Favorite Spaghetti and Meatballs
These mouthwatering homemade meatballs, simmered gently in rich marinara sauce, are tender, juicy, and packed with Italian flavor. Serve on their own, over spaghetti, in meatball sandwiches, or on homemade meatball pizza.
One of the best things about homemade meatballs and marinara (besides eating them, of course) is having leftover meatballs and marinara sauce. In fact, if you’re making this as a part of Weekly Winter Meal Plan #3, leftovers are kind of the point, transforming into Homemade Meatball Pizza, Indian Shrimp and Rice, and Meatball Sandwiches later in the week.
Regardless, if you’re going to make homemade meatballs and marinara sauce at all, you might as well making a lot. Meatballs and marinara sauce freeze well, and having some in the freezer makes for a quick spaghetti and meatballs dinner any night of the week.
This recipe will give you approximately 9 cups of marinara sauce and about 42 meatballs. You can, of course, cut the recipe in half. You can also double it for a crowd.
Meatballs and Marinara Recipe Notes:
Many meatball recipes call for a mix of ground meats, generally some combination of ground beef and pork. This recipe calls for a mix of ground beef and Italian sausage. The sausage brings a lot to the table, adding flavor and just enough fat to keep the meatballs from being dry.
As with many things, the quality of the ground beef and Italian sausage in these meatballs is important. Choose bland, overly fatty meat, and you’ll get bland, greasy meatballs. 85% lean ground beef is ideal for meatballs that are juicy and moist. Try to find an Italian Sausage for which all the ingredients are recognizable and the fat content is close to 20%.
Good marinara sauce is remarkably simple to make for the amount of rich flavor you get out of it. The key is to give it plenty of cooking time. This recipe calls for it to simmer for about an hour before adding the meatballs, then another another hour. Shortening the cook time will still produce a delicious sauce, but without quite the depth of flavor the longer cooking time delivers.
I also think this marinara sauce gets better with time. The next day, after all those flavors have been marinating together in the refrigerator, will find your sauce even richer and more delicious.
Weekly Meal Plans that include Homemade Meatballs and Marinara Sauce:
Used in this recipe:
It’s important to use a heavy bottom, oven proof pot in which to cook meatballs in marinara sauce, preferably a dutch oven. If you don’t have a dutch oven, I encourage you to invest in one. They are extremely useful and will last for years. Mine generally gets used at least once a week, often much more than that.
The meatballs in this recipe are baked in the oven rather than fried on the stovetop. I like this method because I think it produces a juicer meatball with considerably less mess. However, it’s important to bake them on something that will allow the excess grease to drip out as they bake. A broiler pan is ideal, but you can also place a baking rack inside a foil lined rimmed baking sheet.
Homemade Meatballs in Marinara Sauce
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: About 42 meatballs 1x
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These mouthwatering homemade meatballs, simmered gently in rich marinara sauce, are tender, juicy, and packed with Italian flavor. Serve on their own, over spaghetti, in meatball sandwiches, or on homemade meatball pizza.
Ingredients
FOR THE MARINARA SAUCE:
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into quarters
- 8 large garlic cloves, peeled
- 3 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Three 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes (I prefer to use fire roasted tomatoes.)
- 3/4 cup dry red wine
- a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh minced parsley
- 1/2 cup fresh minced basil
FOR THE MEATBALLS:
- 1 1/2 cups of bread cubes cut or torn into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 cup buttermilk
- a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
- 1 lb ground beef, 85% lean
- 14 oz ground Italian sausage, spicy or sweet
- 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten with a fork
- 1 cup grated parmesan or pecorino Romano cheese
- 3/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 4 tsp minced garlic (about 4 large cloves)
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp dried Italian herb seasoning
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
FOR SERVING:
- One package spaghetti
Instructions
MAKE THE MARINARA SAUCE:
- Add the onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, sugar, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Pulse until the ingredients form a paste.
- Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion mixture to the hot oil and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.
- Add one of the cans of crushed tomatoes and cook, stirring frequently, until thick and darkened in color – about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the wine, the rest of the crushed tomatoes, and the Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil and cook, partially covered to avoid splatters, over medium low heat for an hour, stirring occasionally. After cooking for an hour, taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Stir in the fresh parsley, but reserve the basil. It will be added later, after the meatballs have cooked in the sauce.
*While the marinara sauce simmers away on the stove, make the meatballs.
MAKE THE MEATBALLS:
- Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 450 degrees.
- Spray a broiler pan with non-stick spray. Alternatively, line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and top with a wire baking rack. Spray the baking rack with non-stick spray.
- Add the bread cubes and buttermilk to a large bowl and let sit, mashing with a fork occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the bread is breaking down and the mixture resembles a paste.
- Add all remaining meatball ingredients to the bowl with the bread cubes and buttermilk. Mix with your hands until all the ingredients are well combined.
- Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. Make one small meatball – about the size of a ping pong or golf ball. Fry the meatball in the skillet for about 3-5 minutes on each side, until deeply browned and crispy. Remove the meatball from the skillet, taste it for seasoning, and adjust your meatball mixture if necessary.
- Form the mixture into 2-inch balls and place on prepared broiler pan or baking rack. Place them close together, but not touching. You’ll end up with about 42 meatballs. If using a broiler pan, you’ll be able to place about 24 on the pan at one time, so bake in batches. If using a large baking sheet and rack, you might be able to get all 42 on the rack at once.
- Bake the meatballs until well browned – about 30 minutes.
- Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.
- Nestle the meatballs in the marinara sauce. Cover and bake 1 hour.
- Remove from the oven and stir in the fresh basil. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necissary.
- Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and serve alongside the meatballs and marinara sauce.
3
Just made this marinara sauce and of course it was the best I’ve ever made, perhaps the best I’ve ever had. Served it to friends who also raved about it. Nice and thick and rich and yummy. I used a little less red pepper and will use even less next time. Otherwise it was PERFECT.
I’m sooooo glad you liked this sauce! As always, I know I’m heavy on the pepper. 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how much you enjoyed it! xoxo