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spaghetti and meatballs with a sprig of Italian parsley on a white bowl
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4.96 from 113 votes

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Nothing says comfort food to me more than a plate of the Italian Classic, Spaghetti and Meatballs. I never get tired of this delicious dish and making a batch of sauce and meatballs ahead of time is a great way to make sure you have dinner in the freezer whenever you need it.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
chill meatball mixture1 hour
Total Time1 hour
Course: Entree
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 8
Calories: 937kcal
Author: Chef Dennis Littley

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 1 cup stale Italian bread
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ cup onion fine dice
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup Italian parsley chopped
  • 1 tablespoon garlic minced
  • 2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • ¼ cup grated Romano cheese
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil to fry meatballs

Tomato Sauce

  • ½ onion finely diced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh garlic finely chopped
  • 56 ounces Crushed Tomato San Marzano (whole tomatoes crushed by hand or with immersion blender)
  • 1 bunch fresh basil finely chopped - about 1 cup
  • ¼ cup Olive Oil
  • 2 teaspoon sugar optional
  • 1 teaspoon Sea Salt to taste
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper to taste
  • 2 pounds spaghetti I used De Cecco

Instructions

Meatballs

  • Soak bread in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
  • Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl. Stir onions, bread mixture, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper,dried basil, and Romano cheese into meat mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
  • Using wet hands, form meat mixture into balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter.
  • Heat about ¼-inch of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry the meatballs until they are browned on all sides and cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Tomato Sauce

  • In a large skillet or small sauce pot, sauté diced onion and chopped garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent, do not allow them to burn!
  • Add crushed tomatoes, rinse cans with just a little water and add to the sauce (if crushed tomatoes are not available use whole tomatoes and crush by hand or with an immersion blender).
  • add chopped basil, sugar, sea salt and black pepper to taste (don’t over season you can always add more later).
  • After your sauce has reached a boil, reduce the heat to low, a simmer for 15-20 minutes for classical Marinara / simmer for 1-3 hours for a rich hearty Tomato Sauce.
  • Gently add the browned meatballs to the sauce about one hour before you're done cooking the tomato sauce. Don't be tempted to leave the meatballs in the sauce for the entire process, they will get dry and tough.

Pasta

  • Cook pasta.  Follow instructions on box.
    **Unless you have a large enough pot to cook both pounds at once cook them 1 pound at a time.  

Nutrition

Calories: 937kcal | Carbohydrates: 105g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 126mg | Sodium: 995mg | Potassium: 1218mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 560IU | Vitamin C: 20.1mg | Calcium: 176mg | Iron: 6.1mg