Skillet Meatballs With Peaches, Basil and Lime
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:3 to 4 servings
- 1½tablespoons finely grated or minced fresh ginger
- 3garlic cloves, grated or minced
- 1¼teaspoon ground cumin, plus more for serving
- 1¼teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1pound ground pork (or turkey or chicken, or vegan meat)
- ⅓cup panko or other plain bread crumbs
- 3tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil, plus basil leaves for serving
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2tablespoons wine (dry white, rosé or red), or use broth, orange juice or water
- 2cups diced ripe peaches or nectarines (about 3)
- ¼cup thinly sliced white or red onion, or scallions
- 1lime, halved
- White rice or coconut rice, rice noodles, or crisp salad greens, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
528 calories; 32 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 23 grams protein; 632 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
In a large bowl, mix together ginger, garlic, cumin and salt. Add pork, panko and basil. Using your hands, gently mix everything together, making sure not to overwork the mixture. (Otherwise, the meatballs get tough.) Form into 1¼-inch balls.
- Step 2
Heat a large skillet over medium-high, then add the oil and let it heat up until it thins out. Add meatballs in one layer. Cook, turning and shaking the pan, until meatballs are browned all over, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Step 3
Pour the wine into the skillet and move meatballs over to one side of the pan, scraping up the browned bits. Add peaches, a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons water to the empty side of pan. When peaches are simmering, cover the pan, lower the heat to medium, and let cook until the meatballs are no longer pink at their centers, and the peaches juicy and tender, about 5 to 10 minutes longer.
- Step 4
Uncover the pan. If the mixture seems too runny, let it cook down for another minute or so. The peaches should break down into a chunky sauce. Hard or unripe peaches may take a few extra minutes.
- Step 5
Add the onions to the pan and mix them in so they wilt slightly. Squeeze lime juice all over everything, then taste and add salt and lime juice, as needed. Sweeter peaches will need more lime juice, tart ones, less.
- Step 6
Serve the meatballs sprinkled with more cumin and garnished with torn basil leaves, over the rice or greens.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Never On time
The 25 mins doesn't add up. Step 2 says brown the meatballs 5-7 mins, next step say 5-10 mins and then the next step is a few mins. take the top numbers that is 20 mins, that leaves just 5 mins for grating the ginger, crushing the garlic, chopping the basil, mixing the meatballs, creating the meatballs and so on.... I enjoy the NYtimes recipes, BUT, feel they don't give realistic times for making the meal, when looking to plan a day this important aspect when selecting a meal!
Paul
Unless some people are reading these recipes for the first time, or you are a short order cook at a diner, please chill out! I've been making NYT recipes for years and realize that the suggested times are just that: suggested. I automatically double the time because I'm just not that fast, and enjoy cooking rather than try to make it a race to the table.
Gerry
Take a shortcut: use one pound of your preferred sausage in casings, slice into one inch thick pieces, and substitute for meatballs. Especially handy if you’re GF
Sashivpuri
This meal was a hit! A few notes, Trader Joe’s has everything you need for short cuts. I used a bag of their frozen peaches and diced those up, used their Dorot pre-portioned Ginger since I didn’t have any fresh on hand. A little trick to make the meat less dry, add a few tablespoons of plain yoghurt. I’m half northern Indian so learned early on that ground meat and plain yoghurt are a perfect combination for keeping ground meat moist to minimize dry out due to overcooking. Enjoy!
Meg
If the ingredient list shows ginger already grated, garlic already minced,fruit and onions already sliced and diced, you know the time estimate is just for cooking and assembling with everything already prepped. Some people slice and dice faster than others. Plan accordingly. That said, I too would like to see some prep time included in the estimate, for the sake of reality!
David
Canned peaches work great.
David Burton
I added a little bourbon ...
Marbarre
Added about 1/4 cup of light brown sugar before serving and it made all the difference with regard to amping up the peach flavor and balancing the cumin and lime notes.
Tom
Not overworking just means to mix lightly, perhaps tossing with a fork or fingertips, just to the point of being fully mixed or incorporated. Ina always talks about this. Also when shaping the balls, just shape them by rolling lightly between your palms, but not forming a tight ball. Keep it fairly “fluffy”. Hope this helps.
Patty
Excellent, easy dinner! Peach, basil and pork is a great combination, and this was a new twist. We followed the recipe to the T, adding a full lime of juice at the end (since we’re not huge fans of sweet dishes) and served over Pas Thai rice noodles we had in the pantry. Would definitely make again.
Carrie
Used 93% lean ground turkey. It was fine -- lean and lower-cal. Had beautiful, very ripe local peaches. It took 4 of them to make 2 cups of chopped peaches. I made the sauce as per the recipe, and I did not find it runny at all. Quite the opposite. The wine and water evaporated, and it got rather dry. I wanted more sauce, so the next time I will actually double the ingredients (peaches, wine, water) for the sauce. Overall, meatballs had good flavor and it was fairly easy to make.
Thetoughcookie66
I think this would also be good with mango! It could be mimicking the flavors of mango chutney.
Tim Carroll
Excellent. I used nectarines instead of peaches. Served over coconut rice with snap peas on the side. Will definitely make again!
Justice for Cumin
In my experience, cumin while being very pungent on its own falls into the background in most dishes and plays an amazing supporting role. It makes flavors more robust and while I can hardly put my finger on what its flavor IS exactly, I know that dishes calling for it are exemplary. Toasted cumin seed is delicious too.
Hanna
This recipe is missing something.... the sauce definitely needs more salt, but maybe some sugar, or fish sauce or something to add umami? As is it tastes like warmed up peach juice. The meatballs also need some kind of binding agent, like an egg. Great concept, missing some things.
WFElliott
Excellent ! But full disclosure: I used Whole Foods frozen turkey meatballs and sprinkled with ginger and cumin. Served over rice noodles.
Smufty
For a super-easy super-fast weekday meal, use boneless pork chops seasoned with salt/cayenne or pepper flakes. Sear meat to golden brown. Continue with the recipe from step 3. Also it goes well with orzo instead of rice or noodles.
Sean C.
This is still one of my favorite go-to recipes, especially in summer. The meatballs are great using pork, chicken, or Impossible. If using pork, throw some quick-chopped fennel seeds into the spice mix, it makes the flavor explode! If I you have some bourbon, try splashing some of that in, instead of the wine.
Donna Conover
Take a shortcut: use one pound of your preferred sausage in casings, slice into one inch thick pieces, and substitute for meatballs. Especially handy if you’re GF. To make the meat less dry, add a few tablespoons of plain yoghurt. With ground meat, plain yoghurt is perfect for keeping all moist and minimize dry out from overcooking. Added about 1/4 cup of light brown sugar before serving and it made all the difference, amping up the peach flavor and balancing the cumin and lime.
Tanja
The only caution I have is on the salt as seasoning as flavours meld in the pan. A kick of Serrano chiles would have also been amazing in here. I could have added a tablespoon of a fun vinegar too. A fun peach centric recipe!
coppola46
This dish is amazing. I made it tonight and offer the following thoughts: it does take a bit longer to prepare than the times stated; I added about 1 teaspoon of minced jalepeno to the pork mixture, and I served it over coconut rice. It’s a perfect summer meal.
Yvonne S
have made these twice now, haven't changed anything in the recipe. Worked better for me in a 10" skillet.
BonAppeTeak
I cooked the meatballs in my air fryer for 20 minutes at 375 and they were perfect - and the recipe is fantastic. My husband, who never remarks on anything, raved about the meal. I added some sliced jalapenos to the sauteed onions, peaches and basil. Really good and will definitely make again with ground pork as suggested.
GloriaR
Relatively easy and full of flavor. In the top three of my NYT meatball experiments. Husband requested that it stays on rotation. I used turkey and water instead of wine, but otherwise followed directions as written.
Robyn Osgood
Unfortunately, this didn’t work for us. We didn’t care for the cumin flavour as it was too strong and by the time the peaches were cooked, the meatballs were over cooked.
KWP
Very good made with ground duck, even though we had no basil, so used parsley. Next time I'd finish in oven.
cookie monster
Used store bought chicken meatballs—should not feel Italian (I e don’t use Costco). Marketplace in Great Barrington good source. Put all the seasoning ingredients for meatballs into sauce, which made it quite gingery. Used more wine. Peaches were not quite ripe so added mirin for sweetness. Added extra basil at end. Served with cress and arugula and avocado salad, good bread. Delicious!
PMCB
The whole family enjoyed this one. Followed the recipe other than doubling the ginger. Used impossible meat to appease the vegetarian in the house, but would also be good with ground meat. Served with coconut rice and lettuce leaves, and it came out great. If making it again I would cut the cumin back a bit, and maybe add even more ginger, and make sure the peaches are very ripe.
Emma
I made this recipe with all beef, white onion, natural orange wine, and added fennel seed, cayenne pepper, and turmeric and it was delicious! Also round ginger works fine with you don’t have fresh ginger.
tori
Great flavors! Some of the instructions didn’t make sense, but I give jt 5 stars just in the ingredients. A few things I did differently: (1) I browned the meatballs, took them out of the pan completely, cooked the peach sauce almost to completion, then added the meatballs back to finish as both sauce and chicken finished cooking (2) My peaches weren’t quite ripe, so I added a little bit of simple syrup. (3) I really like a bright flavor during the summer so I doubled the lime and fresh herbs.
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