One-Pan Spicy Meatballs With Lentils and Fennel

By Ali Slagle

Total Time: 40 minutes
Rating: 4(612)
Notes: Read community notes

In this one-pan meal, you get spicy meatballs, savory lentils and sweet fennel that are all perked up with vinegar and parsley. For the speediest meatballs, use uncased bulk Italian sausage, which comes fully seasoned. When cooked at high heat and partly submerged in the chicken stock, the meatballs brown on top and stay moist on the inside — and the lentils soak up the flavorful pork juices. The roasted fennel provides sweetness and echoes the fennel seed in the meatballs, but feel free to use another vegetable that cooks at the same rate, like thinly sliced carrots.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

1fennel bulb, cored, cut into ½-inch wedges through the root, plus ¼ cup fresh fennel fronds
2teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Kosher salt and black pepper
1½pounds bulk hot Italian sausage (or fresh hot Italian sausages, casings removed)
1egg
4cups chicken stock
2cups brown lentils
4garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1fresh rosemary sprig
1tablespoon sherry vinegar, white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
½cup fresh parsley leaves, plus more for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat the oven to 450 degrees. In a 9-by-13-inch baking pan or baking dish, gently toss the fennel wedges with the olive oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. Roast until golden brown underneath, about 10 minutes. (Fennel will not be tender at this point.)
Step 2
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, use your hands or a spoon to mix the sausage with the egg until combined. Roll the mixture into 12 (1½-inch) meatballs.
Step 3
Add the chicken stock, lentils, garlic and rosemary to the roasted fennel. Stir to combine, then season with ¾ teaspoon salt. Place the meatballs in the lentil mixture, drizzle the meatballs with olive oil, then roast until the meatballs are browned on top and lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
Step 4
Transfer the meatballs to a plate. Discard the rosemary sprig, then stir in the vinegar, parsley leaves and fennel fronds (reserve a few fronds for garnishing, if desired). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon the lentils and any braising liquid onto shallow bowls and top with the meatballs. Garnish with additional parsley leaves and fennel fronds, if desired.

Ratings

4 out of 5

612 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

iteachforshoes4 years ago

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!

anna4 years ago

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.

Jessica4 years ago

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.

Tracey Lauer4 years ago

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

Drew4 years ago

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.

Old Time Hockey3 years ago

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.

cccooks4 years ago

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

Kristin4 years ago

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.

mike4 months ago

Extremely tasty. Sliced the fennel, thin, 3 cups, low, sodium chick stock, add pepper flakes, and a Leppo if using mild sausage.

bigtazdude804 months ago

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

Ronni6 months ago

Veganized with beyond burger-type meatballs. Absolutely delicious.

dave8 months ago

Add carrots?

Sam10 months ago

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.

mary1 year ago

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

lisbeth1 year ago

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

sharon1 year ago

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

Michael S1 year ago

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

Rachel1 year ago

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.

Cindy1 year ago

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!

Amelia1 year ago

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.

karen1 year ago

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

Julie2 years ago

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.

susan2 years ago

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.

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