13587 Meatball Maker, Red

Tough review to write. The meatballs came out amazingly, but cleaning the maker was a nightmare. Product needs to be redesigned to be immersed in water for cleaning.

I have used this meatball maker several times and can say it makes very good meatballs. Yes, as others have written, it is best to give them at least one turn, or they will get too dark on the bottom. I dont have a problem with this, as it usually only takes 12 to 15 minutes to cook a batch. Clean up is more effort than I prefer, and I must agree that removable plates would be nice, but i know that this appliance would cost much more and I may not have taken a chance on it with a higher price. Instead what I do is make large batches of meatballs, and freeze them. This makes the clean up more worth while. Also, I highly recommend that you put a section of tin foil under the meatball maker while using it. This catches anything that sizzles over and makes for easier cleanup in the end. When I am done, I throw away the tin foil and you never know it was there. As for cleaning the appliance; I put it in the dry sink, scrub it with a round wand type brush, with Dawn detergent, and gently spray it out with the sink sprayer. To clean the drain holes in each cup, I use a tooth pick.I have used two of the recipes in the manual, the Swedish meatballs and sauce.... and the Italian meatballs and marinara sauce. They were both delish and I recieved compliments on them.1 and 1/2 ponds of ground meat usually is what is needed to make all eight meatballs.Cooking time can vary, but they usually are done in 12 to 15 minutes.Appliance takes about 6 to 8 minutes to preheat.Manual comes with several recipes and sauces,(including vegetarian,) but I also have a 500 recipe meatball cookbook.I wonder if I could make scotch eggs with this..... anybody tried????

No heat control. COOKS TOO HOT!

It works well, but cleaning this unit isn't fun.

Hmmm...the meatballs were great and perfectly cooked. But clean up took forever, and I still don't think the nooks and crannies got clean enough. The instructions tell you how to clean the grills (the unit is not immersible), but they don't tell you that you can't get all of the grease out of the drip holes, the area surrounding the dripholes, etc. Needing Qtips to clean a kitchen appliance before you can put it on the shelf? Not good. I think Sensio is a very responsive company, but I wish they had engineered removable grills before putting this on the market. They seem to have tested the cooking--but not the whole appliance in the real world.

It worked fine. I was hoping for smaller portion meatballs configuration - it's just for me you see!!!! It's quick and easy and small enough to put away anywhere. The only thing - don't forget to poke clean the openings where the fat drips into the tray!

I admit to not being a chef in the kitchen. I'm single, no kids, so I don't have to prepare elaborate meals unless I want to. I wanted an appliance that will make simple dishes that I can freeze and reheat. I use the meatball maker several times a week. I usually use ground turkey or ground chicken. I make simple meatballs with flax egg or real egg, and crushed oatmeal for the bread crumbs. I sometimes add a little sage to the other seasonings for a "breakfast" meatball. While cooking, you have to watch the meatballs so they won't burn. I usually turn them over when they look darker on the bottom (this isn't a big deal for me).I let them cool and then freeze the remainder. I eat them for snacks, cut the meatballs up and put in salads, sandwiches, for breakfast, etc. I just made a crazy version of Italian rice balls in it. Not too bad! I found a vegetarian recipe to make the rice and mixed in a flax egg for a binder, then refrigerated. I cut up/ crumbled several of the previously made turkey meatballs, added some sauce, and put them in the middle of the small rice ball. I rolled the small rice ball in oat flour instead of bread crumbs (let sit for about 10 minutes). I then coated the rice balls in a little grape seed oil (I put a little grapeseed oil in the meatball maker before hand). I let the rice balls cook. It took over thirty minutes (I constantly checked on them and turned them over until they were a light golden and were crunchy on the outside). It wasn't bad. I will try using a little smoked cheese in the next batch.

Bought the Bella meatball maker a couple of years ago. After using it a couple of times,one of the pins that allows you to open and close the top part of the unit broke off. Decided it wasn't worth sending back, so I worked with one pin holding it together. After a couple more uses, the other pin broke. Design flaw! What a piece of junk, structurally. Wonder how many other people had the same problem.