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These easy Homemade Meatballs are made with ground beef and seasoned with Italian breadcrumbs are simple to make! Perfect for simmering in a marinara sauce or freezing for future use. All the tips you need for tender, juicy meatballs included!
Why we Love this Recipe
- One Skillet: Searing the meatballs in the same skillet we are preparing our sauce allows us to use all the wonderful flavorful bits from cooking the meat! Plus it cuts down on the amount of dishes we have at the end.
- Easy Ingredients: using a mixture of fresh and pantry ingredients gives great flavor and textures.
- Sauce: this simple, easy to put together sauce recipe pairs perfectly with the meatballs and turns this recipe into a meal!
- Dinner options: Serve low carb style with some extra cheese on top. OR serve over noodles or on a sandwich roll.
Meatball Ingredients
- Meat: this recipe calls for ground beef, but feel free to sub in half ground pork, or use ground turkey or chicken also if needed. Use an 80/20 mix for more flavor.
- Onion: finely mince and leave it raw for great flavor. Keeping the dice small lets the onion flavor blend in with the meat while it cooks.
- Salt: plan on 1 tsp of salt per 1 pound of meat.
- Parmesan Cheese: use freshly grated, the shelf stable parmesan will not melt the same.
- Breadcrumbs: use Italian seasoned for extra flavoring, or use plain breadcrumbs and add more herbs and seasonings as desired.
- Eggs: these act as a binder in this recipe.
- Herbs: add some extra freshness to the meatballs by chopping up any fresh herbs you have on hand (oregano, basil, parsley). If you don’t have fresh herbs use dried herbs instead.
How to Make Homemade Meatballs
First, add the ground beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, salt, pepper, minced onion and garlic needed for the meatball mixture into a bowl, combine the ingredients using your hands to ensure you are not over-mixing.
Add the milk, saving this as the last step helps you to control the texture. The mixture should be wet. Add the milk slowly to help you get the right texture.
Sear the meatballs in a small amount of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. This method allows use to keep the wonderful browned bits from searing in the skillet and use the flavoring when making our homemade sauce.
Taste Testing
Prepare one small patty of meat and cook it up to test the seasoning of the meat prior to preparing all of the meatballs. This way if you need to adjust and add anything you can do so and not be surprised when you go to enjoy your finished dish.
Next, prepare the sauce. Sauté the onion and garlic then add in the tomato paste, stir to combine, then add in the remaining sauce ingredients. Taste and adjust as needed.
Add meatballs to the sauce and simmer, let the meatballs cook in the marinara sauce for 15-20 minutes.
Serve
These meatballs with sauce are perfect for serving over pasta, spaghetti being a favorite in our home. Other options include penne, or ziti.
You can also serve these on a toasted French roll with some melted provolone for a homemade meatball sub sandwich.
Store
Store leftover meatballs in tomato sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheat in a skillet over medium heat for 10 minutes or until warmed through.
Freeze
After cooking in the sauce, cool to room temperature and then transfer to a freezer safe container or bag. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
These are easy to portion out into meal prep containers for single serving lunches or dinners and store in the freezer for a quick make ahead meal idea.
Meatball F.A.Q’s
If they’re turning out too tough, the usual culprit is over-mixing. To help prevent this, mix by hand.
Meatballs can be made with different ground meats. Try our Turkey Meatballs, which can easily be made with ground chicken. Or swap some of the ground beef for ground pork, similar to how we make our Swedish Meatballs.
Both baking and pan frying methods will give perfectly cooked meatballs. Pan frying will give a sear and add flavoring to a sauce if you are using the same skillet. Oven baked meatballs cook nice and evenly, allowing you to make a large batch to use in another recipe or freeze for later.
More Pasta Recipes
Easy Homemade Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
Instructions
- Mix: Add the ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, grated parmesan, minced onion and minced garlic together in medium sized mixing bowl and mix together. Slowly pour in the milk and mix using hands to ensure thoroughly mixed. Mixture will be wet.
- Prepare Skillet: Heat oil in a large pan or dutch oven over medium heat.
- Form Meatballs: Using hands roll meatball mixture into small balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place in the pan coated with oil.
- Sear: Cook the meatballs over medium heat, turning while they cook, until browned on all sides. Cook in batches if needed to avoid over-crowding. Once all meatballs are seared remove from the skillet and set aside. (do not worry if the meatballs are cooked through, they will finish cooking in the sauce)
- Drain the grease from the pan, but leave all the blackened bits.
- Prepare Sauce: Return the pan to the stove at a low heat. Add the onion and cook until softened. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tomato paste.
- Add Tomatoes & Ingredients: Pour in the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes. Add in the oregano, basil, salt, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Add in the light brown sugar and stir.
- Add Meatballs: Return the meatballs to the pot. Gently mix into the sauce.
- Simmer: Bring sauce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Video
Equipment
Notes
- Meat: this recipe calls for ground beef, but feel free to sub in half ground pork, or use ground turkey or chicken also if needed. Use an 80/20 mix for more flavor.
- Onion: finely mince and leave it raw for great flavor in the meat. Keeping the dice small lets the onion flavor blend in with the meat while it cooks.
- Salt: plan on 1 tsp of salt per 1 pound of meat.
- Parmesan Cheese: use freshly grated, the shelf stable parmesan will not melt the same.
- Breadcrumbs: use Italian seasoned for extra flavoring, or use plain breadcrumbs and add more herbs and seasonings as desired.
- Eggs: these act as a binder in this recipe.
- Freezing: Cook them completely through, let cool to room temperature, then add to a large freezer size resealable bag or large sealed container. Store in the freezer for 4-6 months. To thaw, place in the refrigerator overnight, reheat by simmering in sauce until heated through
- Baking: Place on a large baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan as needed for even cooking. Check for internal temperature of 160℉ to test done-ness.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe first published September 16, 2019. Updated July 23, 2021 and January 18, 2024.
Photography by the talented @KJandCompany.co
My family absolutely LOVED both the meatballs and sauce!!! I have been trying out all kinds of different recipes and this is the best!Thank you for your beautiful blog, what a treasure!
Seriously the best sauce I ever made. My family thinks I slaved in the kitchen for hours, it’s that good. I never write reviews. You need to try this recipe.
I have made these meatballs several times. I use 1 lb ground beef and 1 lb pork. They are so good and moist! My husband requested these for his birthday dinner! So I’m making them today! Thanks for the recipe!
For ground beef do use 15/85 or 20/80
I bet the 20/ 80 may taste better?
I typically will buy 20/80 when I’m getting ground beef. But you can use whichever kind you prefer.
Is the olive oil for Browning or is it added to the meat mixture?
Judy
Hi Judy, the oil is just for searing the meatballs in.
Love this recipe it’s been awhile since I made and I making it for Christmas eve this year. How many meatballs dose this recipe make?
Hi Lauren. It really depends on how big you make the meatballs. I tend to make large meatballs and can get about 10 meatballs per 1 lb of meat. This recipe calls for 2 lbs so it would make about 20 large meatballs. Hope this helps!
I was looking for a meatball recipe because I had a package of ground beef and a package of hot Italian sausage I needed to use. I followed the recipe to the letter and ended up broiling the meatballs. They are fantastic! So much flavor. I used the sauce recipe as well and it’s also delicious- the meatballs tho!!! Outstanding!!!!
Thanks so much Gina! So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Made this with half and half pork and beef. What an excellent meal!! We ended up with 29 meatballs and 4 per serving (No noodles for us). We love this and will make it again with no changes at all!
I will never buy a jar of spaghetti sauce again. This is an easy to follow, great tasting recipe. 10 out of 10. Thank you for sharing it. I used half ground sirloin and half ground beef for the meatballs otherwise, I followed it exactly. I first tried your salsa recipe which is also fabulous. You have a loyal follower. Again, thank you.
Brandon
Could you please state how much tomato paste you add to the recipe sauce. That seems to have been left out.
Hi Sandy! It’s 1 tablespoon, I got the recipe card updated. thank you.