We get a lot of requests for egg-free breakfast recipes, and this is a family favorite we came up with!
What our readers are saying
An absolute favorite! So easy and filling. Love having a grab and go breakfast, or a protein option that doesn’t revolve around eggs. We almost always have these on hand!
Maria
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Meatballs For Breakfast
One of my favorite things about making these meatballs is that they are the perfect make ahead breakfast! When we make them, I love how easy breakfast is for the rest of the week! Just re-heat these butternut breakfast meatballs and enjoy the easy morning. They are also easily packed and enjoyed once you get to your office if that’s your thing, too.
Just Add Some Greens
These butternut breakfast meatballs have squash in them in addition to the sausage, making them a tasty way to start your morning. I love eating them over a bed of greens and with some kraut. Such a yummy and satisfying combo!
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
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Butternut Breakfast Meatballs (Egg-Free)
Ingredients
- 1/2 butternut squash, (approx. 3-4 cups)
- 1 cup mushrooms, (about 4 oz)
- 1/2 onion
- 2 lbs ground breakfast sausage
- 1 sprig rosemary, diced finely
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet (or 2 medium sheets) with parchment paper.
- Cut up the butternut squash into large cubes. Using the chopping attachment of a food processor, chop the squash into small bits. Remove from food processor and place in a large bowl. Chop onion and mushrooms into bits also and place in the bowl with the squash.
- Add sausage, rosemary, paprika and cinnamon to the bowl. Use your hands to combine all of the ingredients until everything is mixed well.
- Form the mixture into golf ball sized balls and place them on the lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
- Remove, allow to cool for a few minutes, and serve.
What is nutrition stats (fat, protein etc)?
We don’t have it on this recipe, but you can get nutrition information for any recipe by pasting the URL on Whisk. Here is the link – https://samsungfood.com/recipe-nutrition-calculator/
Hi – just came across this recipe and it sounds great for a breakfast on the go as well! I am going to try this soon. I am not sure about the cinnamon though. Is it included to add more of a ‘breakfast’ flavor, or does the recipe just need something else and cinnamon was the answer? Looking forward to tasting these!
Hi Brenda – we just like how cinnamon combines with the savory-sweet of butternut squash. Feel free to leave it out if you’re concerned, it will still taste great.
These meatballs were absolutely delicious! Not being a big squash-lover I wasn’t sure if I’d like the taste; I loved-it! My husband liked them so much I made an additional batch to freeze, so we have a quick go-to breakfast meal.
We love these too, a perfect meal prep and freezer recipe 🙂
Is the butternut squash cooked before cutting it?
No it’s not. Just throw it in the food processor raw.
Do you have the nutritional information on these?
We don’t have the nutrition info, but you could get it from an online calculator like myfitnesspal.
This is an awesome paleo recipe. Easy to prepare and great to take for a quick tasty breakfast on the go.
These are so delicious!!! Our entire family loves them, even my husband who doesn’t like vegetables. I like a sweeter breakfast so these are perfect. I doubled the cinnamon too. Thank you for the recipe.
We’re so happy to hear your whole family enjoys these meatballs! Thanks so much for giving them a try! That extra cinnamon sounds great – I’m a cinnamon lover, too! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share! 🙂
We make these almost every other week! Love popping them in the microwave in the morning and grabbing a hard boiled egg for a quick breakfast!
Sounds like a good grab and go meal :).
An absolute favorite! So easy and filling. Love having a grab and go breakfast, or a protein option that doesn’t revolve around eggs. We almost always have these on hand!
Big fan of these meatballs! They are so easy to make if you have a food processor to chop everything up (but doable even if you don’t). I forgot to add salt and pepper to mine so I recommend that to really bring out the flavors. These also freeze well – I just cut them in half and sautĂ© to reheat. Easy to throw into my breakfast such as eggs and veggies.
We’re thrilled to hear you love these! We do too! Thanks so much for giving them a try and coming back to share! We appreciate it and are so grateful to connect with you! 🙂
Love this recipe! I wanted something else to take for breakfast besides deviled eggs. I couldn’t stop eating them as they came out of the oven. Delicious! Thank you!
You’re very welcome Chris!
Planning to make these tomorrow! How long do you think it would take to bake 3” round patties rather than meatballs? And do you think I could freeze them to reheat in the toaster oven?
Hi Jess – These could definitely be frozen and re-heated. As far as cooking time for patties, you’ll just have to watch and check them to see when they are fully cooked. They might actually cook in about the same time as noted in the recipe, but check them at 30 minutes and cook further if needed.
Hi there. These look great and I’m going to try them this week. Just for your readers, you might want to specify “1/2 butternut”. I currently have some butternut squash in my kitchen that are about a 1 lb or less and one that is 5 lbs or more. Maybe a cup measurement might work better.
Thanks for the idea! It’s about 2-3 cups of squash. I’ll update that in the recipe card. 🙂
Every squash weighs differently and “1/2 butternut” doesn’t specify how much volume is needed for the recipe. Thanks.
Thanks for your feedback. The recipe card has been updated to note 3-4 cups.
My first Real Simple Good recipe that started my love affair with your recipes. ;). These are so tasty, and the flavor combination is so good, though unexpected. I used plain ol’ ground turkey because I don’t eat pork, and they were still so flavorful! I can imagine how good they are with sausage! Maybe I’ll try turkey sausage next time!
So fun learning what you first tried from our site! Glad you found us and have enjoyed so many recipes! Thanks so much for being here! 🙂
Any recommendations for turkey or chicken sausage to use? (Don’t eat pork)
Hey there – finding a clean, pre-made chicken or turkey sausage is a little trickier. We don’t have a great recommendation for that, but you could use our homemade country breakfast sausage recipe with either ground turkey or chicken and the same spices from that recipe to get the sausage flavor. Just add it all to the bowl for making these meatballs and mix it up. Let us know how it turns out!
I don’t like mushrooms, can you or a reader suggest a substitute?
You can omit the mushrooms completely and this recipe will turn out fine 🙂
Delicious! Couldn’t find compliant breakfast sausage at our Whole Foods, so used your recipe for country sausage patties to flavor some plain ground pork. That was enough flavoring and perfect for me. (Not a fan of smoked paprika, and cinnamon seemed out of place for this old country boy.) I usually dread making meatballs, but these came together and held their shape easily. They weren’t brown like yours after 45 minutes in the oven, so hit them with the broiler for a few minutes. Now they look great, and taste amazing. Thanks!
Great to hear, so glad you liked the recipe!
How many servings would 30 meatballs be?
We usually have 3-4 meatballs at a time (with something else like greens), so I’d say 8-10 servings.
Thanks. Makes sense. Follow-up question, since i plan on making these this weekend. I prefer to buy the pre-cut butternut squash in our produce section; they cut it right there. Roughly how many cups would a “half butternut squash” be?
For a medium squash, it would roughly be about 4 cups. Let us know how the recipe turns out!
Hi, these sound great! Do you think you could use frozen butternut squash cubes instead of fresh?
We haven’t tried but it would probably work! You might just have to use a paper towel or cheese cloth to squeeze out extra water once you put them through the food processor if it seems watery. Hope that helps! Let us know how it goes! 🙂
I’m not a big fan of mushrooms. Would substituting zucchini work alright?
We haven’t tried it, but I think it would work out just fine! If you give it a try, let us know how it turns out! 🙂
I just took these meatballs out of the oven; and they are so good. I did add an egg for binding as we aren’t sensitive to them. On the seasonings I used 1/2 teaspoon of both the paprika as well as the cinnamon rather than a teaspoon of each.
It’s a keeper.
Fantastic! We love it when people make our recipes work for them! Thanks so much for trying this one and taking the time to come back and share! Hope to see you around again soon! 🙂
Do you think soaked Chia seeds would work for binding?
If you follow the recipe as written you don’t need an additional binder. The processed squash helps hold everything together. I’m not sure how adding in soaked chia seeds would work. Let us know how it goes if you try it.
Can I make these with ground turkey sausage, and if so is there anything extra I’d need to add or change the cooking time?
You should be good to go with the turkey sausage! Just cut one open and make sure they’re fully cooked before you turn the oven off! Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Hi…these look so good. Where are you finding good ground sausage? What kind do you use?
Hi Kathy! We get our pork from Justin’s mom who raises pigs, and we usually just get ground pork and make our own sausage with it. Occasionally we will find some already made at Whole Foods or Natural Grocers where we live. Try looking for the brand Mulay’s Sausage (www.mulayssausage.com). All of their sausages are made with antibiotic Free Pork that is Humanely Raised, and they are all Certified Gluten Free, with No Nitrates, No Nitrites, No Msg, No Sugar, No Soy, No Dairy.
We have a breakfast sausage recipe on our site too, if you are interested in making your own. https://realsimplegood.com/country-breakfast-sausage/
Hope that helps!
These are so amazing !!!! Great for morning breakfast and snacks throughout the day! Don’t know how I survived without this in my life!!
We’re so glad you enjoy these meatballs as much as we do! 🙂
Perfection! Hope you try this one out soon! Thanks for visiting! 🙂