It’s officially COZY SEASON!! And that calls for sauces, soups, and chilis! Jay actually made chili the other night. I’m not allowed to share that recipe though, he has “secrets” in it.
This recipe for Italian meatballs is based on my mom’s meatballs, but I think I have perfected them over the years… don’t tell my mom that, though! Jay does call her the most Italian Irish lady he’s ever met, so that’s definitely saying something!
Normally, I make meatballs when I’m making a big crockpot of homemade sauce, but this time I had sauce leftover that I was reheating on the stove and just needed some meatballs to go with it! Check my extra heating tips towards the bottom to learn how long to cook the meatballs depending on what you’re doing with them.
This recipe makes about 10 meatballs, so feel free to double or triple as needed. The most basic part is 2 eggs per 1 lb of ground beef. The dry ingredients are more or less by taste, but you’ll quickly learn that if the mixture is too wet, you need more breadcrumbs!
Italian Style Meatballs
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (I use 85/15 grass fed organic)
2 eggs
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1-2 cups italian style bread crumbs (start with 1 cup, add more as needed)
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper
Directions:
1. Throw all of your ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl. Crack the eggs first of course! And only start with about 1 cup of bread crumbs. The garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper are all to taste, but you’re going to need more than a pinch of each.
2. Wash your hands and start mixing. YES with your hands! It’s so much more fun that way, plus you’ll be able to tell just how much more bread crumbs you’ll need. Mix everything into one giant meatball. If it’s too wet, add more breadcrumbs. If it’s too dry… well you could add an egg, but you’ll then need significantly more bread crumbs and you might as well just have breadcrumb balls. Start slow with the breadcrumbs y’all.
3. Preheat a non-stick skillet on medium with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (I guess any oil will do, but this is what I use). If you’re making sauce, this is a good time to get that going.
I highly recommend this skillet: Calphalon Premier Hard-Anodized Nonstick Cookware, 13-Inch Deep Skillet with Cover (mine didn’t come with a cover, so this is a great deal!)
4. Now take your huge ass meatball and start pulling about a golfball size of meat at a time and roll into smaller balls. The bigger they are, the longer they will take to cook, so keep that in mind. You should get about 10 from this recipe. Place them on a plate until all the balls are formed.
5. When the skillet is hot, add the meatballs.
6. Cook until browned on each side.
Pay attention to the directions below on how long to cook them:
If you’re just eating plain meatballs and all you’re going to do is cook them on the stove, make sure the internal temp is at least 145 degrees. You can also cut into one (I suggest the biggest) to make sure there’s no pink inside.
If you’re adding to sauce that you’re heating up on the stove (aka it’s not going to sit all day), cook the meatballs until almost done. They will continue cooking in the sauce.
If you are making sauce in a crockpot (my method of choice), just get the meatballs brown on the outside and add to the sauce. They will continue to cook all the way through in the slow cooked sauce.
Bonus Tip:
Add the leftover oil/grease from the skillet to your sauce for even more flavor! Be careful not to splatter yourself when you do this. If you add it to sauce that isn’t quite hot yet, it is definitely going to sizzle!
