were done after 30 mins, the lentils were just right. I also added an onion cut into wedges with the fennel. Next time, I will add more onion and up the overall spices a bit. This was a winner with my family.

Make with non Italian sausage in the future, I don’t like the consistency (use ground meat).

Veganized with beyond burger-type meatballs. Absolutely delicious.

Add carrots?

I would absolutely not bother with the meatballs if I made this again, which I probably won’t. The lentils were quite good, but ultimately it’s just a pan full of too many lentils. (I used beluga lentils, which are all I had & are always delicious.) As for the meatballs: I’m not squeamish about squishing my hands in raw meat, but this felt positively disgusting. And for what? Labor-intensive, weirdly eggy, reshaped sausages? I should’ve just done as others advised & used intact sausage pieces.

Fast and pretty good. Add butter and red onion and a bit of cumin brown extra meatballs on the side with a bit of spice and sesame oil

With dill insted of parsley you get an different weeknight dinner, a bit more eastern Europe.

Meh. I’m a good cook, the sound is great, very mediocre. Will never make again.

Flavorful and excellent. I made it with kofte from my local Turkish butcher.

I liked the flavors here but I'd change a few things. 1, meatballs did not hold together; I'd just use sliced sausages. 2, I'd add fennel later as it became overcooked and lost its crispiness. Agreed about using more fennel, too.

Normally I make the recipe as written the first time but I had 4 chicken thighs to use. I browned the thighs, sausage, onion, garlic, and fennel in a large brasier then added the rest of ingredients and moved the pan to the oven on convection roast. I’m glad I got fennel in my csa this week; the rest I had on hand. Smells great!

I'd say this is a solid recipe. We used 1 lb of sausage and 1/2 c lentils bc that's what we had. It worked well for 2 people. Honestly I can't imagine fully halving it to 1 cup. That would have been so many lentils. That said, I don't think I would purposefully make it again unless I had a surplus of lentils and hot Italian sausage hanging around. Good, but not memorable enough for me to go out of my way later.

made with ground lamb recently -- add some additional spices: smoked paprika, fennel

So comforting and delicious! I used red lentils instead of brown, and used lemon instead of vinegar. The cooking took about ten minutes longer than I anticipated. The texture difference between the juicy sausage and the lentils was really enjoyable. I would happily make this over again, and plan to.

Today added roasted cubed sweet potato to amplify the leftovers. Thought it a worthy addition. I’m a fan of everything in this before the sweet potato addition, which in my opinion was just the figurative icing on the cake, for this sweet potato aficionado anyway. I did add some additional chicken broth to loosen up the leftovers (by one day), the lentils do absorb the liquid. I love this recipe more than I thought I would, will definitely make again.

Added carrots with fennel. Simmered lentils in chicken broth while fennel/carrots browned. Cubed up the hot sausage. Didn’t bother with doing the meatball thing because why. Did not add any extra EVOO at the end, the sausage was nicely browned already. Turned out fine. No complaints. Easy, nutritious, tasty. Five servings, easily. Used about 3/4 lb bulk sausage, which was plenty.