Lunch · 35 min · german

Frikadellen — Pan-Fried Meatballs

This is the kind of German lunch you’ll make on repeat — ground beef and pork mix and stale bread roll, 35 minutes, big payoff. It is weeknight cooking that still hits your targets — 43 grams of protein per serving. No specialty equipment and nothing hard to find at a regular grocery store.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 1.25 lb Ground beef and pork mix
• 50 g Stale bread roll
• 1 Egg
• 1 Yellow onion
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 4 cups Potato salad

Steps

1. Soak the bread roll, squeeze it dry, and work it into the meat with the egg, finely diced onion, mustard, salt, and pepper. The soaked bread keeps them juicy — dry breadcrumbs alone make hockey pucks.
2. Form 8 thick patties, slightly flattened, with wet hands. Chill 10 minutes so they hold together in the pan.
3. Fry in a mix of oil and butter over medium heat, 5 to 6 minutes per side, until deeply browned and cooked through. Resist the urge to press them flat — pressing squeezes out the juices.
4. Drain briefly on a rack, then rest 5 minutes so the juices redistribute.
5. Serve warm or at room temperature with potato salad and mustard, or cold in a roll the next day — frikadellen are the backbone of every German picnic.

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