Homemade Italian Meatballs

These meatballs make either a simple weeknight meal or a long, lingering weekend dinner easy and tasty, without all the hours in the kitchen.

Homemade vs. Frozen

I know, I know. Frozen meatballs are easy. And inexpensive. And versatile – Italian, Greek, Swedish, BBQ, you name it, you can substitute them in almost any kind of sauce or dish. But I promise that these homemade Italian meatballs are only as costly as the ground beef you buy. Plus, tweak some spices, and they can easily fit other tastes or ethnic foods.

They truly don’t take a ton of time to make, and the payoff is completely worth it. Also, if you’ve got extra time one day, make a huge batch and freeze some for another meal later. Then you’ve got your very own (ingredient-controlled, preservative-free, and homemade) frozen meatballs ready to go. I’m all about working smarter, not harder – especially in the kitchen.

How We Serve Homemade Italian Meatballs

Like many of our family recipes, we’ve been making these the same way for decades. There’s no written recipe that I can find; it’s purely just something I learned from years of observing and making them. And so I did my best to finally make record of it.

Another never-changing thing is how we serve them. If our family is making meatballs, we are also definitley making tomato sauce and pasta to go with them. In fact, we almost always refer to them interchangeably as “sauce and meatballs.” If you’re in need of a big batch of sauce (that you can also freeze – wink wink), Our Family Tomato Sauce is simple and delicious. It’s the one we always use for meatballs.

**The only noteable difference here is that the tomato sauce recipe starts with Italian sausage, while we skip that when serving meatballs with it. Instead of the sausage, first cook the meatballs in olive oil first, and then add your tomato sauce ingredients to the drippings in the pot.

Boil some pasta (my personal favorites are rigatoni or paccheri), and serve with the sauce and meatballs, topping it all with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Or both! Other pastas you could use:

• spaghetti
• fettuccine
• penne
• tagliatelle
• pappardelle

Ingredients for Homemade Italian Meatballs

• ground beef
• eggs
• salt and pepper
• garlic powder
• basil
• oregano
• parsley
• breadcrumbs
• grated Parmesan cheese
• extra virgin olive oil

How we make Homemade Italian Meatballs

Simple. Mix everything in a bowl (minus the olive oil) by hand and roll into balls. Then brown them in olive oil and serve. Boom. Done.

A few things to remember: If you find that your meatballs aren’t holding together very well during the rolling process, you may need to add a little more breadcrumbs or Parmesan so they aren’t as wet. The breadcrumbs and Parmesan help absorb moisture, binding them together. So adjust as needed, because if they fall apart while you’re rolling them, they will definitely fall apart when you cook them.

Keep the meatballs a consistent size so that they all cook evenly. We can’t have these tiny little ping pong ball meatballs in the same pan with a baseball meatball – one will burn while the other is still pink in the middle. And trust me when I say that there will be arguments if someone gets a baseball while someone else gets the shaft with a ping pong ball. (My grandma, on occasion, would serve the meatballs herself so that she could count and make sure everyone got the same amount. And also sometimes made them baseball sized. I’m telling you, it’s serious. Be careful.)

Ways to tweak these Homemade Italian Meatballs

This is where it gets fun! I’m going to give you some bonus recipes here, are you ready? By changing up the flavors and spices you can get multiple dishes out of these meatballs. The process stays the same, so it would be an incredible timesaver to just divide up your ground beef, season each bowl accordingly, and then roll with the cooking. Once you get the hang of it you’ll find it easier and easier to experiment on your own.

In the meantime, though, here’s just a few suggestions; the recipe stays the same, just omit the Italian meatball spices (garlic, basil, oregano, and parsley) and Parmesan, and add these ingredients instead:

Greek Meatballs:

• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. onion powder
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 2 tsp. parsley
• 1/2 c. crumbled Feta cheese

Serve them as dippers alongside hummus, our favorite go-to tzatziki sauce, or pesto. You could also make some killer gyros with these by throwing them in some pita with tomatoes, red onion, lettuce, and tzatziki.

Swedish Meatballs:

• 1 diced onion, sauteed in butter and cooled
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. allspice

Serve them with buttered egg noodles and a splash of Worcestershire sauce; or if you’re game for a quick brown sauce to drown them in, this one is my absolute fave. I could bathe in it. And I may or may not have been known to lick my bowl at the end of this meal.

BBQ Meatballs:

• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Serve these with your favorite barbecue sauce and mashed potatoes. But my favorite way to eat these is with a super easy crockpot sauce – trust me on this one, I know it sounds gross, but hear me out. Put equal parts ketchup and grape jelly in the crockpot on low for a couple of hours until it all melts and combines. Keep your meatballs warm in it and serve hot. It’s like a cheap and easy sweet and sour barbecue sauce perfect for a day of watching whatever sport is in season on TV (story of my life, but I don’t mind).

So how are you going to make these meatballs? Small batch for one meal? Big batch to freeze? Different spices or all one kind? Let us know in the comments!

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Homemade Italian Meatballs

These Homemade Italian Meatballs make either a simple weeknight meal or a long, lingering weekend dinner easy and tasty, without having to spend hours in the kitchen.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 2 eggs
• ¼-½ c. grated Parmesan
• ¼-½ c. breadcrumbs
• 2 tsp. dried basil
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• ½-1 c. extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

 

• Mix all ingredients (except the olive oil) by hand in a bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Roll into meatballs, roughly the size of golf balls, making sure to keep them all a consistent size. Set aside on a parchment-lined cookie sheet until ready to cook. Once they all have been rolled, heat the olive oil on the stove over medium-high heat. Use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil starts to shine a little, after a few minutes of heating, place the meatballs in the oil, turning them a few times each to be sure each side gets browned. After the meatballs have cooked, place them on a paper towel-lined plate to drain off any excess oil. Serve hot with your favorite tomato sauce and pasta.

Video

Keyword comfort food, Italian, meal for a crowd, pasta

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