Chef John's Italian Meatballs Recipe

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Chef John's Italian Meatballs

65k

Recipe by: Chef John

"Homemade meatballs are a very easy to make, and since we skip the very messy step of pan-frying these before they hit the sauce, it becomes downright simple. Here I use a standard half-beef/half-pork mixture. You can substitute water or beef broth for the milk, if preferred."

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Directions

Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onions in hot oil until translucent, about 20 minutes.
Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl. Stir onions, bread crumb mixture, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and Parmesan cheese into meat mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Using wet hands, form meat mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Arrange onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven until browned and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

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Footnotes

Cook's Notes:
Some recipes use equal portions of beef, veal, and pork, which is also nice, yet more expensive. These days you can find all sorts of lean-to-fat ratios for ground beef. Most stores sell 90% lean, 10% fat, but I prefer the 80% lean, 20% fat ratio for this recipe.
Once cooked, you can add the meatballs to your favorite prepared tomato sauce for 1 to 2 hours.
Tip
Parchment can be used for easier cleanup/removal from the pan.
Partner Tip
Reynolds® Aluminum foil can be used to keep food moist, cook it evenly, and make clean-up easier.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving: 82 calories; 5.5 1.7 6.2 32 192 Full nutrition

Reviews

Read all reviews

1642 Ratings

Most helpful positive review

Sarah Jo
- 1
- 5k

4/6/2012

I made Chef John's meatloaf a week or so ago and it was quite tasty which made me excited to try his meatball recipe. The bread crumbs I used in this recipe were made from homemade garlic-butter...

Most helpful critical review

Peggy Esposito
- 193
- 87

1/6/2013

I just took these out of the oven and they were swimming in liquid!! They weren't browned or even close - the flavor of the meat is good but the consistency of the cooked meatballs is wrong - w...

Most helpful

Most positive

Least positive

Newest

Sarah Jo
- 1
- 5k

4/6/2012

I made Chef John's meatloaf a week or so ago and it was quite tasty which made me excited to try his meatball recipe. The bread crumbs I used in this recipe were made from homemade garlic-butter...

marcosheller
- 192
- 8

4/21/2012

These meatballs were awesome! I added more breadcrumbs than the recipe called for, left out the red pepper, and used beef broth instead of milk. They were a big hit and I even posted a picture! ...

Rock_lobster
- 1k
- 702

4/26/2012

CJ's Italian Meatballs Haiku: "I can't believe it. These beat 'Meatball Nirvana' And they held up too!" So my biggest praise for these meatballs is that after I made a double-batch, w/o changing...

Dale
- 212
- 74

1/8/2013

Excellent meatballs! They are perfectly seasoned! I prefer to mix the bread crumbs with milk in a large bowl and allow it to rest for 20 minutes then mix in the eggs, parsley, parmesan cheese, t...

Christina
- 3k
- 2k

4/27/2012

These are FANTASTIC meatballs! I used meatloaf mix, b/c it was cheaper (believe it or not) than buying the beef and pork seperately. I also used seasoned breadcrumbs instead of plain and dried ...

Peggy Esposito
- 193
- 87

1/6/2013

I just took these out of the oven and they were swimming in liquid!! They weren't browned or even close - the flavor of the meat is good but the consistency of the cooked meatballs is wrong - w...

Lori
- 342
- 58

1/10/2013

These tasted really good and were super easy to make. Just a couple of things: I think next time I'll use maybe a 1/3 cup of milk as they were almost too juicy to form into balls. Also, next t...

Msbaker51
- 14
- 5

6/27/2016

These meatballs were excellent! I followed the recipe as is. No problems with it whatsoever. Thanks Chef John! Fellow members, please refrain from changing the recipe to suit yourself and rate ...

dagwood456
- 29
- 2

8/4/2012

Wow. This recipe is a keeper. I followed the recipe to a T and I wasn't disappointed. These meatballs were intended for sub sandwiches with marinara, but after tasting them fresh out of the oven...

Chef John's Italian Meatballs

Ingredients

Directions