Greek Meatball Salad
Warm oregano meatballs on a cold raw salad — spinach, halved cherry tomatoes, bell pepper strips, thin red onion, all tossed in a tangy olive oil and vinegar dressing. Feta crumbled on top.
390 calories, 28 grams of protein, fifteen minutes from pan to plate.
Warm oregano meatballs on a cold raw salad — spinach, halved cherry tomatoes, bell pepper strips, thin red onion, all tossed in a tangy olive oil and vinegar dressing. Feta crumbled on top.
390 calories, 28 grams of protein, fifteen minutes from pan to plate.
Ingredients
- 96% lean ground beef 3 ounces
- oregano, dried 1 teaspoon
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- red onion 0.25
- cherry tomatoes 8
- cucumber 0.5
- bell pepper 1
- spinach 1 handful
- vinegar 1 teaspoon
- yellow mustard 0.5 teaspoon
- feta cheese, crumbled 1 ounce
Method
-
In a bowl mix the ground beef with half of the oregano, pepper and salt. Mix well and shape into small meatballs using your hands.
-
Heat half of the oil in a frying pan and brown the meatballs all over in 5 minutes.
-
In the meantime slice the red onion into half rings. Halve the tomatoes. Dice the cucumber. Cut the bell pepper into strips. Combine these with the spinach in a bowl.
-
Create a dressing from the remaining oil, the rest of the oregano, vinegar and mustard. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss together.
-
Serve the salad on a plate, sprinkle the feta on top and add the meatballs. Season with pepper and salt as desired.
The olive oil in the dressing is doing more than adding flavor. The spinach, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes in this salad carry nutrients that need fat to be absorbed — without it, they pass through your gut mostly unused. Research found that the same raw salad eaten with fat-free dressing produced almost zero absorption of these nutrients, while full-fat dressing delivered dramatically more.
Not all fats work equally for this. A 2023 study tested different oils on the same raw vegetable salad and found that olive oil produced 55.2% higher total carotenoid absorption than coconut oil. This recipe already uses olive oil — swapping to a different oil changes the absorption profile.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Can I use regular ground beef instead of 96% lean?
Yes. The recipe works with any fat percentage. The macros listed (390 kcal, 24g fat) are for 96% lean. Regular 80/20 ground beef adds roughly five to six grams of fat per serving and about fifty extra calories. The meatballs brown slightly better with fattier meat.
Can I make the meatballs ahead of time?
Yes. Brown the meatballs, cool them, and refrigerate for up to two days. Reheat in a dry pan for two minutes before serving. The salad and dressing are best assembled fresh.
Why olive oil specifically for the dressing?
Any oil works for flavor, but olive oil appears to have an edge for this salad. A 2023 study found it produced 55.2% higher carotenoid absorption than coconut oil on the same raw vegetables. Since this salad has three carotenoid-rich vegetables (spinach, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes), the olive oil choice has a functional reason beyond taste.
Read the full evidence review
