Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir until onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking and stirring until onion is very tender, about 15 minutes more.
Gently stir beef and pork together in a large bowl. Add onions, bread crumb mixture, eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, Italian herb seasoning, and red pepper flakes; mix together using a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
Some recipes use equal portions of beef, veal, and pork, which is also nice, yet more expensive. These days you can find all sorts of lean-to-fat ratios for ground beef. Most stores sell 90% lean, 10% fat, but I prefer the 80% lean, 20% fat ratio for this recipe.
You can substitute water or beef broth for the milk if preferred.
Serve with homemade tomato sauce and polenta.
More About This Recipe:
Chef John’s Italian meatballs are tender, juicy, and oh-so flavorful. They’re baked instead of fried, so cleanup is breeze.
How to Make Italian Meatballs
You'll find a detailed ingredient list and step-by-step instructions in the Italian meatball recipe above, but let's go over the basics:
Italian Meatball Ingredients
These are the ingredients you’ll need to make this Italian meatball recipe:
Bread crumbs: Use store-bought bread crumbs ormake your own at home.
Milk: Milk adds moisture, ensuring the meatballs don’t dry out during the cooking process.
Onion: An onion lends bold flavor.
Meat: You’ll need a pound of ground beef and a pound of ground pork.
Egg: An egg adds moisture and helps bind the meatballs together.
Cheese: For the most delicious results, grate your own Parmesan cheese.
Seasonings: The meatballs are seasoned with fresh parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, dried Italian herb seasoning, and red pepper flakes.
How Do You Make Italian Meatballs?
Here’s a brief overview of what you can expect when you make homemade Italian meatballs:
Cook the onion.
Mix all the ingredients together. Cove and chill.
Form the mixture into balls.
Bake the meatballs in the preheated oven.
What to Serve With Italian Meatballs
Chef John suggests serving the Italian meatballs withhomemade tomato sauceandpolenta. They also work well as an appetizer, in a sandwich, or served over mashed potatoes, rice, or egg noodles.
How to Store Italian Meatballs
Store your leftover Italian meatballs in a shallow, airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.
Can You Freeze Italian Meatballs?
Yes, Italian meatballs freeze well. Flash freeze the cooked meatballs on a baking sheet for a few hours or up to overnight, then transfer the frozen meatballs to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to three months.
If you prefer, you can also freeze the meatballs before cooking. You can easily cook them from-frozen on the stove whenever you want to whip up a quick dish.
Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise
“The meatballs are wonderful,” ravesAndrea Wojack. “We are kicking ourselves that we didn’t make a double batch! But how could we know they’d be so full of flavor, so juicy, so tender?”
“This is my go-to meatball recipe,” says one Allrecipes community member. “The meatballs come out perfectly each and every time that I make them. They bake perfectly and I believe that refrigerating the mixed ingredients is the key. The texture is perfect and the flavor is delicious.”
“These meatballs are the best I ever made,” according toKay. “My husband loved them. I used an ice cream scoop to make them and they were a perfect size. The texture was very moist and they had great flavor.”
If you're planning to buy ready made, I'd go with at least 3 per person. Maybe 4 if you have a lot of big eaters. Plus the longer meatballs simmer in sauce the better they taste. And they can be frozen,sauce and all.
When meatballs are tough, it's often because they've been overworked. Start by thoroughly mixing all of the ingredients except for the ground meat. Once you add the meat, you want to work it only just enough so the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Because meat shrinks when cooked, mince proteins are likely to separate and crumble unless bound together. Whether it's breadcrumbs or egg (or both), or simply salt, binding the mince is a crucial step in maintaining the softness of your meatballs while preventing them from falling apart.
A good rule of thumb is to bake meatballs for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit. Every oven is different so the cooking time will not be the same for everyone. You will know the meatballs are ready when the internal temperature of the meatballs is 165 degrees.
As the collagen in the meat dissolves over time, it transforms into gelatin, which not only adds a silky texture to the sauce but also contributes to the overall richness and depth of flavor. The longer the simmer, the more tender and succulent the meatballs become.
Remember that each lb of ground meat should be enough for about 3 people. Garlic, Parsley & A Basic Seasoning: as I wrote in my other meatball recipes, get fresh garlic cloves and flat leaf Italian parsley, and chop them really fine.
How many eggs should one add to their ground beef when making homemade Italian style meatballs? 1 egg, scrambled before adding to 1 pound of beef. Then salt, pepper, crushed garlic, bread crumbs. You can use plain or buy seasoned.
They are super flavorful but what makes them so so tender and moist is this: Plain Greek Yogurt. The lactic acid from the yogurt tenderizes the meat while adding subtle flavor. The addition of egg and parmesan cheese help keep the meat together so that you get delicious weeknight meatballs in minutes.
Milk: We will mix a bit of milk with the breadcrumbs to form a panade, which will help to keep our meatballs nice and moist. Ground beef and pork: I like to use a 50/50 mix of the two to make meatballs, but you can also make all-beef or all-pork meatballs if you prefer.
Some people like to drop the raw meatballs directly in a pot of Italian tomato sauce and let them simmer. Some people like to cook the meatballs in the oven first and then put the browned meatballs in the tomato sauce.
Filler ingredients like breadcrumbs or flour are important too because they stop the meatballs becoming dry. The breadcrumbs absorb the juices from the meat as it cooks, trapping them within the meatball.
Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.
Place the sheet pan with the meatballs into the 350 degree f oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Check the meatballs with a meat thermometer to make sure they are 165 degrees in the middle.
Shake the meatballs in the pan as they cook too, don't flip them. This will give you that lovely round meatball shape with a crispy, browned exterior. Alternatively, bake your meatballs in the oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on their size.
Introduction: My name is Terence Hammes MD, I am a inexpensive, energetic, jolly, faithful, cheerful, proud, rich person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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