The Best Meatball Recipe Ever
This Homemade Italian Meatball Recipe is jam-packed with beef, pork, cheese, bread, herbs, and a secret procedure, making it the best.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 2/3 loaf of French or Italian bread submerged in cold water
- 2 small peeled and small diced yellow onion
- 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
- 1 ½ pounds 90/10 ground sirloin
- 1 ½ pounds ground pork
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 heaping cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- 1 ½ tablespoons coarse salt and ½ teaspoon pepper
Optional Spaghetti and Sauce
- 1 pound uncooked spaghetti noodles
- ½ batch of Pomodoro sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 425°.
- Add the bread to a large bowl or pan and completely submerge it in water. See the video above.
- Squeeze as much liquid out of the water-soaked bread as possible, and add to a large bowl along with all of the meatball ingredients and mix until completely combined.
- Next, form golf-ball-sized meatballs and place them 1” apart on cookie sheet trays lined with parchment paper.
- Bake them at 425° for 25 to 30 minutes or until they begin to get a little brown on top and are cooked throughout. Serve.
- Optional: With 10 minutes left in the cooking process add the spaghetti to a large pot of boiling salted water and cook until al dente, about 7-8 minutes. Be sure to stir occasionally so that the pasta does not stick.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven, place the desired serving amount for 4 people into the sauce, and coat in the sauce. Remove and briefly set them aside.
- Add the cooked spaghetti to the sauce and toss to coat.
- Serve with meatballs over top and garnish with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and parsley.
Notes
Make-Ahead: These can be made 2 to 3 hours ahead of time. Just keep them warm and covered at very low temperatures.
How to Store: Cover in plastic and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The meatballs freeze well covered in plastic for up to 3 months. Thaw them in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add the meatballs to a casserole dish and cover them with foil. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 375° or until warm. If serving with spaghetti and sauce, place them in a saucepot along with the sauce and cook over low heat until warm.
Once the pan-seared or oven-roasted meatballs are browned, add them to the sauce and then simmer them over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked throughout.
Feel free also to soak the bread in milk.
The size of the loaf of bread really doesn't matter. If it's a little bigger or smaller than the one I used, it will not affect the recipe in any way. Do your best to eyeball it. I used about 10-11 inches of a 16-inch loaf if you need specific details.
When people say food is bland, in almost 99.9% of cases, it's because of a lack of salt and pepper. Season it well, cook a small piece up, and taste it. From there, determine whether it's good enough for you or if it needs more, and then repeat the process until you get it right,
Nutrition
Calories: 106kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 7gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 65mgPotassium: 122mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 55IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 13mgIron: 1mg