Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs
This Italian spaghetti and meatballs recipe has melt in your mouth meatballs from scratch and an easy onion and herb spaghetti sauce.
Servings: 6
Italian Meatballs
- 1 lb lean ground beef 90% to 95%
- 3 cups torn bread about 6 slices of sandwich bread with crust removed
- ½ cup shredded parmesan
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 3 garlic cloves mashed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 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 water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup of finely chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
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.
- 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.
- 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 separately from the spaghetti in the fridge for 4 to 5 days in an airtight container.
- 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 pasta for spaghetti.
- Use lean ground turkey or ground chicken instead of ground beef.
Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 595kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 307mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 13g