After seeing several friends post on Facebook yesterday that they were making spaghetti and meatballs for supper, I had to make some as well! It’s been awhile since I’ve made homemade meatballs — the last time I did make meatballs, I fried them and though they were good, they fell apart like they always seem to do when I pan fry them!
This time I decided to try and bake my meatballs before adding them to the sauce. Wow! They turned out great and made the whole house smell amazing. I think we were all just waiting for the timer to go off, everyone kept coming into the kitchen to ask if supper was done yet. :-P
Even my garlic hating son loved these easy to make meatballs.
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic, minced and squished
- 2 eggs
- 1 c grated cheese (I used Kraft Romano)
- 1 Tbs dried Parsley
- ½ tsp onion powder
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 slices seedless Rye bread (stale or dried out in oven for a minute)
- ½ - ¾ cup lukewarm water
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, onion powder, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Cube the bread into tiny pieces and add to meat mixture. Stir.
- Add water ¼ cup at a time to meat mixture. It will absorb into the mixture. Add enough to make a moist mixture that will still hold its shape.
- Using a medium scoop shape meat mixture into balls (about 2 Tbs each). Place on parchment paper lined pan so they aren't touching.
- Bake in preheated oven 30 - 40 minutes or until cooked through.
- Makes about 36 meatballs. Enjoy!
After removing from oven, the meatballs are ready to be gently dropped into any simmering sauce.
You can also let them cool a bit, put into freezer bags and toss them in the freezer for up to a month. This is a great way to have a quick meal on hand! They are delicious in meatball subs, swedish meatballs or with spaghetti and sauce.
Last night, I served half of these with a sauce made out of 1 jar of Bertolli 5 Cheese Red Pasta Sauce and 1 can of Hunt's diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic and Oregano. Simmered while the meatballs were baking then dropped the meatballs into the sauce to simmer while the pasta was cooking. The other half will be made into meatballs subs for dinner tonight!
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I’m happy to see someone else doesn’t bake meatballs before adding to the sauce. My mom always said don’t bake first however I like to once in a while. These sound good, I’m craving meatball subs!
I like them like this so that I can them in other recipes besides sauce ones. I had forgotten all about it until yesterday. I used to bake big batches of them and freeze in quart sized bags – so easy to just reheat for supper! They were delicious in our meatball subs tonight!
These look so delicious and healthier than fried!