Dinner · 60 min · chinese

Lion's Head Meatballs

Ground pork does the heavy lifting here, with napa cabbage rounding it out. A Chinese dinner that takes 60 minutes, start to finish. At 540 calories and 68g protein per serving, it fits easily into a high-protein day. Leftovers keep well, so it doubles as next-day lunch without any extra work.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb Ground pork
• 1 Napa cabbage
• 1/2 cup Water chestnuts
• 1 Egg
• 3 cups Chicken broth
• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Ginger

Steps

1. Mince the water chestnuts and ginger finely — the crunch keeps the big meatballs light.
2. Mix the pork, water chestnuts, ginger, egg, and a teaspoon of salt gently; overworking makes them dense.
3. With wet hands, form 8 large balls, about the size of a clementine.
4. Brown the meatballs on all sides in a Dutch oven, about 8 minutes.
5. Pour in the broth and soy sauce; it should come halfway up the meatballs.
6. Cover and braise on low 40 minutes, turning once.
7. Tuck wedges of napa cabbage around the meatballs for the last 10 minutes until silky.
8. Serve the meatballs on the wilted cabbage with spoonfuls of broth.

Build my plan — free

Share this recipe

Know someone who would love this? Send it their way.

Copy link

You might also like

← All recipes