The Very Best Italian Meatballs Recipe (Ready in 30 Minutes!)

These tasty baked Italian meatballs take just 30 minutes from start to finish and are packed with delicious flavors of herbs, Parmesan cheese, and garlic. The best part is that they're baked in the oven which means totally hands-off cooking time for you! Whether served with spaghetti, as a hearty sandwich filling, or enjoyed on their own with marinara sauce, these Italian meatballs promise to transport your taste buds straight to Sunday night dinner with the family!

 

The Best Italian Meatballs Ever!

These restaurant-quality meatballs will quickly become a family favorite!

• They take about 10 minutes to throw together and the rest is hands-off cooking time.
• They're tender, moist, juicy, and delicious.
• Clean-up is a breeze because they're baked.
• The recipe is super versatile which means you can customize it to suit your family's taste.
• They can be made ahead and frozen. See detailed notes below.
• They're perfect for meatball subs or a simple spaghetti and meatballs dinner.

Ingredients for Homemade Meatballs

Italian Breadcrumbs

Italian-style breadcrumbs are simply Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs. You can buy these at the grocery store, or make your own by mixing Italian seasoning and garlic powder with plain breadcrumbs.

Whole Milk

I use whole milk to soak the breadcrumbs. 2% milk or half and half will work as well.

Ground Beef

I use 85/15 or 80/20 ground beef for the best flavor. Remember that fat equals flavor so leaner meat isn't going to give you as much flavor.

Parmesan Cheese

Freshly grated Parmesan or store-bought grated Parmesan will work for this recipe. You can also use Romano or Asiaga or a blend. If you're grating a hard cheese like this at home, I recommend using a food processor to save on prep time (and save your knuckles!) as hard cheese can be tricky to grate manually.

Yellow Onion

Yellow onion will give you the best flavor, but you can use white onion as well. I like to grate the onion so it mixes into the meat mixture better, distributing the flavor evenly throughout the meatballs. Don't worry though! Your family won't taste the onion! It blends right in with all the other delicious flavors and is also cooked which mellows the flavor. Alternatively, you can petite dice or mince the onion. Be sure to squeeze out any juice that accumulates from the grated onion to avoid excess liquid in the meatballs.

Fresh & Dried Herbs

Fresh or dried parsley will work for these baked meatballs. If you're using fresh, save some to use as a garnish. If you don't have Italian seasoning on hand you can use dried oregano in its place.

Garlic

Freshly minced garlic is best, but in a pinch, you can use garlic powder instead.

Egg Yolk

Stick with just the yolk of the egg instead of the whole egg for the best flavor and texture. Egg yolk is essential for binding the meatballs together. The egg white can make the mixture more sticky and difficult to handle.

How to Make Italian Meatballs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place a cooling rack on top of a foil-lined baking sheet. Pour milk over breadcrumbs in a small bowl and let them soak for a bit while you prep the other ingredients.

Add Parmesan cheese, onion, parsley, Italian seasoning, garlic, egg yolk, and a few large pinches of salt and pepper to a large bowl. Add milk-soaked breadcrumbs as well.

Mix until well combined.

Add the ground beef to the bowl.

Use your hands to thoroughly combine the ingredients but do not over-mix.

Use a tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop meatballs. Lightly oil hands and roll meatballs into round, uniform meatballs.

Bake meatballs for 20-25 minutes or until they are cooked through.

Serve with your favorite red sauce and spaghetti and enjoy!

Why You Should Bake Your Meatballs

1. It's so much easier than sauteing them in a pan! You don't have to worry about standing over a hot stove, with a pan that's sputtering and splattering oil, while you try to turn your meatballs so they cook evenly and maintain their round shape only to end up with meatballs that are burned in parts and undercooked in others and resemble more of a lump than a ball!
2. It uses less oil. Baking the meatballs means they aren't cooking in oil for 20 minutes so you'll use less oil overall.
3. It's hands-off cooking time. Just shape the meatballs and pop them in the oven. Then you can spend the next 20-25 minutes doing something else productive instead of sauteeing meatballs!
4. The meatballs cook much more evenly. By rolling them into uniform size balls and baking them in the oven, you'll end up with meatballs that are evenly cooked through on all sides.
5. They're much more moist. Baking the meatballs helps to retain more moisture which leads to a more delicious, tender meatball!
6. You can make a lot of meatballs at once. If you're feeding a crowd or if you're just doing some batch cooking, baking the meatballs is the easiest way to cook 30+ meatballs all at one time.
7. Clean-up is a breeze! Especially if you line your baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper!

Cooking Italian Meatballs on the Stove

If you prefer to cook your meatballs on the stove, you can totally do that instead of baking them!

• Follow the recipe instructions for forming meatballs. Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.
• Add meatballs and cook in batches depending on the size of your pan. Be sure not to crowd the pan or the meatballs will steam instead of getting a nice brown crust on the outside.
• Turn meatballs every couple of minutes until they are browned on all sides and cooked through. Serve with your favorite red sauce or in meatball subs and enjoy!

How to Tell When Meatballs Are Done

• The most reliable way to see if the meatballs are cooked through is to use a meat thermometer to check their internal temperature. When the meatballs are done, the thermometer will register 160 degrees.
• If you don't have a meat thermometer on hand, you can also cut one meatball down the middle and see if there is still pink in the middle. If you see no pink, the meatball is cooked through.

Recipe Notes

• If you like the flavor of a meatball simmered in marinara sauce, you can par-bake the meatballs - bake them until they are almost done but not quite cooked through - and then finish by simmering them in spaghetti sauce on the stove until they're cooked through. That way the delicious meatball flavor will be imparted into the red sauce as well.
• This recipe will make about 32 meatballs if you're using a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop. It will make about 20 meatballs if you use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop.

Best Type of Meat to Use for Meatballs

• I prefer to use either 85/15 or 80/20 ground beef, or a mixture of half ground beef and half ground Italian sausage. The sausage adds a delicious flavor from the extra fat and the Italian seasonings pair well with the herbs and garlic in the meatball recipe.
• You can also substitute with ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork, or even veal. Use what your family likes or whatever you've got on hand!

Tips for Making the Best Baked Meatballs

• If your family is opposed to chunks of veggies or herbs in their meatballs, you can use a food processor to finely mince the veggies and herbs so that they are not easily detectable.
• You can also saute the onion in olive oil for a few minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 30-60 seconds to add another dimension of flavor.
• Squeeze the juice out of the onions after you grate them or finely mince them. This will ensure that you get all that delicious onion flavor without the excess moisture. Too much moisture in the meatballs will cause them to fall apart so this is an important step.
• Soak the breadcrumbs. Don't skip this step! I know this may seem a little strange, but I promise you, it makes a difference. Milk adds extra moisture and turns the breadcrumbs into a bit of a paste that helps hold all the other ingredients.
• Don't overmix the meat mixture. Overmixing will lead to a tough texture. I find that combining everything but the ground beef first ensures that the meatball mixture doesn't get overmixed. Once everything is well combined, then add the ground beef and mix until just combined. This will keep your meatballs tender and juicy.
• Use a cookie scoop to form perfectly uniform meatballs. You can eyeball them if you like but a cookie scoop will give you meatballs that are all the same size so that they cook evenly.
• Don't roll the meatballs too tightly. Lightly oil your hands and then use them to gently roll the scoops into round, uniform meatballs. If you roll them too tightly and compactly it will affect the texture as well - leading to a meatball that is tough, chewy, and potentially even rubbery. Using the cookie scoop will help with the rolling process because it gives you the perfect size ball and it's already almost rolled for you.
• Spray or brush the cooling rack with oil so that the meatballs don't stick.
• For easier cleanup, line the baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.

Turn Leftover Meatballs into Meatball Sub Sandwiches!

My favorite way to re-purpose leftover meatballs is to make my simple meatball subs!

• Grab some hoagie bread and slice it down the middle. Butter the inside with my simple garlic butter recipe and bake until the butter is melted and the bread is slightly crisp.
• Add cheese and broil until melted. Then add meatballs simmered in red sauce, freshly grated Parmesan, and chopped parsley, and enjoy!
• You can find the full recipe for my meatball subs HERE!

What are traditional Italian meatballs made of?

Traditional Italian meatballs are made from ground beef or pork, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, herbs, parmesan cheese, and onion.

What is the difference between regular meatballs and Italian meatballs?

The difference is usually some of the main ingredients and techniques. For example, Italian meatballs traditionally have bread crumbs soaked in milk and grated onion, whereas other meatball recipes might just call for chopped onion or even call for added bacon.

Is it better to fry or bake Italian meatballs?

Bake! Meatballs are best when they are cooked slowly in the oven. They also have a chance to get crispy outside and tender inside. This way they cook evenly with little mess.

Make-Ahead Instructions

These are the best make-ahead meatballs! They freeze well, are easy to reheat, and keep for a long time. These meatballs can be made up to a week in advance for quick and easy lunches or dinners.

Storage Tips

Store meatballs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Freezing Baked Meatballs

Bake the meatballs as directed and then place them in a freezer-safe bag or container and keep them in the freezer for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

Reheating Italian Meatballs

To reheat, place the meatballs in a pan of spaghetti sauce on the stove over medium to medium-low heat. Coat the meatballs in sauce and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce and meatballs are warmed through. Serve with spaghetti and enjoy! You can also reheat the meatballs in sauce in a microwave-safe dish, cooking them for 30-60 seconds at a time until warmed through.

Serve Italian Meatballs With

• simple garlic bread
• Caprese garlic cheese bread
• garlic bread pizza
• cheesy olive bread
• grilled halloumi salad
• goat cheese salad
• herb and garlic focaccia
• olive oil spaghetti
• air fryer zucchini

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