Spinach Balls
These easy-to-make Spinach Balls make a great snack or vegetarian meatball substitute! I love that these use simple ingredients I almost always have on hand, so they’re easy to throw together in a pinch. My family loves eating these as a snack on their own or with a side of marinara sauce for dipping, but they also make a great pasta topping if you’re looking for a vegetarian meatball. I even think they’d be good on a salad, or as an appetizer or side dish to a meaty main course. Full of flavor, these hearty, satisfying Spinach Balls use seasoned stuffing, grated Parmesan cheese, butter, eggs and frozen spinach. Perfect for when you’re cooking from your pantry! Plus, they’re only 50 calories or 1 WW Point each. To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Looking for more lightened up handheld snacks and appetizers like these tasty Spinach Balls? Check out my Buffalo Deviled Eggs, Cheesy Pineapple Prosciutto Bites, Cheesy Bacon BBQ Chicken Taquitos, Turkey Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms, Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, Spinach Artichoke Wonton Bites, Hummus Veggie Tots, Cheesy BLT Crostini, Strawberry Balsamic Bruschetta, Caprese Wonton Bites, Baked Un-Fried Pickles, Loaded Potato Rounds, Ham and Cheese Twists, Buffalo Chicken Taquitos, Cheesy Spinach Pinwheels, Pizza Logs, Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts, and more in the Appetizers section of my recipe index!
Spinach Balls
Ingredients
- 2 10 oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed as dry as you can
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup water
- 4 tablespoons light butter, melted (I use Land O’Lakes light butter)
- 6 oz seasoned stuffing mix, dry/unprepared (use your preferred flavor)
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil lightly misted with cooking spray.
- Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add the water, melted butter, stuffing mix, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper and stir with a fork until well combined. Add the dry chopped spinach in and stir until thoroughly combined.
- On a clean surface (I used a cutting mat), divide the mixture into 32 equal piles and roll/form into 32 balls (should be 1 – 1 ½ inch thick). Line the balls up on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes until heated through and lightly browned on the bottom.
Notes
50 calories, 5 g carbs, 1 g sugars, 2 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 3 g protein, 0 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com) MYWW SMARTPOINTS PER SPINACH BALL: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Green: 1 SmartPoints*/ Blue: 1 SmartPoints/ Purple: 1 SmartPoints *For Blue and Purple, these work out to 1 SP per ball, even as you eat several spinach balls. For Green, I got 1 ball = 1 SP, 2 balls = 3 SP, 3 balls = 4 SP, 4 balls = 5 SP. Weight Watchers Points Plus:
1 per spinach ball (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) adapted from allrecipes and South Your Mouth
What kind of stuffing do you use?
I’ve used Stove top or Pepperidge farm
Mmm…these look interesting and yummy!
What is the sodium content? I assume it must be pretty high, due to the use of packaged stuffing mix. Nevertheless, they do sound delicious!
Could you use fresh spinach?
I haven’t personally done it, but I’m sure you could. You’d want to wilt it first!
I have used fresh spinach where frozen spinach has been in the ingredient list, and it turns out well. Not with this recipe though (but I’m about to.) Frozen spinach kind of weirds me out. I sauté the spinach first, lightly. I don’t want it crazy soft, but want it similar to what frozen thawed spinach looks like. Then I squeeze the excess liquid out after sautéing, just like frozen spinach, sometimes just pressing it with a spoon
Can these be frozen ? They look yum!!
Made these last night and only made a half recipe for two reasons One, frozen spinach is nowhere to be found so had to use larger quantities of fresh and two, wanted to make sure the family liked them before I committed to 32 spinach balls. Sooooo, I made them and the family went nuts for them!!! AND I even forgot the butter. Had put it in the microwave for melting and forgot about it and they still loved them! Plus it reduced them to one point apiece on WW Green. Searching now for tonight’s dinner! Thank you!
This was amazing! I loved everything about it! Thanks for a great recipe!
Yep this is a good one. Just took them out of the oven and having trouble using self control in not over eating. Wouldn’t change a thing. Thanks!
These look great! Can they be frozen?
I don’t know why I feel I want to confirm this, but I weirdly felt confused. By stuffing seasoning, do you mean you buy boxed stuffing, and you just take the seasoning packet from it and use that? Or do you use 6 oz of everything? The seasoned actual stuffing with the dried bread?
I’m not sure what you’re seeing, but I just use regular pre-seasoned stuffing mix in this recipe. No separate seasoning.
I know what you mean. Some stuffing mixes come with a separate packet of seasoning. For this receipe use everything in the box, bread and seasoning mixed in to the rest of the recipe ingredients.
My mother made the non-lightened version of these for holidays. They are excellent paired with sautéed mushrooms. And for those who asked, I would say yes, they freeze well. My mother cooked them first.
There is a wonderful mustard dipping sauce that goes perfectly with these. Dry mustard, some sugar and white vinegar mixed with 1 egg yolk and heat until thickened. Amazing.
Made these as part of our Super Bowl snacks and served with marinara. Family loved them! We will be making them often!
These are delicious!!! Helpful hint: I used a small cookie scoop and had the perfect portion.
Thank you again for a wonderful recipe!!!!
These are great for Lent. As someone who loves Italian food, these are a marvel. Also, I used Panko, egg substitute and vegan butter for a lighter ‘meatball’.
Can these be served cold or at room temperature or should they be served warm?
I made these yesterday for a get together with friends and they were a hit! I’m on WW so I was looking to make something healthy-ish. I mixed and rolled these out in the morning (which was pretty messy, I recommend a scoop if you have one), covered them in the fridge and baked them just before I left. I imagine these would freeze very well too. My friends commented that they tasted similar to a meatball. I’ll be making these again, maybe using fresh minced garlic.
This is a simple, delicious dish that can be adjusted to suit each person’s nutritional needs.