Homemade Meatballs Recipe

Hey, I’m John Canel and today we’re making some delicious flavor-packed meatballs. So, let’s get started. There are two ways to cook meatballs. You could pop them into the oven or you can pan fry them. I’m going to show you both because I do both depending on my mood. If you’re using the oven method, preheat to 400 so it’s nice and hot.

Prep Work

First off, we’re going to do some prep. Starting with half an onion, getting a nice chop. These meatballs are going to be so delicious with a lovely texture and there’s a lot of flavor to pack in here. So, I will not begrudge them the small amount of prep work we have to do. A nice little chop. Okay, set that aside. Half a cup or 40 g of shredded parm. And it’s always better if you can do this yourself as opposed to buying it pre-shredded. The pre-shredded kind is just covered with a really fine powder of cellulose so it doesn’t stick. And that’s wood pulp. So extra fiber, but it doesn’t let it kind of mesh in as well with the other flavors. All right. Half a cup or 40 g. I have four cloves of garlic. You could give them a mince, but I’m tired of my fingers smelling like garlic, so I’m using a garlic press. Just adding that right over the onions. And if you want more garlic, go ahead and measure with your heart. My heart is stinky and full of garlic. I’d also like a ¼ cup of chopped parsley. If you have other herbs you’d like to add in here, have at it. I really like the subtle vegetal flavor of parsley. Just make sure it’s flat leaf. The curly one is a little bit too substantial, I find. Okay, my prep work is complete. So, we’ll set this aside and grab a large mixing bowl.

Mixing the Base

Into a large bowl, I’m adding 1 cup or 60 g of panko breadcrumbs. ¾ of a cup of milk. That ASMR. Oh my gosh. Also adding in the parm. For the seasoning, you have a choice. You could do two teaspoons of Italian seasoning. You could add in some oregano, some thyme. You could do fresh, you could do dried, it doesn’t matter. Just add what you enjoy. Never want to be prescriptive on the herbs because there is no wrong answer unless you don’t like cilantro, in which case you are the problem. I’m kidding. A teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. Got to respect the grind. We’re going to give this a mix now. And these breadcrumbs need to soak up all that milk so our meatballs are juicy and tender. Set this aside for 10 minutes. If you’re doing the oven method, you really want to have a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. And in either case, a triggered scoop should be at the ready. I’m going to clean this up and we’ll be back after 10 minutes.

Adding Meat and Forming

Crack an egg. Plop that in. And we can add in the remaining ingredients. That’s the parsley, the onion, and the garlic. There we go. Let’s give that a stir. Ooh. You know what I like to add? I love adding lemon zest to my meatballs. So, why not make my dreams come true? Zest one or two lemons inside, depending on how much lemoniness you’d like. This just gives it a really nice lift and pairs well with whatever herbs you add. The meatballs can feel a bit dull sometimes, so I love adding a little bit of citrus in. Lemon and garlic. Ah, amazing. Okay, stir this all in. Our meatballs need some meat, so we’re going to have a pound of pork and a pound of beef each. That’s 450 g. If you wanted to, you could definitely sub both of these out for turkey. Personally, in our household, we love turkey meatballs. However, if you are doing that, it has to be like the dark turkey meat, the fattier kind, not the breast. Absolutely not. Those would be rubbery meatballs. There’s no fat in them. So, we need to mix this up. I’m just going to break this up really quickly a little bit with my spatula. And now, you will use your clean hands to massage this together. You’re not pressing it in. That would make a dense meatball. We want them to be really nice and tender, which is why we added the breadcrumbs. Claw-like motions massaging. If you have texture issues, I’m sorry. Just wear gloves or have somebody else do this. This smells so nice. I like to do this move. Oh, look at that. All that at the bottom. Make sure you go to the bottom of your bowl because there will be a lot of milk, breadcrumbs, etc. malingering about. Remember that word from the SATs. Okay, this looks nicely mixed. My hands need a wash right now, but we’re ready to start scooping these out.

Oven Method

So, if you’re doing the oven method, let’s add 2 tablespoons of olive oil here. And if you’ve ever read a recipe, 2 tablespoons of olive oil is code for however much you want under ¼ of a cup. If you ever measure out two tablespoons of olive oil like with a measuring spoon, you’re going to be so it’s not going to work out. I mean, maybe it will. Who knows? We’re going to divide the mixture into about 24 2 oz meatballs. So, just want to see what my scoop does. My meatballs are about this big. So, place these one inch apart on the sheet. And doesn’t hurt to have some olive oil on your hands so they don’t get so sticky. These meatballs can definitely be made in advance. You could have them all prepped out and ready. Just pop them onto a baking sheet, wrap tightly, and they’re good for 24 hours. Or you can freeze them raw or freeze them cooked for up to a month. As you roll out these 24 meatballs to about 2 oz each, it’s important that they’re just holding together. So, they shouldn’t be falling apart, but you’re not pressing them pressing them in. They should be kind of light and fluffy. We want them to be similar sizes so everyone feels like they’re having the same delicious treat. And much more importantly, they bake up evenly. Nobody wants to eat raw meat like this. You know, like tartar is fine. You don’t really need the triggered scoop if you can eyeball similar amounts. So, I’m just putting that out there. Meatballs have ancient roots. However, the modern one that we think of today was created by Italian-American immigrants in the 20th century. So new, so delicious. Everything has been rolled out. I will once again be thoroughly washing my hands. If you’re baking these guys, we’re going to drizzle about two more tablespoons of oil on top. And if you have a micro mister, like a spray for oil, you could use that. I had one, but somebody broke it. I ordered one just now. Drizzle. Drizzle. These guys are ready to go into the oven. 400 for 18 to 20 minutes. Then you can increase to a broil and broil for one to three minutes so they get a nice brown color.

Pan-Fry Method

In the meantime, I’m going to show you how to pan fry them. For baking halfway through, it’s a good idea to flip all of your meatballs so they bake really nice and evenly. The hot metal will cook your meatball and get that darker color. If you’re pan frying, grab about a 12-in pan. We’re going to place that over medium heat. Everyone’s cook top is different, so know your instruments, but it’s around medium. We don’t want these to burn, but be raw in the middle, so they have to cook a little bit slower than you might expect. We’re going to add ¼ cup of olive oil. Right now, once your oil is nice and hot, you’ll be able to tell because it’s shimmering in the pan, we’re going to add our meatballs in batches. For this size pan, I would do about six at a time. Could you use a larger pan? It’s difficult with the burner like heating everything up really evenly, but it depends on the pan you’re using. This oil looks nice and hot, so I’m going to add my meatballs in one at a time. Carefully make sure to give them some space. We’re going to cook our meatballs for a minute and then turn them and then turn them again and then turn them again and then turn them again until they’re browned all over. I like my meatballs like nice and darkened, but if this is taking on too much color, feel free to lower and adjust the temperature as needed. Okay, let’s turn these again. Spaghetti and meatballs. It might just be the perfect combination. My kids love this with a nice marinara sauce. I like this with a white sauce with some parm and garlic. Lot of fresh herbs and it is delicious. Ooh, a white wine sauce. That’s nice. I actually like these anyway as long as there’s pasta involved. But if you want, you could eat them as desired with any side. These are browned all over now, so I’m going to reduce the heat to medium low and cover them. These need to cook through so that when you temp them out, the centers are at 165 °F. If you wanted to, you could also transfer these onto a lined baking sheet and just bake them at 350 for about 15 minutes. That should finish it up and you would just temp them again. Either way will work totally fine. The oven method kind of just lets you get through all the batches and then bake them in one go and that way they’re all warm at the same time. 165 exactly. So, take these off heat and transfer them onto a paper towel lined plate. Repeat this process until all of your meatballs are cooked. Once they’re all done, you’ll be serving immediately and tossing with pasta sauce.

Final Touches

As you can see, these are both looking delicious. Baked will have less color and pan frying will caramelize that outside, which I prefer, but it’s definitely up to you. Serve with pasta and a sauce of your choice. And just like that, your meatballs are ready to enjoy. Those are delicious and so packed with flavor. And the texture is on point. They are not dense. They are juicy and perfectly cooked. I hope you get a chance to make this easy recipe.