Italian Meatballs Recipe

I’ve made this Italian meatballs recipe several times in the past few months. They are filling and tasty and go well on sandwiches, on toothpicks for appetizers, or, more traditionally, with pasta.

These truly are a “spaghetti and meatballs” type of meatball. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll work well with a lot of things. But they are excellent with a pile of pasta and some good red sauce.

A white casserole dish sits filled with just-out-of-the-oven Italian Meatballs.

HOW TO MAKE MEATBALLS:

The process of making meatballs is very simple. To combine your ingredients, it’s best to use your hands to knead and combine everything together. Once that’s done, you’ll want to clean your hands before rolling the meatballs, otherwise they will stick more to your hands.

Roll these to the size of about a golf ball. They won’t spread out during baking, so you can pack these pretty close together in your casserole dish. In fact, they do quite well in the oven even if they are touching. So don’t be shy about putting them all in the same dish.

Once you have your meatballs rolled and put in your baking dish, quickly mix together the sauce and pour it over the meatballs, then pop the whole thing in the oven.

When they are done, they should read at least 165 F. on a meat thermometer.

Incidentally, these go well with rice too. Either way, spoon the meatballs over rice or pasta and then include some of the sauce and a little parmesan for garnish.

TO FREEZE:
If you are making these for food prep, they freeze super well! Freeze them without any pasta (rice is okay to freeze with these). Freeze in portions for up to 4 months.

These will last in the fridge for up to three days.

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MORE HEALTHY MEATBALL RECIPES:

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An overhead view looking down into a white casserole dish filled with this freshly made Italian Meatballs.

Italian Meatballs Recipe

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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Italian
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 28 meatballs
Calories: 57kcal

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 2 lb. ground turkey
  • ¼ cup oat flour
  • 2 tbsp. Italian Seasoning (see link above to make your own)
  • 2 tbsp. garlic powder
  • 2 tbsp. dehydrated chopped onions
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ tsp. salt

Sauce

  • 2 cups chicken broth (no sugar added, low sodium is best)
  • 6 oz. can tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp. garlic powder

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 F.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, combine everything for the sauce with a whisk and set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients and knead with your hands until the spices are evenly distributed within the meat.
  • Place the meatballs in a casserole dish. You don't have to allow for room between them as they will shrink during baking.
  • Pour the sauce over the top of the meatballs, and gently give a small giggle to the casserole dish to distribute the sauce more evenly. The meatballs will slide a bit, but that's okay. Just keep it gentle so you don't end up with one big meatball!
  • Bake for 40 minutes, remove from oven and serve.

Notes

Please note that the nutrition data given here is a ballpark figure. Exact data is not possible.

Nutrition

Serving: 1meatball | Calories: 57kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 174mg | Potassium: 202mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 130IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg

Author: Tiffany McCauley

Title: Food and Travel Journalist

Expertise: Food, cooking, travel

Bio:

Tiffany McCauley is a nationally syndicated journalist and an award-winning cookbook author and food blogger. She has been featured on MSN, Huffington Post, Country Living Magazine, HealthLine, Redbook, and many more. Her food specialty is healthy comfort food recipes.

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