MeatBall Recipe

Thank you cathysmom

Italian Meatballs:
2-3 lb ground beef, maybe 80/20 (leaner meat might make them too dry)
1-1 ½ lb ground pork
¾ tsp onion salt
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp salt or more
½ tsp pepper or more
2 tsp Italian seasoning
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp cilantro (optional)
¾ c grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp grated Romano cheese (optional)
2 ½ c Italian bread crumbs or plain bread crumbs
6 eggs
1 c milk

Combine the raw meat and other ingredients in a large bowl and mix together using your hands. Squishing the meat between your fingers is the most effective way to blend everything. Once it’s mixed, shape the meat mixture into balls large or small. Fry them in a little vegetable oil over medium heat until browned on all sides.

A lot of people will throw the meatballs into the spaghetti sauce to finish cooking, but I always had problems with them disintegrating because I cook the sauce for a full day, and I was never sure they were cooked when I did that. My MIL gave me a tip to bake them instead so that’s what I did this time. I just threw them into cake pans and casserole dishes and baked them in a 350 oven until the centers were fully cooked. Use a meat thermometer or cut a few open to check for doneness (no pink). Mine had to bake about 20-30 minutes but it varies a lot depending on how big the meatballs are and how much they were cooked on the stovetop.

There’s a LOT of latitude in how you season the meatballs. Basically you need the meat, salt, bread crumbs, eggs and milk. Everything else can be adjusted to suit your tastes. I always used the parsley and parmesan cheese because my Grandma did and she was Italian. The other seasonings change each time. I just added more this time and it turned out well, though it’s still only lightly seasoned. You could add a lot more of the spices for more flavor. Adjust the proportions of meat/breadcrumbs/eggs and milk as needed to get a workable mixture if you are having trouble with it.

Things I have learned the wrong way: If your meatballs are falling apart while you are forming or cooking them, the mix is probably too dry and you need more eggs. I added more breadcrumbs and made it worse. The eggs act as the glue. While the idea of adding diced onions to the mix is nice, onion pieces will make the meatballs fall apart since they create flaws in the ball shape. I haven’t tried using dried minced onion, but that might work since the pieces are so small. Onion powder would work, too.

You don’t have to use ground pork, but we always did and I like the extra flavor rather than having all-beef meatballs. My Grandma used to use unseasoned pork sausage meat (removed from the casing) instead of ground pork sometimes, but I’m not a sausage person so I’ve never tried it.

Freezing: I divided mine into containers and added just enough sauce to cover if it was a ‘meatball’ container or a lot of sauce if it was a ‘sauce and meatball’ ready to go for dinner. I made spaghetti sauce the last time I made meatballs so I had sauce available, but I think that you could freeze them dry, too. If you do try that, would you let me know if that works or if freezer-burn becomes a problem?