Italian Meatballs

There are a few reasons why I like to make my own.  First of all, as much as I appreciate the convince of pre-made frozen meatballs, I always find that they can come out a bit dry.  Another reason is you can’t control the ingredients.  Of course, meat is the main ingredient, but many have other ingredients you might need to or want to avoid, like dairy or gluten if you’re sensitive. 

Meatballs really aren’t that hard, and these are easy to make, so let’s get started!  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Get one or two muffin tins and lightly grease or spray with cooking spray.

Get a large bowl.  Crack the egg into it and beat it well.  Once the egg is beaten, start adding your other ingredients: salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, dried onion, and tomato paste.  Here we’ll also add the breadcrumbs.  Now remember how I said that if you are watching what you are eating and need to avoid gluten you can with homemade meatballs?  This is where my secret ingredient comes in.  If you can’t have gluten, but still need a breadcrumb substitute, get a bag of pork rinds.  Yes – pork rinds!  I know, it sounds odd, but trust me, it works. 

Get your pork rinds and crush them.  You can do this my crushing the bag with a rolling pin, just make sure to get the air out of the bag first, or for an easier, cleaner way, just put some in a food processor. Pork rinds have a similar texture to breadcrumbs and in recipes like meatballs and meatloaves that need the crumbs to help hold things together, they work really well.

Stir these ingredients to combine slightly, and then add the meat.  I usually just keep it simple and use ground beef, but I know often Italian meatballs use different meats or even a combination of meat.  I can usually find a “meatball” mix of ground meat at the grocery store, which is generally a combination of beef and pork.  If you want to change up the meat mix, go ahead.  I just wouldn’t go 100% ground poultry, or else they might be a bit dry.  If you want to lighten the meatballs up, try a combination of part ground turkey and part ground beef.

Now it’s time to get dirty.  Take off your watch and any jewelry you have on and plunge your hands in.  Yes, really, it’s the best way to mix the ingredients with the meat.  I gently kneed the meat until the seasoning and egg seem evenly mixed into the meat.

Now it’s time to roll the meatballs.  Since I’m planning to use these Italian meatballs to top my spaghetti, I’m going to make them a bit on the bigger side.  If I was making meatballs for something else, say an appetizer, I might make them smaller and adjust the cooking time.  Since these are part of a main meal, I am going to make each one with about 1/3 of a cup of mix.  I use a measuring cup to estimate and make sure the meatballs are all about the same size. 

Scoop the meat into your hand and gently roll into a ball.  Place the ball into a cup of the prepared muffin tin.  Continue until all the meat has been used up. 

Place the meatballs in the oven.  Cook for about 40 minutes.  If you’re making these meatballs ahead of time (oh, did I not mention that – you can make these ahead of time and refrigerate for a few days or freeze them), allow them to cool on a paper towel.  Or, add them into some tomato sauce to place them on top of spaghetti. 

As you can see, I went the classic route and placed my Italian Meatballs on top of some tomato sauce and spaghetti.  I had a block of Asiago cheese left in my refrigerator, so I took a peeler from my three piece peel and slicer set to get some freshly shredded cheese.  Yummy!

Need more Italian in your meal plan?  Check out some of my other favorite Italian inspired dishes like Italian Zucchini Boats and Linguine Florentine.

And speaking of meal plans, how is yours?  Need a little hand? Don’t forget we have meal plans in our Hoppin Meal Plans store!

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