Italian Meatballs Recipe
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Nothing conjures up a checkered tablecloth and an Italian American trattoria like spaghetti topped with meatballs. In the States, we tend to eat meatballs over pasta or in a sub, while Italians simply pair up a bowl of them with nothing more than a Basic Tomato Sauce, crusty bread, and some red wine. No matter how you eat these herby meatballs, they’ll fill you up. And if you have leftovers, don’t worry—these get better the longer they rest in the sauce.
What to buy: Meatballs shouldn’t be where you hide second-rate ground meat, so look for quality meat from a good butcher. Our turkey-beef-pork combo tastes great, but any combination will work, even straight ground chuck or ground sirloin. If you can choose, go for the more full-flavored ground turkey thigh meat rather than breast.
- 1/4 pound stale country bread (such as ciabatta), crust removed and torn into large pieces (about 2 packed cups)
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 2 medium garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 pound ground beef (ground chuck works great)
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground turkey (preferably thigh meat)
- 1/2 medium sweet onion (such as Maui or Vidalia), minced
- 3 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley (from 1/2 bunch)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano (from 1/4 bunch)
- 6 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 8 cups tomato sauce, such as Basic Tomato Sauce
- Place torn bread in a small bowl and cover with milk. (Push bread down so it all gets moistened.) Let soak until most of the milk is absorbed and bread is broken down, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place garlic and fennel seeds on a cutting board and sprinkle all of the pepper and salt on top. Chop mixture until it is a rough paste (it will resemble cornmeal).
- Place meats in a large bowl and mix until evenly combined, about 3 minutes. Add bread and any remaining milk and mix until bread is fully incorporated (break up any bread chunks). Add onion and mix well. Add eggs and mix until just incorporated. Add garlic-fennel paste, parsley, oregano, and grated cheese and mix until very evenly combined.
- Roll a handful of meat mixture between your hands until it’s smooth, compact, and round. (Each meatball should be about 2 inches in diameter.) Place meatball on a dish and repeat until you have used up the meat mixture. (You should have about 30 meatballs.)
- Heat a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Once heated, place meatballs in the pan, leaving about 1/4 inch between each one. (You may have to do this in two batches.) Let each meatball brown on one side, and then turn when it is very brown. Keep turning until meatballs are well browned on all sides, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer meatballs to a Dutch oven or a large, heavy-bottomed pot with a tightfitting lid, cover with tomato sauce, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until meatballs are cooked through, about 30 minutes. The meatballs can be eaten immediately, though they improve in flavor if left to rest in the sauce for 10 to 20 minutes before serving.
Beverage pairing: St. Francis Old Vines Zinfandel, California. With the comforting, meaty chewiness of the meatball, you need a wine with a similar level of familiar, deeply satisfying fruitiness. Zinfandel is a great choice. Not the most complex of wines, this one is nevertheless rich, fruity, and clean. Serve it slightly chilled and maybe—what the hey?—in a small tumbler.
I tried this recipe but to be honest the meatballs came out like patties when put in the skillet. How do i stop this from happening.
I would like to comment on what pearlwhitson said: I agree with you completely! It seems like civility is a forgotten art. The Bible is still the best selling book in the world. Maybe people, along with buying it, should read it and learn something about kindness. Well said pearl, well said indeed. And thank you!
Though I cook a lot, I have never made meatballs before. I was attracted to this recipe because of the real ingredients - fresh herbs, real garlic & onions (versus onion soup mix, etc that I saw in some other recipes). They came out fantastic! I had to experiment on how much to mold the balls - the first few were too loose and cooked more like hamburgers than meatballs, but I soon got the hang of it. Those that were beginning to fall apart in the browning process, firmed up nicely when simmered in the sauce (I made your basic sauce too). Thanks for a keeper recipe.
Here's a question: Why use a saucepan with a "tight fitting lid" if you're going to simmer them, "uncovered" for thirty minutes? What am I missing.
Not being condescending, just trying to understand before I screw up my meatballs.
I sigh when I read the comments that offer an extra serving of pomposity and condescension in response to submitting a nice recipe. I have noticed this tendency in the comment sections where ever they are provided. One can only wish that we all would try a little to be pleasant and gracious in offering alternative views or questions. Arugamama to all. I just made a batch of balls for the freezer using Marcella Hazan's recipe from the Essential's book. She uses an egg per pound of meat and nutmeg as the spice. Next time I will try these. Thank you.
Taste good even before the simmer in sauce step at the end.
yes calikoala ital. eat turkey but only after the lasagna , antitpasto , soup
meatballs(real ones no turkey) , braccioli
I was almost hoping these would suck so that I could rationalize picking up the frozen meatballs from the store. (Un?-)fortunately, they came out great. I followed the ingredients exactly except for using 1.4 lbs of ground beef because that's what I had. The other change I made was that after browning them in the pan I transferred them to a baking sheet for 400 F for 15 minutes since I know I want to freeze most of them for next week. They turned out to be melt-in-your (well, if you were eating them)-mouth tender and extremely tasty. Well worth the effort.
Looks tastey, and possibley a lighter version? Which I've been looking for. Thx!
TRUE the bread does not have to be stale that\ old cooks tale as Divefan puts it goes back to when people were poor and did not want to waste -thats all
the one thing is it musr be BREAD NOT BREAD CRUMBS as using crumbs changes both taste and texture
@remag,
Italians don't eat turkey?
What makes you an expert on what is or what is not considered Italian fare?
@DiveFan,
instead of knocking the recipe, submit your own. This recipe is how she makes her meatballs. Nothing says you 'ABSOLUTELY' have to use stale bread. If you notice, she used a 'sweet' onion not just any ole onion. but that is what is nice about cooking, you can substitute what you have on hand in most cases.
I also see where Aida talks about not having to use a combo of three meats if you choose not to do so.
browning in a pan separate from the one you will eventually cook in probably reduces the amount of fat that will be in the end result.
If you add turkey, THEY ARE NOT ITALIAN MEATBALLS.
Got it?
using stale bread is just a good thing to do rather than toss it fresh or stale works. the meat well..thats a diff story ground veal is good it does not add much flavor but does tend to make them very tender
turkey meatballs? man just hang it up buy a can of alpo and start rolling
"Meatballs shouldn’t be where you hide second-rate ground meat"
Er, then why are you hiding ground turkey ? :-) Two meat combos work just fine.
The bread ABSOLUTELY does Not have to be stale - sheesh, let's KILL that old wives/cooks tale!
As long we're being fussy about onions, how about Lancaster CA sweets? Regular yellow onions will be just fine.
One or two eggs should be plenty, this isn't a quiche.
Use a non stick skillet or better yet the Dutch oven with a generous amount of olive oil if you don't want the meatballs to stick and break up.