Cajun Meatball Stew Recipe with Homemade Meatballs
This Cajun meatball stew has a rich broth with perfectly cooked meatballs, chunks of potato, hearty vegetables and a homemade cajun seasoning to tie it all together. This nourishing meal has all the intense flavors of a classic Cajun recipe in one comforting bowl of stew.
Don’t let the sound of homemade meatballs scare you away. They’re super easy to make and incredibly flavorful. However, if you don’t have the time, you absolutely can cook up the ground meat with the seasonings and toss it into the stew. No meatball forming needed!
When it comes to Cajun cooking, it’s all in the seasoning! This bold homemade Cajun seasoning goes with my Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage and Cajun Salmon Pasta too, so don’t forget to try those.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Everything is homemade with bold Cajun flavors.
- 21 grams of protein per serving.
Ingredients and Substitions:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions for Cajun Meatball Stew. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list and instructions.
- Homemade Cajun Seasoning: you can also use store bought but keep in mind that is much saltier and most contain sugar.
- Ground Chicken: ground beef, ground turkey or ground pork or a combination. If you use ground turkey use 93/7 and add some extra seasoning as ground turkey isn’t as flavorful.
- Italian Breadcrumbs: Italian breadcrumbs come seasoned so I prefer these over regular.
- Beef Broth: chicken broth or bone broth work great.
- Russet Potatoes: any potato works, even sweet potatoes. White sweet potatoes would be wonderful in this.
Variations
- If you want to save on time or don’t have breadcrumbs, skip the step to make into meatballs. Simply brown the meat, add the cajun seasonings, and then add the seasoned meat to the stew.
- Omit the potatoes to lower the carbs.
- Add red or green bell pepper, zucchini, kale or spinach. If using leafy greens (spinach, kale, etc.) be sure to add those once the stew is already cooked and stir until wilted.
Dietary Modifications
- Dairy-free, as is. Be sure your brand of breadcrumbs didn’t sneak in any cheese or dairy by-products.
- For gluten-free, make sure your breadcrumbs are certified gluten-free as most brands contain gluten.
How to make Cajun Meatball Stew (a visual step-by-step guide):
Step 1: make the meatballs
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground chicken, bread crumbs, egg, garlic and Cajun seasoning (image 1). Roll the mixture into 12 equal 2-inch meatballs, approximately 45 grams each (image 2). Set aside. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pot (image 3). Brown meatballs on all sides, then remove them and set aside. They don’t need to be fully cooked at this point (image 4).
Step 2: make the stew
In the same pot, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add the diced onion, celery, and carrots. Sauté until the onions are translucent (image 5). Add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute (image 6). Pour in the beef broth (image 7). Add the diced tomatoes with their juices (image 8). Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to release any brown bits of meatball drippings. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
Step 3: add potatoes and meatballs to the pot and simmer
Add the diced potatoes, bay leaves, and Cajun seasoning (image 9). Stir well. Gently add the meatballs back into the pot (image 10). Reduce the heat to low, cover, and let the stew simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the meatballs are cooked through (image 12). Once cooked through serve topped with fresh parsley. green onions or freshly grated parmesan cheese and enjoy.
Recipe FAQs
Store your leftover stew in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Stews gets better the next day and this is no exception. Heat your stew on the stovetop or microwave.
You can definitely adjust the heat level by how much Cajun seasoning you use. As written the heat is medium.
Check out some of our other hearty soups!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Cajun Meatball Stew
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Ingredients
Cajun Seasoning
- 3 Tbsp. smoked paprika
- 1.5 Tbsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp. onion powder
- 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
- 1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
Meatballs
- 1 lb lean ground chicken
- 1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil for cooking
For the Stew
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 cups carrots sliced into rounds
- 2.5 cups low sodium beef broth or chicken
- 1 can diced tomatoes 14.5 oz
- 1.5 lbs. russet potatoes peeled and diced
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning 3-4 tsp. for spicy
- salt and pepper to taste
- fresh parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ground chicken, bread crumbs, egg, garlic and 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning. Mix meatball ingredients until just combined. Roll the mixture into 12 equal 2-inch meatballs, approximately 45 grams each. Set aside.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the meatballs in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. Brown meatballs on all sides, then remove them and set aside. They don't need to be fully cooked at this point.
- In the same pot, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add the diced onion, celery, and carrots. Sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Pour in the beef broth and diced tomatoes (with their juices). Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to release any brown bits of meatball drippings. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the diced potatoes, bay leaves, and 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning (more for extra spicy). Stir well. Gently add the meatballs back into the pot.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover, and let the stew simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the meatballs are cooked through.
- Once cooked through, serve and top with fresh chopped parsley.
Notes
- Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
- Serving size for Cajun Meatball Stew is approximately 422 grams including two meatballs. You should weigh your final and divide by servings to exact grams per serving.
- If using store-bought Cajun seasoning, use 1 tsp. in meatballs and 1-2 tsp. in stew. Adjust as needed, as store-bought tends to be much saltier than homemade and I do not want you to have too salty of a stew! Opt for buying a reduced sodium seasoning.
- Optional: skip the meatballs altogether and brown the ground beef, season, and follow the rest of the recipe instructions. The meatballs are fun though!
The stew was delicious! For someone trying to increase their vegetable intake, this is perfect. I love highly seasoned meals so I used the 4 tsp recommendation for the Cajun seasoning in the stew. I am happy to have another option to add into my meal prep game.
Awesome, so great to hear that. Thank you!
I tried to roll the meatballs into a ball, but it kept sticking to my hands. I’m not sure what I was doing wrong.
Otherwise loved the recipe!
Ya, they’re sticky meatballs since they’re chicken and majority meat to save on calories 😊 but using wet hands helps. Glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely love this recipe! Amazing flavor and super easy to make!
We’ve even just made the stew and added premade amylu meatballs and that was also delicious if you don’t want to make the meatballs.
Highly recommend!
Such a delicious recipe! Made it for my family and the flavor is so good! It was an easy recipe and made enough for extra the next day! Definitely will be making this again!
So glad to hear that!!! Thank you!
I just made this tonight in my weekly meal prep. I was so excited to make it because I love spicy Cajun food!! It was absolutely delicious!!!! I am really looking forward to having it this week after it has sat overnight in that delicious broth!! This will definitely be going in the rotation regularly this winter! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
Yay!! I’m so glad you love it. Agree, it’s one of those that just gets better and better throughout the week.
Absolutely phenomenal & super easy!! My husband loved it so much that he said he can’t wait for lunch tomorrow because he is gonna eat the leftovers lol! The flavors truly do go so well together!! (We used chicken broth because that’s what we had on hand & adjusted macros accordingly)
Can you cook this in a crockpot?
Issue would be the meatballs wouldn’t stick together. So if you did I’d just be sure you know you won’t necessarily have meatballs but more of a ground meat stew.