parmesan meatballs recipe

Parmesan Meatballs Recipe

Written by on in Recipes, Budget Friendly, Entertaining, For the Freezer, Weeknight Favorites

I love quick and easy weeknight meals that taste like you spent a ton of time on dinner.  I have made this parmesan meatballs recipe two ways – one from scratch like the recipe below – and the other using frozen store-bought meatballs.  Both are tasty – and there is NOTHING wrong with using good quality frozen meatballs.  It’s a nice shortcut and makes getting dinner on the table a breeze.

The trick with meatballs (and meatloaf for that matter) is to handle it gently.  Mix without squishing the meat and make your meatballs without packing the burger together.  This will guarantee a tender meatball.  If you wanted to get REALLY fancy – put a small cube of mozzarella in the middle of the meatball as you form it.

You can also get these to the “bake point” and freeze the whole pan.  This parmesan meatballs recipe is great to whip out and throw in the oven on a busy day/night.  I really like to cook mine in cast iron, if you do you can go from stovetop to oven in one pan.

This is a way to dress up boring meatballs and make something “fancy” without a lot of effort.

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Parmesan Meatballs Recipe

Author Carrie Hill

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground beef 85-90% lean
  • 1/2 small onion minced
  • 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
  • 3/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • salt to taste
  • 1 Tablespoon milk
  • 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil or Coconut Oil
  • 1 Jar Sauce of your choice my fave is Barilla Traditional or Classico Tomato & Basil
  • 1/2 to 3/4 Cup Parmigiano-Reggiano or Mozzarella cheese to top it off with!

Instructions

  1. Preheat Oven to 375
  2. Mix beef, onion, Italian seasoning, bread crumbs, parmesan, eggs, salt & mail together and form meatballs. I use my cookie scoop because I like smaller meatballs. I make on average 18-20 meatballs from 1 lb of ground beef.
  3. Brown in vegetable or coconut oil on all sides. You don’t need to cook them through - they’ll finish baking in the oven
  4. Pour 1/3 of the sauce into the bottom of your 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish.
  5. Lay meatballs on top of the sauce. Cover with the rest of the sauce.
  6. Bake covered in foil for 30 minutes.
  7. Uncover and sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese - i sometimes mix up the Parm and the Mozz.
  8. Broil for a few minutes until melted, golden & bubbling.
  9. Serve with pasta or on toasted rolls