Who doesn’t love a good meatball, right? Meatballs have been a staple in our house forever and we typically try to make a big batch and then freeze them for quick and easy meals. This is our basic recipe for traditional Italian style meatballs. They are perfect for serving with marinara sauce for a quick appetizer, adding to spaghetti sauce for a crowd favorite spaghetti and meatballs, or throwing into soups, like Italian Wedding Soup. The ingredients are simple and so much cleaner and healthier than buying frozen meatballs at the supermarket!

When choosing the types of meat we wanted to use in this recipe, we wanted to keep it traditional. We went with ground beef and ground pork. You can definitely adjust and use ground turkey or chicken if you’re trying to cut back on red meat consumption. We just prefer this combination better.

One of the key aspects to making meatballs is keeping them moist. There’s nothing worse than dry meatballs! The way we combat this is by soaking some day old bread in milk and adding that the meatball mix. We also add 1 egg to help with binding. We find this combination helps to keep the meatballs incredibly moist, even if you’re baking them in the oven.

This recipe makes about 50-52 golf ball size meatballs. We place them uncooked in the freezer on a sheet pan with parchment paper and wait an hour or so until they are semi-frozen before transferring to a ziplock. This prevents them from all sticking to each other and you being unable to separate them for easy access. If you’re baking them to serve as an appetizer or to throw into some pasta sauce, I recommend to just simply place them onto a foil lined baking sheet frozen and bake at 375F for about 20 minutes or until browned slightly on the outside but no longer pink inside.

Let us know how you decide to use them!

Homemade Italian Style Meatballs

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings: 50 Meatballs

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1.5 Pounds Ground Pork
• 1.5 Pounds Ground Beef Recommend 90/10
• 1 Cup Fresh Parsley Finely Chopped
• 6 Cloves Garlic Minced
• 1 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Slices Day Old White Bread
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1.5 Teaspoons Kosher Salt

Method

 

1. In a small bowl, add the two slices of bread and cover with the milk. Let the bread absorb all of the milk, then gently using your hands, break apart the bread and set aside. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, add in the meat, parsley, parmesan, garlic, salt, pepper, and milk soaked bread. Gently mix the ingredients together using your hand. 
3. Add in the egg and mix again to incorporate. 
4. Form into small balls, about the size of a golf ball. You can make them smaller or larger if desired, but you will need to adjust the cooking time slightly. 
5. If baking immediately, place onto a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 375F for about 20 minutes. 
6. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce or add into pasta sauce making spaghetti and meatballs. If adding to soups, you can add them in uncooked and let them cook in the broth.