Or Spa-Peggy and Meatballs. Anyone? Anyone? Okay, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a hard-core carb-lover here; pasta and bread are my ultimate comfort food. And does it really get any more homey and comforting than spaghetti and meatballs? Not in my world! This classic recipe for Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs is both comforting and simple, using mostly pantry ingredients and doable for even a weeknight dinner. If you can’t eat pasta, it’s also great over a bed of zucchini zoodles or roasted spaghetti squash.
I didn’t actually eat spaghetti and meatballs, like, ever growing up; my family was more of the “mix a pound of ground beef with a jar of Ragu” kind of clan, which is totally fine. But there was a woman in my neighborhood who was married to an Italian and whenever there was a family that needed a meal, she would take them spaghetti with her homemade meatballs and sauce. Our family was never on the receiving end of her meatballs, but I heard about them and I longed for them.
During my senior year of high school, there was a major crisis in our family. At that time, I was in our school musical and since, you know, the show must go on and all that, I had obligations I had to fulfill even though some things at home had fallen apart. After a particularly long night, I heard that this woman had brought our family spaghetti and meatballs and I couldn’t wait to get home and finally try them.
I got home. It was gone. Eaten. I’m not sure I can describe the feeling of loss I experienced–I’d been hoping for one simple pleasure all night and got to eat a bowl of cereal instead.
I never got to try this woman’s spaghetti and meatballs and I never got her recipe (I’m pretty sure it would have to be pried from her lifeless grip, anyway), but if I were to imagine my perfect spaghetti and meatballs, this would be it. With lots and lots to spare so no one’s stuck with a bowl of Lucky Charms.
How to Make Homemade Meatballs
The meatball mixture itself uses a 50/50 mix of ground beef and Italian sausage and a handful of flavoring agents. If you don’t have any dry bread crumbs on hand, I often just toss 2 pieces of white bread in my blender and pulse them up and it works great. To make uniform meatballs, we recommend a cookie scoop. You can make them giant or tiny or anywhere in between. I like meatballs to be 1-2 bite meatballs, so a standard size cookie scoop works great. With that size you’ll get about 3 dozen meatballs. If you don’t own any scoops yet, this set of 3 is great, and will you several options- I use all three of those sizes quite a bit in my kitchen.
These get a quick broil in the oven and just take a few minutes to get browned.
How to make Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
This sauce comes together easily and it’s amazing how much flavor comes out of these simple ingredients. Since the tomatoes are what really shine here, I recommend using a good brand. I often use the cheapest can on the shelf for soups and stews, but if I’m making something like tomato soup, or spaghetti sauce, I’ll use something nicer. Muir Glen or San Marzano are always a good choice and available at most grocery stores. I’m using the fire-roasted, here, but regular is just fine.
You’ll add those gorgeous meatballs to the pot of sauce and then let it simmer away. Don’t rush this part of the process- the longer that sauce simmers, the better the flavor develops and the thicker the sauce gets.
Serving Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs
Serve it over the noodles of your choice- spaghetti or linguini or angel hair work well and you can eat it over veggies instead, if you prefer. We love it with some thick shaved Parmesan cheese on top and a sprinkle of fresh basil.
This recipe feeds a crowd, and also makes great leftovers. In our house, there are never any left over, but you could eat half for dinner, and put the rest of the meatballs and sauce in the freezer for another day. Either way, it makes a fantastic meal, with enough to share!
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 lb. Italian sausage
- 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons dehydrated onion
- 4 eggs lightly beaten
- 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt*
- *If you want you could substitute all the Italicized ingredients with 3 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning found here.
- For the Sauce
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- Olive oil
- 2 28- oz. cans crushed tomatoes
- 16 oz. tomato sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar to taste
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Pinch of baking soda to help neutralize the acid
Instructions
Make the Meatballs:
- Gently combine all meatball ingredients in a medium bowl. (It works best to use your hands, keep a box of gloves on hand if you don't want to use your bare hands). Shape into balls, whatever size you like, but I prefer using my standard cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon) to shape meat into balls and then rolling it between my hands to make them even more round. Place on a large cookie sheet and broil until the meatballs start to brown. Remove from oven and set aside until ready to use (or freeze for later use).
Make the Sauce:
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant. Add remaining sauce ingredients and combine well. Bring to a simmer and add meatballs. Simmer on low, uncovered, until desired consistency is reached--about 25-30 minutes for a sauce that's of medium consistency.
- Serve over hot pasta and top with fresh parmesan if desired. Makes about 3 dozen meatballs and enough sauce to feed 6-8 people (or more if some of those people are kids)
FREEZER MEAL INSTRUCTIONS:
- Prepare meatballs as directed, but divide the meatballs among two freezer-safe containers. Prepare sauce through adding all ingredients to the pan, but don't simmer; rather, divide the sauce among the two containers. Freeze until ready to use. When ready to use, place in slow cooker and cook on low for about 5-6 hours, although you'll want to keep an eye on the sauce and make sure it's not burning if you go for the whole 6 hours.
Questions & Reviews
We cooked these for dinner one night and had so many left over that I put it in freezer containers and froze them. I just pulled them out of the freezer today and put them in my crock pot on low. Should it be a problem to reheat this in a crock pot even though the sauce and meatballs were fully cooked before I froze them? I’m just not sure on all the rules of reheating and such and I would hate to make anyone sick. My family adored this recipe and so I know they will get eaten right up.
When I make meatballs, I toast bread to the darkest. Then I run it under water, squeeze out the water and put the “meatball glue” in the mixture. It was an old tip from an Italian Mother. I also use all spare bread in the house to make Italian bread crumbs.
Dry them, put in food processor with dry herbs of choice, but watch out it make your house smell amazing.
I’m so looking forward to another OBB recipe! You are my bff through a number of holidays and ladies brunches. I am looking to freeze most of the meatballs for now, but keeping some to make meatball subs for hubbys lunch tomorrow. Silly question, but how do I finish off the meatballs if they don’t simmer in your sauce for half an hour? Thanks, it’s always a pleasure to read and eat your recipes!
have you tried using Brown sugar instead of regular sugar in your sauce? give it a whirl sometime… Good recipe though.
Do you use fresh basil and parsley, or the dried leaves?
would there be any way to bake these? i’ve had trouble with my broiler and these looks so good!
These are SOO STINKIN’ YUMMY!!!! The best meatballs EVER!!!! My family LOVES them… I can now say my family has a new favorite meal!!!! THANKS!!!!
Another winner! Almost added a little bit of salt before everything simmered, but didn’t and it turned out perfect! My husband even said that this may be the best so far!!!
Well, it’s official. Your blog is my absolute favorite food blog, (and trust me, I look at A LOT of food blogs.) I can add this to the list of our favorites- baked potato soup, roasted egg plant spread, silk eggs, and others! We are vegetarians, so I used veggie crumbles/veggie sausage to make the meatballs. They were wonderful. Thanks for another amazing recipe!!
I have had meatball related shame for my entire adult life. I’ve tried so many recipes and they never came out good…until this one. I’ll be making it this week, my fourth time, and I always double the recipe. Instead of being a source of embarassment, “my” meatballs are now famously delicious! Thank you!!
This looks delicious!! One question- what kind of tomato sauce do you use?
It’s just plain, canned tomato sauce. I use whatever kind is on sale! 🙂
I just made these to put in my sauce for dinner tonight. Woh Mamma!! These taste amazing! I love how easy they are too!
Thanks so much for these recipes in your awesome cookbook! They are such a hit here, especially when we have company over! They always ask what the ingredients are for the meatballs! I love the sausage, Parmesan cheese, and dehydrated onion in there! Brilliant flavours! And they don’t fall apart! One has to be careful to make sure the eggs aren’t too large though, as that requires the addition of much more bread crumbs (especially when the recipe is doubled)! 🙂 I love your book tip: only partly cooking the meatballs to give them shape, and then freezing them for later use! It’s been the perfect addition to meals that I give away to people. Thanks!
My boys requested heart-shaped meatballs for Valentine’s Dinner. I am going to use this delicious looking recipe to make their dreams come true.
By far THE BEST meatballs I have ever tasted!!!! We LOVE these and have them at least twice a month!!! Thank you so much for this recipe.. This will be in our family for MANY years to come!!!!
This looks GREAT Kate. It sounds a lot like our wonderful neighbor’s Italian Meatballs and Spaghetti. Love, L.
The last few times I made these with ground turkey and spicy Italian turkey sausage and they were amazing! I didn’t even miss the beef, they had so much flavor. We love the original recipe as is too! Thanks for all your recipes!
I made these last night (from your cookbook) and they blew my mind! 🙂 so great. Today my little boy and I are enjoying meatball subs for lunch–he said they are his new favorite! Thanks ladies, love the site!
Absolutely amazing! We had it tonight and I love this sauce so much. It’s hearty and flavorful…it reminds me of my uncle who had a pizza shop…his sauce used crushed tomatoes…..oh, and I used this sauce earlier this week on grilled pizza…..so awesome. And these meatballs rock. Seriously rock. Try this…we all loved it.
Where do I find Dehydrated Onion?
It’s just at the store in the spice aisle, should be really easy to find.
I tried this one last night and my husband was thrilled that it compared so well to the recipe his Mom used to make all the time when he was a kid. Of course he didn’t tell her it was good as hers, but he let me know. 😉
So, this may seem like a lame question, but here it goes…My store sells either sweet italian sausage or spicy italian sausage. Which one do I want?
Totally not a lame question Tera! In pretty much any of the recipes on our site that call for Italian sausage, or Italian turkey sausage, you can use either hot/spicy or sweet. It’s just a slightly different flavor profile. Some people like one more than the other, and some recipes taste better with one over the other, but they’re pretty interchangeable. I’ve used both for this particular recipe, and they’re both good. If there’s a price difference, go for the cheaper one! lol If you have to choose, I’d say go spicy. (And it’s not like super hot spicy, it’s just got a little kick to it.)
I made this for dinner last night and it was so good! I have been looking for a good spaghetti sauce recipe for a while now but hadn’t been able to find one I loved. My hubby and 6 kids loved it too! Thanks!
Why 2 eggs?
Aidan, eggs are a common ingredient in meatballs. They act as a binder, holding the mixture together and keeping it moist!
Made 4 pounds of these the other night for the WHOLE family for a birthday celebration, and they were AMAZING!!! Loved the trick about putting them under the broiler first, super easy clean-up, and leaves the pork fat on the tin foil. Spiced up our sauce with extra red pepper flakes and used jalapeno olive oil. Thank you!
Im a beginner cook and had a couple of questions. I feel kind of dumb asking but how do you broil them? Do i set the broil on high or low? Which rack do I put the pan on? Do I have to let the oven heat up or just turn it on and stick them in there. Thanks :/
Another meal we love! I am always searching for the best spaghetti sauce that is NOT Ragu, or anything like it, but that I can make from canned tomatoes. This might be the best yet. It’s simmering right now, and I just stole a taste:-) The meatballs are awesome too! I have been using the “Meatball Nirvana” recipe from allrecipes, but I think these just took first place. THANK YOU, as always!