Meatballs and spaghetti is one of Kevin’s favorite foods. He craves meatballs and spaghetti at least once a month. I love pasta in general, so it is always an easy decision for me when debating what to make for dinner. When I first started making meatballs, I combined different types of meats, but I found out just using ground beef also works very well. These meatballs are very easy to make and most of the cooking time occurs in the oven. I had some leftover marinara sauce from making garlic knots earlier, so I used the marinara sauce as the base sauce for the meatballs and spaghetti. I made these for dinner and we had a delicious home cooked meal in under an hour.
Meatballs
· 4 tablespoons of olive oil (or less depending on how many meatballs your skillet can accommodate at once)
· ½ small onion, diced
· 3 cloves garlic, minced
· 1 pound ground beef
· ½ cup panko bread crumbs
· ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
· 1 teaspoon dried parsley
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
· 1 large egg
· ½ cup marinara sauce
· ½ package dried spaghetti, broken in half and cooked according to the package instructions
· ½ cup cooked green peas (optional)
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking dish with aluminum foil (for easier clean up). Set aside.
2) Heat a skillet on medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add one tablespoon of oil. Cook the onion and garlic in the skillet for 3-5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Let the onion and garlic cool before adding into meatballs. You can speed up the cooling process by placing the onion and garlic into the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
3) In a large bowl, combine the onion, garlic, ground beef, panko, cheese, parsley, salt, black pepper, and egg. Mix thoroughly with your hands and roll portions of the mixture into 1-inch wide meatballs. Wash your hands after all portions are rolled into meatballs.
4) Heat a pot on medium heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook 6-7 meatballs at a time until meatballs are browned on all sides. Feel free to cook more meatballs at a time if your pot can accommodate more than 6-7. Remove browned meatballs to a plate. Repeat process with another tablespoon of oil and another 6-7 meatballs until all meatballs are browned on all sides. Add marinara sauce into pan where you cooked the meatballs. Return all the browned meatballs into the pot and toss with the marinara sauce. Pour the meatballs coated with marinara sauce into the baking dish lined with aluminum foil.
5) Bake the meatballs in the oven for 30 minutes. When time is up, remove the meatballs from the oven and let rest for another 5 minutes before serving.
6) To serve, scoop some of the marinara sauce from the baking dish into a bowl with the spaghetti and toss the sauce with the spaghetti a couple times to coat. Scoop some of the spaghetti onto a plate and serve with meatballs and green peas (optional) on top.
Takeaways: Browning the meatballs ahead of time before baking makes the meatballs a lot more flavorful. If you want truly delicious meatballs, do not skip this step. The spaghetti can be cooked while the meatballs are baking in the oven.