Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs

This 45-minute Italian spaghetti and meatballs is a classic pasta recipe made with homemade tender meatballs simmered in an onion herb tomato sauce. These homemade meatballs literally melt in your mouth, they are so tender! The secret to moist meatballs is using bread soaked in milk rather than breadcrumbs.

If you like spaghetti and meatballs, check out Aunt Maguy's Italian meatball stuffed zucchini recipe.

What I Love About This Recipe

Made from scratch meatballs that literally melt in your mouth are what make this recipe out of this world. The homemade tomato sauce is super simple and compliments the meatballs really well. This recipe only takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, and it's easy to reheat. This is the BEST Italian meatball and spaghetti recipe (courtesy of Aunt Maguy).

Ingredient Notes

For the Italian meatballs, here are the ingredient notes:

• Ground beef: Use 90% to 95% lean ground beef because the meatballs are moist from the milk-soaked bread.
• Bread: Traditional Italian meatballs use the dough from Italian bread, which is perfectly fine. I chose to use some whole-wheat sliced sandwich bread. Just remove the crust of the bread.
• Milk: The bread soaks in milk. Use any type of milk: low-fat, full-fat, almond milk, or oat milk.
• Shredded parmesan: You can shred the cheese or use pre-shredded parmesan.
• Egg: Don't skip the egg because it help binds all of the ingredients together in the meatball.
• Garlic paste: Either mash the garlic with a mortar and pestle or use a garlic press that crushed the garlic into a paste.
• Ground nutmeg: Don't skip this spice! This is the secret ingredient to authentic Italian meatballs. I grind my nutmeg fresh using a Microplane zester.

For the spaghetti sauce, here are the ingredient notes:

• Spaghetti: Any kind of pasta works for this recipe, however, I prefer using spaghetti or angel hair pasta.
• Strained tomatoes: Use a jar of strained tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, or tomato puree.
• Minced garlic: Finely mince the fresh garlic (not a paste).
• Dried Italian herbs: Use dried or fresh Italian herbs.

See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for quantities.

How To Make Spaghetti and Meatballs

This recipe is split into two parts: making the Italian meatballs and preparing the spaghetti.

Make the Italian Meatballs

Remove the crust from the bread. Roughly tear the bread into chunks.

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Add the milk to the bread and give it a few minutes to soak. Squeeze the milk bread with your hands, straining the excess milk from the bread. Place the soaked milk bread in a large bowl. 

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Mash the garlic cloves with a mortar and pestle until it forms a paste. Alternatively, press the garlic into a paste using a garlic press. Add the ground beef, mashed garlic, shredded parmesan, egg, salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg to the milk-soaked bread. Mix the Italian meatball mixture with your hands until combined. The meatball mixture should feel soft but robust enough to form a ball.

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In a wide nonstick pan with a lid, heat the vegetable oil and olive oil on medium heat. Form balls 1.5" sized balls with the Italian meatball mixture. Place into the oil. Caramelize the outside of the meatballs evenly for about 5 minutes on medium heat covered. Using a slotted spoon, place the meatballs on a paper towel-lined plate.

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Make the Spaghetti

Finely dice an onion. Mince the garlic. In a second large pot with a cover, heat up the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic until they start to brown on the edges. Then add the strained tomatoes, water, dried Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. Cook the tomato sauce on medium-high for about 5 minutes covered.

Hint: As the tomato sauce thickens up and boils, the sauce might splash. Take care not to get burned by keeping the tomato sauce covered while cooking.

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Add the meatballs to the tomato sauce and turn the heat to medium. Continue to cover the meatball and spaghetti sauce and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. The sauce should thicken up. 

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While the spaghetti sauce is cooking, prepare the spaghetti pasta. Boil water in a large pot. Add the dried spaghetti pasta noodles and cook as per the instructions on the box. Drain the pasta. Spoon the meatball sauce over the spaghetti noodles.

Top with grated parmesan and fresh herbs.

Tips and Tricks

• Execute the recipe in the order it's written to keep this meal under 45 minutes. I can now make this spaghetti and meatball recipe in under 30 minutes.
• Squeeze the excess milk from the bread, otherwise, the meatballs might be too soggy and fall apart.
• The texture of the meatballs is soft but robust. The meatballs won't form a perfectly spherical shape, which is normal.

Variations and Substitutions

• Substitute Italian bread, french bread, or any other doughy type of bread (with the crust removed) in lieu of sliced bread.
• Use fresh herbs in lieu of dried herbs.
• Substitute any type of paste for spaghetti pasta.
• Use lean ground turkey or ground chicken in lieu of ground beef.

Equipment

• large mixing bowl to make the meatball mixture
• one wide nonstick pot with a cover to fry the meatballs
• one large pot with a cover to make the spaghetti sauce
• one large pot to prepare the dried spaghetti pasta
• a strainer to strain the pasta
• garlic press or mortar and pestle to make the garlic into a paste
• a chef's knife and cutting board to mince the garlic and dice the onion
• measuring cups and measuring spoons
• hand zester or Microplane to grind the whole nutmeg

Storage

Cooked meatballs (prior to adding to the tomato sauce) can be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Store the meatball and tomato sauce separate from the spaghetti in the fridge for 4 to 5 days in an airtight container.

FAQs

Italian Recipes

Aunt Maguy's Recipes

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