Change Up How You Serve Appetizer Meatballs With Skewers

Meatball appetizers served on cocktail sticks are a reliable party staple but sometimes shaking things up with your presentation can elevate the vibe. Serving your meatballs in sets of three on a skewer, to make cute broiled kebab-style entrees is a cool way to raise your game the next time you're hosting.

There are three perks to making broiled mini meatball skewers. Firstly, it's easier to assemble three meatballs on a single skewer in advance of the party instead of using one fiddly cocktail stick per meatball. Secondly, instead of having to painstakingly turn a tray full of individual meatballs over one by one under the broiler, you can simply flip the skewers over with tongs, saving both time and energy. The awesome thing about these diminutive meatballs is that each one is made with a scant 2 teaspoons of mixture, which means the skewers cook quickly and evenly without needing constant monitoring and repeated turning over an extended period. The delicious result is a golden exterior and succulent middle that's cooked to juicy perfection in minutes (and less time spent in the kitchen equates to more time mingling with your guests!). 

Thirdly, these meatballs look impressive when arranged on a platter. You can pile them high on top of each other because you're not limited to the diameter of the serving platter. There's also something inviting about seeing an abundance of entrees at an appetizer table instead of a few sparse plates.

A trio of handheld meatballs can also be split easily into smaller individual pieces and eaten one by one, which you can't do with other varieties of skewered kebab made with ground meat, like Indian seekh kebab or Persian koobideh kebab. These types of kebabs don't include binders, like the beaten egg and breadcrumbs that are used in traditional meatball recipes, which means they're trickier to set onto a wooden or metal skewer without them falling off. The egg in a meatball mixture makes it much easier to roll the ground beef into balls that hold their shape on the skewers.

Finally, a basic meatball mixture of ground beef, onions, and simple seasonings allows the sweetness of the meat to come to the fore. Any extra flavorings can be cleverly incorporated into a variety of dipping sauces served alongside your appetizers. The benefit of this move is that your guests can choose the sauce they prefer, be it a smoky barbecue, hot honey, or sweet ketchup, to pair with their tender meatballs. However, a classic meatball blend also makes the perfect blank canvas to experiment with when it comes to tasty seasonings. A sprinkle of crushed chili flakes, dollop of mustard, or pretty flecks of chopped green herbs are ideal ingredients for lending your meatballs an aromatic savoriness.