Painless Homemade Italian Meatballs

Although I don’t use jarred spaghetti sauce very often when I do I like to add meatballs to the pot. I find that the meatballs help the dish go further and often they make the sauce taste better.

I don’t like using jarred sauce because (to me) it’s flavorless, but recently I found a jarred sauce which I think is fantastic and especially when I am short on time.

My new favorite jarred sauce is Bertolli Organic Olive Oil, Basil and Garlic. 

I have purchased the non-organic before and thought it was OK (better than most), but I bought the organic three pack at Sam’s Club and it’s fantastic for a jarred sauce. I had no idea the organic would taste so much better, but then again organic milk taste better than regular so I guess it makes sense.

I realized last night that we were out of pre-made meatballs so I threw these together quickly. Quickly is the keyword here. I had them resting within 3 minutes. These meatballs are fantastic and super easy to put together. I thought we were going to be meatball-less but this recipe saved the day. I just put what we had on hand together and came up with a really great meatball. 

Once I have more time I am going to make some extra and freeze them for subs or future spaghetti. Who needs to pay so much for meatballs that really don’t taste that great and often have that weird meat flavor when you can just make your own for a fraction of the price!

Below I have the recipe designed for either using the meatballs in a sauce right away or baking them in the oven for future use. Whatever makes you happy!!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. dry minced onion
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. To a mixing bowl add one egg and whisk until smooth, then to the bowl add milk, dry onion, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and pepper. Mix well. 
2. Next add ground beef to the bowl and mix well. Using wet hand may work best. The ground beef mixture will be overly wet but don't panic because it will come together. 
3. To the ground beef mixture add parmesan cheese and Italian bread crumbs and mix well.
4.  Cover the bowl with Press'n Seal or plastic wrap and allow the meat to rest for 30 minutes or more. 

To a pot of sauce:

1. After the resting period roll meat into one inch meatballs. 
2. Add each ball to a pot of heated sauce. 
3. Once the meatballs are in the sauce do not stir them for 20 minutes so that the meatballs can set (if you stir them before they start firming up they will break to pieces). 
4. After 20 minutes you can stir them. 
5. The meatballs should be completely cooked within another 10-15 minutes

To the Oven:

1. After the resting period roll meat into one inch meatballs. 
2. Preheat oven to form into meatballs and place on a pan. 
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink in center. 
4. You can turn them after 15 minutes. 
5. All to cool and freeze or use in some other fashion. 

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