In our opinion, this is the ultimate Italian meatball recipe and holds a special place in our hearts. It not only is our friend’s recipe that inspired this blog, but its fairly easy to make, and DARN DELICIOUS. These meatballs make a great base to so many dishes including the traditional/classic spaghetti and meatballs, a meatball parmesan hero, or even meatball pizza!
For this particular post, we made these meatballs with a side of fresh, homemade pasta, and garlic bread. We make our own simple tomato sauce to go with it, but feel free to use whatever tomato sauce you like! So, without further ado, we present to you our version of our friend’s amazing homemade Italian Meatball recipe.
Ingredients
To make the meatballs you will need the following ingredients:
- 2 lbs. Ground beef
- Stale bread (can be fresh as well)
- Roughly chopped fresh basil
- Egg
- Finely chopped garlic
- Shredded Parmesan Cheese
- Salt
- Pepper
- A tomato sauce of your choice
Kitchen Tools
And also the following kitchen tools:
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Large Saucepan
- Large Baking Sheet
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large mixing bowl, tear up all the bread into large cubes.
Step 2
Soak the bread with water and drain the liquid with your hands or a cheese cloth.
Step 3
Add the ground beef to the bowl of bread then, season with salt and pepper.
Step 4
Add the garlic, basil, egg, and parmesan to the mixing bowl.
Step 5
Mix all ingredients together until everything is evenly distributed. We used our hands, but feel free to mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
Step 6
Form the meatballs to about the size of a tennis ball and place onto the baking sheet.
Step 7
Bake the meatballs for about 20 minutes and flip them over halfway through.
Step 8
While the meatballs are baking, heat up the tomato sauce in the saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the sauce is fully heated, turn the heat to low.
Step 9
Remove the meatballs from the oven once they are brown and cooked through. Add them to the tomato sauce. Make sure each one is covered in the sauce.
Step 10
Serve with your favorite sides and enjoy!
We know it may seem like there are a lot of steps, but this recipe is very simple and is so good! Buon appetito!