Spaghetti and Homemade Meatballs

The best homemade meatballs are very juicy, rich, and hearty loaded with intense flavors. This recipe is so simple but so tender that you will feel the Italian flavors right on your plate. 

For a great spaghetti and meatballs plate, you need inspiration, a peaceful mind, qualitative meat and tomato sauce that is full of flavors. This recipe is always an escape for our family-friendly dinner as sometimes I make the sauce with meatballs ahead. Another great point about this dish is that my 7- year old daughter is fond of spaghetti (she can eat them every day :)) with meatballs or with the best Bolognese sauce. This classic Italian comfort dish, filled with nutrients, is always welcomed in our house. What I also love about this meatball sauce is that sometimes I may top them over mashed potatoes or buckwheat. Definitely, the classic and the popular version is always pasta, but when I don’t have any spaghetti in my kitchen, I chose another side dish for these toothsome meatballs. They can create a great balance topped on any garniture you would like.   

These best homemade meatballs always beat the store-bought ones due to their juicy, fresher, and more natural consistency. At home, you can add more bread soaked in milk in order to obtain more soft and smooth meatballs. The meat you will use is the one carefully selected to create one of the best tasting and savory dishes. One more great advantage of homemade meatballs is the easy way to freeze some of them in case you made too many meatballs. They can be frozen up to 2 months and used when you are out of time, as this method really saves you much time and effort. 

How to make the meatballs?

In a big bowl, I mix 300 gr of pork meat with 300 gr of chicken minced meat with 2 fresh eggs. I add some Italian herbs and some seasoning. Grease well palms with some olive oil and start forming the meatballs by rounding the minced meat in the hands. This process will take your mind back to childhood memories, reminding the grandmother cooking and telling stories – what a calming process. I will add some more tips below what more ingredients to add for more hearty and satisfying meatballs. 

Place all the meatballs one by one on a sheet of baking paper till no meat is left in the bowl. In case you rolled up too many meatballs, you can easily freeze some of them in a container, up to 1-2 months. A hint: you will have to defrost the meatballs, to leave them on a baking paper for 2 hours until soft and ready to be cooked.

Heat the skillet, pour some olive oil, put the meatballs to fry one by one. Make sure to put them carefully to preserve the round form, we need to have some nice looking meatballs. They shouldn’t look perfect, yet, the rounder their shape is -the better. Fry all the meatballs at medium heat until they become golden/brown then turn on the other side. It may take up to 10 minutes on each side and depending on the size to be cooked. I adore small to medium size meatballs. For Note: do not cover the skillet as the meat leaves the liquid and you will get them boiled, not fried. For sure you don’t want that moment. 

When the meatballs are already cooked, remove them from the skillet, place them on a plate and save for a little later.

Meanwhile, prepare the best classic Italian tomato sauce. In the same skillet, where you have fried meatballs, add some more olive oil to heat. Chop 1 onion and 3 cloves of garlic into small pieces and throw them into the heated skillet. Let is simmer for 3 minutes, but be careful not to burn them. Add 1 canned tomato sauce (passata di Pomodoro) and a can of water and stir evenly to have a puree texture. You can substitute the water with a veggie broth. Season with some salt and pepper and some Italian herbs. Let everything simmer for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. When the sauce emanates an outstanding and mouthwatering aroma in your kitchen, add the meatballs and slowly mix all together to create a savory and absolutely amazing taste.     

At the time you add the meatballs to the sauce, in another boiling pan throw the spaghetti to boil. The rule is simple: 100 gr of boiling water equals 100gr of spaghetti. For a person you will boil 100gr of spaghetti, so do the math depending on how many people you have at your table. Season with a lot of salt to avoid sticking pasta. When the spaghetti has been cooked al dente, take a plate and place the pasta on it. Make a hole in the middle of them and add the sauce with meatballs and garnish with some cilantro and some grated parmesan.  

It seems so simple but tastes heavenly. This is a dish that any woman can make to nicely please or spoil her family. I simply adore these delicious meatballs topped on spaghetti and with much parmesan over it.

Bon Appetit.  

How to cook spaghetti?

I usually boil all kinds of pasta ‘al dente’ in order to maintain the great and real pasta taste. For this meatball recipe, I will definitely recommend spaghetti that is thicker and of the best quality made of whole wheat. In my house, I buy only whole wheat different sizes of pasta for a healthy lifestyle.  

How to reheat the meatballs?

These flavorful meatballs can be easily reheated be it either in a microwave or in the oven. I usually go for reheated meatballs, as we try to avoid microwaves. Cooldown the remaining meatballs made in sauce and store them in a container and refrigerate up to 2-3 days. If you can vacuum the air when storing it – that’s even better to preserve their lastingness and taste.  However, you can easily freeze the fresh and still uncooked meatballs up to 1-2 months.

This kind of dish saves you so much time and effort when you are so tired after a busy day. This escape is better than the one bought in a store. So whether you plan to make meatballs, just buy more meat and make more balls in order to freeze some of them. This is the trick that I usually make at home. 

It works so nice.

Spaghetti and Meatballs Tips:

• You can mix pork with beef, chicken with some turkey meat if you want them more dietary. 
• You can add some bread soaked in milk when you make the meat mixture to obtain more juicy and softer meatballs. 
• Easily add 1 clove of minced garlic in the meat mixture.
• You can pour 1 glass of red wine when you make the tomato sauce.
• You can add veggie broth instead of water. 
• You can use fresh boiled tomatoes to the sauce. I usually prefer canned ones, as it is much easier and makes less garbage. 
• Thicker spaghetti is preferable, but you can choose whatever spaghetti you like.
• Parmesan is optional. I am a cheese lover so I try to add a lot of it in most of my dishes. 

This dish is so old-fashioned, but still so updated and why not try kicking this kind of dish a new notch with some secret ingredients and easy tricks. These delicious spaghetti and meatballs recipe should be on your repertoire, at least once in 2-3 weeks. Enjoy it!

Spaghetti and Homemade Meatballs

Annie

The best homemade meatballs are very juicy, rich, and hearty loaded with intense flavors. This recipe is so simple but so tender that you will feel the Italian flavors right on your plate.

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4

Calories 346 kcal

Equipment

• Bowl
• Large cutting board
• skillet
• spatula

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 10 oz minced pork
• 10 oz minced chicken
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 eggs
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• Italian herbs

For the sauce:

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 canned tomato sauce
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• Italian herbs

Instructions

 

• Mix 300 gr (10oz) of pork meat with 300 gr (10oz) of chicken minced meat with 2 fresh eggs.
• Season with salt, pepper and Italian herbs.
• Grease your palm with some olive oil and form round balls from the meat mixture.
• Place all the meatballs one by one on a sheet of baking paper till no meat is left in the bowl.
• Heat the skillet and pour some olive oil.
• Fry all the meatballs at medium heat until they become gold/brown. Then turn on the other side and fry for 10 minutes more.
• When the meatballs are already cooked, remove them from the skillet, place them on a plate and save for a little later.

For the sauce:

• In the same skillet, where you have fried meatballs, add some more olive oil to heat.
• Chop 1 onion and 3 cloves of garlic into small pieces and throw them into the heated skillet.
• Simmer for 3 minutes.
• Add 1 canned tomato sauce (passata di Pomodoro) and a can of water and stir evenly to have a puree texture.
• Season with some salt and pepper and some Italian herbs.
• Simmer for 20 minutes and stir occasionally.
• Add the meatballs to the boiling tomato sauce and slowly mix them all together.
• Simmer 10 minutes more.

Boiling Spaghetti:

• Boil spaghetti as mentioned in your pack.
• Add salt to the boiling water and boil 8-10 minutes.
• On a plate place some spaghetti and make a hole in the center of them pouring the sauce with the meatballs.
• Garnish with some cilantro or some grated parmesan.

Nutrition

Calories: 346kcalCarbohydrates: 6gProtein: 28gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 194mgSodium: 117mgPotassium: 684mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 119IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 45mgIron: 2mg

Keyword Spaghetti and Homemade Meatballs, Spaghetti and Homemade Meatballs Recipe

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