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 crushes 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.
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.
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.
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 meatballs outside evenly for about 5 minutes on medium heat covered. Using a slotted spoon, place the meatballs on a paper towel-lined plate.
Make the Spaghetti
Finely dice an onion. Mince the garlic. Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat in a second large pot. 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.
Add the meatballs to the tomato sauce and turn the heat to medium. Cover the meatball and spaghetti sauce and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. The sauce should thicken up.
While the tomato sauce is cooking, prepare the 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 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 bread (with the crust removed) instead of sliced bread.
- Use fresh herbs in place of dried herbs.
- Substitute any type of paste for spaghetti pasta.
- Use lean ground turkey or ground chicken instead 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 sauce
- one large pot to prepare the 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 (before 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
Milk-soaked bread is what makes meatballs tender and moist.
Traditional Italian meatballs are made with stale bread (soaked in milk), shredded parmesan, ground meat, crushed garlic, egg, ground nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Make the meatball mixture by mixing ground beef, milk-soaked bread, shredded parmesan, an egg, ground nutmeg, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Scoop two tablespoons of the mixture and form a 1.5" ball between your palms. Fry the meatball in oil for about 5 minutes, turning to caramelize all sides. Place the meatballs directly into the homemade tomato sauce and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Spoon the spaghetti and meatball sauce over the spaghetti.
Italian Recipes
Aunt Maguy's Recipes
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Ingredients
Italian Meatballs
- 1 lb of lean ground beef 90% to 95%
- 3 cups of torn bread about 6 slices of sandwich bread with crust removed
- ½ cup of shredded parmesan
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 egg
- 3 garlic cloves mashed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons oil vegetable, canola, any frying oil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 lb spaghetti pasta
- 24 ounces of strained tomatoes see note 3
- 2 cups of water
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 cup of finely chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
Instructions
Make the Italian Meatballs
- Remove the crust from the bread. Roughly tear the bread into chunks. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Make the Spaghetti Sauce
- Finely dice an onion. Mince the garlic. In a 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. Cover the tomato sauce on medium-high for about 5 minutes.
- 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 minutes. The sauce should thicken up.
- 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.
Notes
- Substitute any pasta for spaghetti paste. Boil the pasta as per the instructions on the box.
- Use lean ground turkey or chicken in lieu of beef.
- Tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, and plain tomato sauce are suitable substitutes for strained tomatoes.
Tina S.
Easier to make than I thought and it was the best meatball recipe I’ve ever tried.
Lily
Thank you for the comment and so glad you liked it! This is definitely my favorite meatball recipe too