Are you a meatball person? or a meatloaf person?

I could never get behind meat loaf. Couldn't wrap my head around it. I didn't hate the taste of it, I think I just hated that it was ALWAYS served with mashed potatoes which I HATED. so I'm a meatball girl for sure.

How are you feeling about these meatballs? skeptical? Apprehensive? it's okay. I feel you. I was a weeeetle (<– yes, I am 4 years old) scared. I assumed they'd be good, because taco seasoning + ground beef.

but I LOADED these suckers up with veggies (a) to get more for my buck and (b) because um. who doesn't LOVE fajitas?

and so that's what these are. a weird cross between tacos and fajitas and… nachos? because:

TORTILLA CHIPS.

Oh yeah. I made tortilla chip breadcrumbs. MAINLY to try and hold the meatballs together <- the peppers give off a lot of water which makes it hard to get the meatballs to hold shape. but also, why not?

unless you're doing a whole 30 like me…

soooo, I made a whole30 version of these this weekend – all I had to do was omit the tortilla chips! easy peasy. and then you can have them all week long! (I even froze some uncooked for easy access next week too. i'll be doing Whole30 updates because it seems like you guys are pretty interested, so i'll let you know how these turned out frozen.)

^sighhhh they're so pretty.

here's the deal about baking time. these suckers turn a little redish because of the red pepper juice, the best way to test if they're done is using a meat thermometer. you want ground beef to reach a temp of 160 degrees according to the USDA.

um, if you're not doing a whole30 you should ABSOLUTELY add corn to this dish. ughhhh. I love fresh corn off the cob. it's so delicious and crisp. I obviously served my meatballs over a bed of zucchini noodles with bell peppers and extra Mexican green goddess dressing. But I also had them over a salad last week and oh my gosh it was good. I tend to save the meatballs till the end so that I make sure I eat all the veggies…. because i'll just eat the meatballs if I don't…

Mexican Meatballs

Author: Ashley Renee
Prep Time: 15
Cook Time: 30
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 18 1x

Scale

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef (or meat of your choice)
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 jalepeno pepper
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 tablespoon Mexican green goddess dressing
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 cup tortilla chips
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Combine the peppers, onion, and cilantro in a food processor and run until the mixture is very finely diced.
Place the mixture into a large mixing bowl with the ground beef, taco seasoning, mexican green goddess dressing, and the pinch of salt. Process the tortilla chips in the food processor until they reach a crumb-like consistency and add to the bowl. Knead the ingredients together with your hands and then roll into meatballs.
Place a piece of aluminum foil on the bottom of a cookie sheet and set a cooling rack on top of the foil. Gently place the meatballs onto the cooling rack and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Allow to cool and then serve in a salad, on zoodles, or even with tortilla chips.