No more dry, tasteless rissoles – these are plump, extra juicy, extra tasty and they have hidden veggies! I usually make Beef Rissoles but you can make these with lamb, pork, chicken or turkey.

We can never have too many beef mince recipes! Rissoles are a classic we’ll love forever, along with Spaghetti Bolognese, Tacos, Meatloaf, Beef Hamburgers and cosy Cottage Pie.

Rissoles

I know many Aussies grew up with rissoles as a weekly meal, but that doesn’t include my family. My first experience with rissoles was when I moved out of home at the tender age of 18 and shared a flat with a real true-blue Aussie lass. She introduced me to the joys(??) of having the same meals every week, on the same night.

I kid you not.

Bolognese on Monday night. Bangers and Mash on Tuesday night (the real cheap “sausos”). Store bought rissoles on Wednesday night. Frozen Chicken Kiev on Thursday night (not a patch on a real homemade version!).

That was our weekly meal rotation for almost 2 years!!!

I was allowed to lash out on Sunday nights. And Friday and Saturday nights…. well, we were 18. We got up to mischief in town!

These Rissoles I’m sharing today are a little different to the store bought rissoles that were our Wednesday night dinners…..

Plump, juicy rissoles

I promised you plump and juicy, and these really are. There are a few ways to make rissoles that are extra juicy (and tasty!):

Grated onion – terrific way to get extra flavour into your rissoles as well as juiciness (from the onion juices). Chopped onions = uncooked bits in rissoles;
Grated zucchini – it’s about hidden veggies as well as the moisture in the zucchinis that makes the rissoles juicy;
Don’t even think about pressing the juices out while they cook!!! It’s a crime!!
Press a little indent in the patties, like when making burgers, and this will stop the rissoles from puffing up into rounds which gives rise to the temptation to press them flat which squeezes the juices out;
Don’t overcook – I know that goes without saying; and
Right amount of breadcrumbs – too much = dry patties = 😩

See how juicy these are? And these were sitting around for a while as I faffed around with my camera!

Here’s what I mean about pressing an indent into the patties, and how the rissoles stay nice and flat while cooking. Well, on the stove it does. When they are baked, rissoles shrink more so they do look a bit more like squashed meatballs. But still super tasty, and you do get a gorgeous browning on them!

I have these sitting in the fridge, these actual ones in the photo below, including the mashed potato, ready to be reheated for dinner tonight. When I hack things up for photos, smear them in ketchup and fiddle with them with my hands, I just can’t offload them to someone else.

I eat a LOT of leftovers for dinner – and I’m totally cool with that! – Nagi xx