The Best Italian Meatball Recipe
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This Homemade Italian Meatball Recipe is jam-packed with beef, pork, cheese, bread, herbs, and a secret procedure, making it the best. Many have told me that this is, hands down, their favorite recipe. Don’t believe me? Just check out the comments below.
Who doesn’t love Italian food? It’s one of my favorite cuisines, and not just because of my heritage. The food is rich in flavor and almost always easy to make. Try out some of my favorites, like Chicken Parmigiana or Pasta Carbonara.
Italian Meatballs Recipe
Meatballs consist of finely minced meat, vegetables, seasonings, and binders like eggs and breadcrumbs to help keep them together. They are then cooked and served in a myriad of ways, from pan-fried to baked to poached in sauce. They can be made from chicken, veal, beef, or pork. In addition, almost every country has its version, but my recipe is an Italian-style meatball.
While most folks think of serving these in the traditional spaghetti and meatballs sense, they can also be served as the primary protein in any meal. Feel free to try them over mashed potatoes or rice, with a side of green beans, or even in an Italian Wedding Soup.
What’s the Secret to Tender Meatballs?
I believe the secret to maintaining a juicy, flavorful, tender meatball is using “wet bread” instead of breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs absorb too much moisture from the meat and can often dry it when heated. Wet bread puffs up and creates air pockets, making the meatballs soft, tender, and more delicious.
You can soak the bread in two main ingredients: water or milk. After testing both, I do not see a big difference in flavor, so I recommend saving money and using water.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Beef – I use a 90/10 lean-to-fat ground sirloin. However, you can also use ground chuck, which is 80/20. Feel free to use homemade ground beef as well.
- Pork – Ground pork is what you will need for this.
- Bread – Any good artisan bread, such as Italian or French bread, will work.
- Onions — You can use red, white, sweet, or yellow onions. In addition, you’ll need fresh whole garlic cloves.
- Herbs – I used fresh basil, parsley, and rosemary in these meatballs.
- Cheese – Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is best, but you can also use Pecorino Romano.
How to Make Meatballs from Scratch
Submerge some Italian or French bread in water for 3 to 4 minutes.
Prepare the onions and garlic and add them to a bowl. I usually do this stage while the bread is soaking.
Squeeze as much liquid from the water-soaked bread as possible and add it to the bowl with the onions and garlic.
Add ground beef and ground pork to the bowl as well. I like to use ground sirloin at a 90/10 ratio of lean to fat.
Add the eggs, parsley, rosemary, basil, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper to the bowl. Use all fresh herbs, and you can also add fresh oregano to the mix.
Mix everything in the bowl until thoroughly combined.
Form golf ball-sized meatballs using your hands and place them on a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 425° for 25 to 30 minutes. This recipe makes 40 meatballs, so freeze the remaining uneaten meatballs. Watch the video below to see all the different ways you can cook the meatballs.
Serve it sauced up over spaghetti for a traditional Italian dish.
How to Cook Meatballs in Sauce
- Start by browning all sides of the meatballs in a large sauté pan over medium heat with 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil, which takes about 6-8 minutes.
- Next, add them to the pot of Pomodoro sauce and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. I prefer to pan-sear the meatballs or cook them directly in the oven.
Make-Ahead and Storage
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 fridge 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.
CHEF NOTES + TIPS
- Once the pan-fried or baked meatballs are browned, add them to the sauce and simmer them over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked throughout.
- This is a personal choice, but for serving, I like to coat the meatballs in the Pomodoro sauce and set them to the side. Then, I add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss it around until coated. I then serve the tomato sauce-coated meatballs over top of the pasta with a garnish of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and parsley.
- Feel free also to soak the bread in milk.
- The size of the loaf of bread doesn’t matter. It will not affect the recipe if it’s bigger or smaller than the one I used. 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, and taste it. From there, determine whether it’s good enough or needs more, and then repeat the process until you get it right.
- These meatballs don’t need to be served in a tomato sauce specifically; they will also work on soups, sandwiches, mashed potatoes with gravy, or pizza.
More Italian Recipes
Video
The Best Meatball Recipe Ever
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.
Finally, I found a recipe that gives me tender, flavorful meatballs! The Pomodoro sauce also was very good.
Everyone of Billy’s recipes that I have tried have turned out GREAT!
Thank you!
First I made the Pomodoro Sauce and then the meatballs to go with it. I’m headed to the store shortly for more tomatoes to make the sauce again. Both were very good. I’ll be making the meatballs again soon. I have enough left to serve my friends and it is taking a great deal of self-control to keep from eating a few more, leaving me with too little to serve again. Neither recipe was difficult and produced great results.
Thanks so much for giving them a try! Happy to hear you enjoyed the meatballs.
I have never made meatballs before, I was actually quite intimidated at the thought of it! THESE WERE DELICIOUS!!!! I actually gutted a French loaf bread, put garlic butter at the bottom of the bread, put the meatballs in it with garlic Alfredo sauce and topped it with mozzarella cheese and broiled until melty goodness. I am NOT a cook, I actually hate it, but this was fabulous! Everything! But the meatballs were delicious even plain!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome! So glad you loved how it turned out!
My search for the perfect meatball is over! This is the one and only I will ever make from now on. These are the Holy Grail! I made them in advance for dinner tonight with my spaghetti sauce that my husband claims he married me for. I had to do a quality control test. On one , or possibly three but who is counting. I made the recipe exactly as is albeit my meatballs may be more akin to a mandarin orange than a golf ball. I say go big or go home! The touch of of rosemary was the chefs kiss. I have never seen that in a recipe for meatballs before. Thank goodness I brought my plant in before winter. Thank you, thank you, thank you. My search is over. Printing this recipe in multiple and locking one in the fire proof safe just in case.
Love it!
Awesome. Did this morning.
Thanks for giving it a try!