If you’re looking for a comforting dinner option that the whole family will enjoy, look no further. These baked Italian meatballs are guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser. In fact, you could say that I won my husband over with this recipe! It was the first dinner I cooked for him, and the rest was history. It is still one of his all-time-favourite dishes.
Yes there are MANY recipes for Italian meatballs out there. So why make this one? For me, it ticks all the boxes – nostalgic Italian flavours, melt in your mouth texture, limited time fussing in the kitchen, and they are absolutely delicious in that warm-you-from-the-inside kind of way.
Here are a few little tricks that make these meatballs so good:
1. Using a mixture of beef mince and sausage meat.
We have a lovely little deli in our neighbourhood that sells a pretty good salsiccia pork sausage (pasture raised, no funny ingredients, etc). If you can’t find salsiccia sausages, any good quality sausages will work (you can get as creative with flavours as you wish). What’s great about using sausage meat is that it’s already seasoned, adding to the flavour complexity of these meatballs.
2. The secret to melt-in-your-mouth meatballs
The ultimate secret to these tender meatballs is in the power of the panade (a fancy word for bread mush). Essentially a panade is made from combining a starch with a liquid (traditionally bread and milk or water are used). This mixture prevents protein fibres in meat from constricting. In simple terms, incorporating this into the meat mixture is a game-changer, creating light and juicy meatballs. It may seem weird but just do it, trust me.
3. Short-cut tricks for hearty comfort-food flavours:
Browning the meatballs to golden brown perfection is crucial to locking in their juices and flavours. For ease and to avoid the frustration of these little beauties falling apart when being tossed around in a frying pan, I grill them in the oven. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan, allowing the meatballs to brown evenly.
After this, these golden delights are baked in a pot of gold – aka my incredible and easy homemade napolitana sauce (which can also be used as a base for many other tomato-sauce-requiring recipes). I pride myself on a tomato sauce with the perfectly balance of acidic/ umami/ sweet/ salty, and this recipe does just that.
And finally, the whole thing is topped with a generous layer of melted cheese. Because how can you not?
There you have it, melt-in-your-mouth Italian meatballs that will leave you coming back for seconds. Serve over a bed of al dente spaghetti and a slice of crispy ciabatta and trust me your gran will be very proud.
Buon appetito!
Better than Grandma's Baked Italian Meatballs
Ingredients
Napolitana style tomato sauce
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 (small) stick of celery, finely diced
- 1 (small) carrot, finely diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 pods of star anise
- 1 anchovy, finely chopped
- 600 ml tomato passata alternatively tinned tomatoes
- 1 tsp sugar or sweetener of choice to taste
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Baked Meatballs
- 250 g ground salsiccia or italian sausage meat alternatively pork sausage
- 250 g beef mince
- 2 thick slices of soft bread
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tsp dried oregano or any dried Italian style herb
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan try not to use the pre-grated variety
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 200 g mozzarella cheese or for a more "melty" cheese use cheddar or gouda
- 1 handful fresh basil leaves to serve
Instructions
Napolitana style tomato sauce
- In a dutch oven, sauté the onion, celery and carrots in olive oil until soft.
- Add the star anise pods, garlic and anchovy and sauté until aromatic.
- Add the tomato passata, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Simmer on low heat to reduce for 15-20 minutes whilst making the meatballs. Stir occasionally to prevent catching.
Baked Italian meatballs
- Preheat oven to 230℃ (450℉).
- Add the beef mince and sausage meat (minus the outer casing) to a medium sized bowl and break up with a fork.
- Add the spices and season with ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Mix to combine.
- Remove crusts from bread if desired. Run bread slices under some water to soak and gently squeeze out excess. Place in a bowl and gently break up with a fork (should be a bit chunky).
- Add bread mixture, egg, parmesan and basil to the meat mixture and mix to combine.
- Using wet hands or lightly oiled hands, scoop a heaped tablespoon of meat mixture at a time and roll into a ball. Place onto a silpat or baking paper lined oven tray.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until browned (they do not need to be cooked through as they will still be baked in the tomato sauce).
- Remove star anise pods from tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Turn oven temperature down to 200℃ (400℉).
- Gently place baked meatballs into the tomato sauce. Cover the dutch oven with a lid and place in oven. Bake covered for 25 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add the cheese. Return uncovered to oven for a further 5-10 minutes until cheese has melted.
- Top with picked fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Serve spooned over spaghetti or your pasta of choice.
1 Comment
This recipe is a great example of how to elevate the flavors of a simple, nostalgic dish. We used a large glass baking dish as a substitute for the dutch oven, and added a bit (1/2 cup) of the pasta water prior to baking to account for the shallow depth. Turned out exceptional!