What could be more Italian than Spaghetti and Meatballs? It’s a true Italian Classic and will easily become one of your family’s favorite meals.
One of the great joys of life is eating what we want when we want it. And worrying about the consequences shouldn’t be in the decision-making process.
One dish that should be in everyone’s repertoire is spaghetti and meatballs. And even if you don’t like meatballs (gasp) you can still learn to make homemade spaghetti sauce using my easy-to-make recipe.
If you like classic Italian spaghetti sauce, make sure to try my traditional Italian bolognese sauce.
Ingredients to make Spaghetti Sauce
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Authentic Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
*I don’t use tomato paste in my recipe because I let it simmer long enough to naturally thicken the sauce. If you don’t have time to let it simmer for hours, you can add one small can of tomato paste to the sauce.
*The only tomatoes I use in my sauces are from the San Marzano region of Italy; they are less acidic and don’t cause the number of stomach problems (heartburn) that other tomatoes do. And they have excellent flavor.
How to Make a Classic Italian Tomato Sauce:
This family recipe has been passed down for generations, and it’s how I’ve been making Authentic Italian Spaghetti Sauce for more than 50 years.
In a large skillet or small saucepot, sauté the diced onions for 3-5 minutes in olive oil, then add the finely chopped garlic and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes.
Don’t let them burn!
- Add the crushed tomatoes to the pot. Rinse the cans with a little water and add to the sauce (if crushed tomatoes are not available, use whole tomatoes and crush them by hand or with an immersion blender).
- Add the chopped basil, sugar, sea salt, and black pepper to taste (don’t overseason the spaghetti sauce; you can always add more later). Mix the ingredients together.
- Bring the tomato sauce to a boil and reduce the heat to a low simmer. For a rich, hearty, and totally amazing spaghetti sauce, allow it to simmer for 3-5 hours before serving the spaghetti and meatballs. You’ll thank me for it later!
*Gently add the browned meatballs to the sauce about one hour before you’re done cooking the tomato sauce. Don’t be tempted to leave the meatballs in the sauce for the entire process; they will get dry and tough.
Ingredients to make Italian Meatballs
The ingredients needed to make my Italian meatballs recipe are pretty basic. I used an equal combination of ground pork and ground beef, but you can always substitute ground turkey or ground chicken if you like. I also suggest using bread instead of breadcrumbs to make your homemade meatballs.
If you have leftover ground beef, you can use it up in my tasty meatloaf recipe.
How to Make Homemade Italian Meatballs
Place all the meatball ingredients into a large bowl.
After combining all the ingredients, cover the bowl with plastic and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
Do not overmix the meatball mixture. If you do, your meatballs will be tough.
Roll your meatballs out, closing up the gap, making the outside of the meatball as smooth as possible.
Getting a crust on the outside of the meatball is your goal. This means leaving them alone for 2-3 minutes before turning them. This lets them get nicely browned, making the perfect meatballs for my spaghetti and meatballs.
Once they’re browned, set them aside until you’re ready to add them to the tomato sauce. Again, only leave them in the sauce for an hour, no longer.
Then all that’s left to do is cook the pasta and serve up a delicious bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. Garnish the pasta with grated pecorino romano cheese or parmesan cheese and chopped Italian parsley(for color). Then get ready for the rave reviews!
If you like a little heat, don’t forget the crushed red pepper flakes. I don’t add it to the sauce because not everyone’s a fan of heat.
The meatballs also make delicious meatball sandwiches, so make to make enough!
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Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 cup stale Italian bread
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup onion fine dice
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup Italian parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ cup grated Romano cheese
- 2 tablespoon olive oil to fry meatballs
Tomato Sauce
- ½ onion finely diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh garlic finely chopped
- 56 ounces Crushed Tomato San Marzano (whole tomatoes crushed by hand or with immersion blender)
- 1 bunch fresh basil finely chopped – about 1 cup
- ¼ cup Olive Oil
- 2 teaspoon sugar optional
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper to taste
- 2 pounds spaghetti I used De Cecco
Instructions
Meatballs
- Soak bread in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
- Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl. Stir onions, bread mixture, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper,dried basil, and Romano cheese into meat mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
- Using wet hands, form meat mixture into balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter.
- Heat about ¼-inch of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry the meatballs until they are browned on all sides and cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Tomato Sauce
- In a large skillet or small sauce pot, sauté diced onion and chopped garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent, do not allow them to burn!
- Add crushed tomatoes, rinse cans with just a little water and add to the sauce (if crushed tomatoes are not available use whole tomatoes and crush by hand or with an immersion blender).
- add chopped basil, sugar, sea salt and black pepper to taste (don’t over season you can always add more later).
- After your sauce has reached a boil, reduce the heat to low, a simmer for 15-20 minutes for classical Marinara / simmer for 1-3 hours for a rich hearty Tomato Sauce.
- Gently add the browned meatballs to the sauce about one hour before you're done cooking the tomato sauce. Don't be tempted to leave the meatballs in the sauce for the entire process, they will get dry and tough.
Pasta
- Cook pasta. Follow instructions on box.**Unless you have a large enough pot to cook both pounds at once cook them 1 pound at a time.
Candy says
I like to make a big batch of meatballs and freeze them. Saves me time later. Cheap and delicious meal serves a bunch
Tamara Davidson says
Sounds comforting, nice and family. Thank you for sharing.
Chef Dennis Littley says
you are very welcome!
John says
Great recipe however I sauté the onion and garlic as opposed to raw I feel it gives the meatball more depth /flavor
Tosha says
Always wanted to try a hood old fashioned spaghetti. I know this will be a family favorite.
Chef Dennis Littley says
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Tosha says
Oh how yummy this old fashioned spaghetti looks! I wish I wasn’t on a low carb diet right now but when I’m done I am so trying this recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley says
I know what you mean, I need to cut back the carbs too, but its so hard with dishes like this!
April says
There’s nothing better than spaghetti and meatballs! It’s one of my kids favorite dishes and so easy to make
Trang Trang says
I am a huge fan of meatball. I’ll try out you recipe. Thanks for sharing
Ridhima says
This looks amazing! Perfect comfort food 🙂
Aitza B says
Those meatballs look so freaking yummy. I bet they would go great with rice too.
Chef Dennis Littley says
They would be great with Rice!
Holly Lasha says
Oh, this looks super yummy. I will definitely have to try this. I love trying new recipes!!
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks Holly, I hope you enjoy it!
Rachel says
I am going to make these meatballs. I love good meatballs on my pasta. I also love my heartburn medicine. 🙂
GiGi Eats says
Serious COMFORT FOOD right here! When I could eat spaghetti I was ALL ABOUT just plain, but now that I am older – I would totally want these balls paired with it!
Larry says
Looks delicious Chef
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks Larry, nothing beats a good plate of spaghetti and meatballs.
Helene says
We make the meatballs almost exactly this way in Greece too. I love eating them with spaghetti or rice and a fresh Greek salad!
Helene
Chef Dennis Littley says
thank you Helene, they would be great with rice and a salad!
Carol Reyes says
Your recipe looks amazing! Although I wonder if I can substitute the ground beef and pork with salmon? or tofu? I dont eat meat and I wonder if there’s a way to get around it because I really want to try your recipe! 🙂
Chef Dennis Littley says
you could absolutely use salmon Carol. I haven’t worked much with tofu, but it would probably work too.
Stephanie says
Oh my gosh, this sounds delicious! I never thought of using bread rather than breadcrumbs, I’ll have to try that next time. And the only time I ever had heartburn was during pregnancy but it was horrible! Of course, being pregnant, I couldn’t take much for it. I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you.
Chef Dennis Littley says
sometimes it’s the simplest things that make the biggest difference