Italian Meatballs
Updated
Updated
These classic Italian meatballs are an easy homemade foolproof meatball recipe that will be your go-to. They’re a million times better than anything store-bought with better texture and way more flavor. Use them right away or freeze a bunch and have them on hand for later to use with pasta or in soups and sandwiches!
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Best Homemade Italian Meatball Recipe
Meatballs! Glazed meatballs, Swedish meatballs, meatball subs, meatball and rice casserole, meatball soup. And, of course, spaghetti and meatballs. A classic…a force to be reckoned with. Too far? Well, a classic for sure.
Naturally, with so many recipes incorporating meatballs, you’re going to find about a gazillion variations. They’re like meatloaf in that sense – “kitchen sink”, as in “anything goes.” This particular recipe makes THE BEST Italian Meatballs with a combination of ground beef and pork, aromatics, just the right seasonings, and a secret ingredient – ricotta! They’re so flavorful and tender.
This meatball recipe makes a lot, so you can freeze some for later and alway have them on hand to use as desired. They’re my absolute favorite and go-to.
Helpful Tips
- Two different meats. I use a mixture of lean ground beef and seasoned ground pork for the best flavor. For the pork, you can incorporate sweet, mild, or hot depending on how spicy you want them.
- Binders. Egg and some Panko breadcrumbs help hold the meatballs together.
- Ricotta cheese! This is my secret ingredient. Trust me! It won’t make the meatballs taste like ricotta, instead it helps make these meatballs so tender.
- Pan fry and bake. Browning the meatballs in a skillet first provides a wonderful crust and additional flavor, then finishing them in an oven ensures they’re cooked through.
Italian Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound Italian ground pork sausage, (sweet, mild, or hot)
- 1 small sweet onion, diced small
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 & 1/4 cup ricotta cheese, fully drained
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Coat 2-3 baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine with your hands the beef, pork, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, parsley, egg, parmesan, breadcrumbs, ricotta, and salt.
- Using a small cookie scoop, form 1 & 1/4-inch balls out of the mixture.
- Heat olive oil over medium-high in a large skillet. Working in batches, add the meatballs and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes. (Add more olive oil if needed and turn down heat if they’re starting to burn.)
- Place browned meatballs on the baking sheets and transfer to the oven to finish cooking for 10 minutes.
- Use as desired. They're great with spaghetti of course, and also in soups, casseroles, or for meatballs sliders. Or let cool and freeze for another day! (Freezer instruction is included in the article.)
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.
Did you make this? Leave a rating below!How to Make Meatballs Step By Step
- Combine the ingredients. In a large bowl, combine with your hands 1 pound each lean ground beef and Italian ground pork sausage, 1 small diced sweet onion, 4 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning, 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, 1 large egg, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 1 cup panko breadcrumbs, 1 & 1/4 cups ricotta, and 2 teaspoons coarse salt.
- Form the meatballs. Form the mixture into 1 & 1/4-inch balls. Using a cookie scoop is the easiest and best way to make sure they’re uniform, so they cook at the same rate.
- Brown in a fry pan. Working in batches, brown the meatballs in a skillet with olive oil on all sides so they develop a nice crust. Heat olive oil over medium-high in a large skillet. (Add more olive oil if needed and turn down heat if they’re starting to over-brown.)
- Finish in the oven. Place browned meatballs on the baking sheets and transfer to a 425F oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking.
- Use as desired. They’re great with spaghetti of course, and also in soups or for meatballs sliders and casseroles. See below for more suggestions.
What to Make with Italian Meatballs
Enjoy these meatballs however you please! Use them with spaghetti sauce, for meatball sliders, in meatball soup, in a meatball rice skillet or meatballs and rice casserole, for grape jelly meatballs as an appetizer, in your favorite recipes, or let cool and freeze for another day.
Make Ahead and Storage
This recipe yields about 80 meatballs. Once a month I spend an hour prepping them, then package them up 10-12 per bag, and freeze them for later. That way, I have them ready to go when I need them!
- To freeze meatballs: prepare as directed in the recipe card. Let cool to the touch; then place meatballs on an ungreased cookie sheet and “flash freeze” uncovered about 30 minutes or until firm. Place partially frozen meatballs in a heavy plastic freezer bag or freezer container. Seal, label, and freeze no longer than 2 months.
- To reheat meatballs: thaw in the refrigerator, on the stove in sauces, or in the oven (350F for 20 minutes).
What is flash freezing?
When you flash freeze something, you set it, unwrapped, into the freezer for a short time (in this case, 30 minutes) until the surface hardens enough that it won’t stick to the other items when fully frozen. Flash freezing meatballs helps each meatball hold its individual shape and not stick to the other meatballs around it, so you can use as few or as many as you need.
More Meatball Recipes:
- These Green Goddess Meatballs are fresh, herby, and saucy with tender baked chicken meatballs served over simple orzo.
- I’d serve these Chicken Parmesan Meatballs with garlic bread, so none of that marinara goes to waste!
- My Homemade Swedish Meatballs are made with beef, pork, panko, milk, allspice, and nutmeg for classic savory flavor.
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
I’ve made these three times and they always taste wonderful. Best meatball recipe ever!!
Love this recipe and this is the second time I’ve made them. Family and company love them . Made 72 because I increased the recipe and froze them.
I made about 400 meatballs from this recipe. Snacked on a couple as they came out of the oven, delicious! Not dry at all and full of flavor. I used them to make meatball sliders with provolone and homemade marinara for my staff of 43. I can tell you they were all gone before the lunch hour.
My new favorite meatball recipe! The whole family loved them. Adding to my rotation. Thanks for your recipes!!!
Excellent! Easy to prepare and loved by the family. Will be making these again!
I’m currently making the meatballs so that I can try the crockpot Salisbury steak meatball recipe. I decided today that you are right up there with Ina Garten in the taste and ease of your recipes to read and then prepare. I follow you daily and look forward to making many more recipes. Thank you for the time it takes to create all layers of your creative and delicious Belly Full process! 🥰
I made them and they were very good! Lots of flavour! Thank you for sharing!
I have made these several times. Love them. I also use them in swedish meatballs recipe.
I recently saw your video for Italian meatballs and was intrigued. I’ve never had good luck over the years making various meatballs recipes but this one with the ricotta cheese caught my eye. Made it last night for the family and got rave reviews. I followed the recipe exactly and they were perfect. Excited about all the extra leftovers that are now in the freezer. Keep up the good work. I enjoy watching your recipes and have saved many for future use! 🙂
Absolutely the best meatballs I’ve made! Thanks for another winning recipe, Amy!
I made these meatballs and they are delicious. I never buy frozen meatballs I always make my own but this is my new recipe. Delicious thank you.
Do you have to use ricotta cheese in this recipe…we don’t like ricotta or cottage cheeseand wonder if we could use something like mozzarella instead or just leave it out.
Thanks for all the wonderful recipes you
Maureen
Hi Maureen – the ricotta helps make the meatballs so nice and tender, you can’t really taste it. If you’re absolutely opposed to using it, yes you can omit.
I just made these, and OMG the taste and texture is wonderful. I’ll never buy store meatballs again!! I did skip the frying part and went straight to oven for 20/25 mins that i saw you mention on another review, worked great. Thank you so much!!
These meatballs are the best! They are so favorable
I plan on making these for the first time, wondering if I want to make and then serve the following day, heating in a crockpot, would I just brown them, refrigerate then put in crockpot to finish cooking? Or should they be baked also and then reheat in the crockpot?
Hi Pat – You should fully cook them in the fry pan and finish baking, per the instructions. Are you planning on placing them in the crockpot with anything – like a sauce? I’ve never reheated these alone in the crockpot, I always do that in the oven.
These were quite tasty. I make meatballs often but had never put ricotta in them. Nice addition.
Have you or anyone else tried to make these with ground venison instead of beef?
Delicious! I love spicy foods so I added a bit of Jalapeno cheese to 1/2 of the mix and I loved both of the mixes. Your recipes are simple and down to earth, I am a cooking husband and I like using simple recipes that call for ingredients found in your pantry or the back of the fridge. Keep them coming!
My family loves these. So moist and flavorful. Even used them when I was making lasagna.
Hi Amy-do you purchase the Italian ground pork from a butcher, or if bought at the grocers, what brand do you suggest? Thank you.
Hi Joyce. I just buy it where all the other meats are. If your grocery store doesn’t carry their own brand, you can just use Jimmy Dean.