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Grandma’s Italian meatball recipe has been a family favorite for years. Made with a blend of ground beef, pork, and spices, these easy baked meatballs are tender, flavorful and delicious. Try them in your favorite pasta dish or as a hearty appetizer.
Easy Baked Meatball Recipe
This easy recipe for baked meatballs truly makes the BEST meatballs ever. You can add them to pasta sauce or make meatball subs for a super easy dinner your family will love!
I tweaked my Grandma’s recipe for homemade meatballs and made it even easier than it was. These baked Italian meatballs are made with a combination of lean ground beef and ground pork plus a few simple ingredients. My kids love helping to roll the meatballs — a great way to get them involved in the kitchen!
Then, instead of frying them oil, and making a colossal mess on your stove, you just bake these delicious meatballs in the oven. No mess, no browning in batches — They all cook together in just 20 minutes!
We love to make them on a lazy Sunday afternoon and serve them over pasta for Sunday supper. It’s one of my family’s favorite recipes that makes one heck of a delicious meal! For a fun twist, try my Italian meatloaf next!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make meatballs from scratch. Full amounts are in the printable recipe card below.
- Lean Ground beef — An 80/20 blend works best.
- Italian sausage — This will give you the most authentic flavor. You can use hot or sweet or mild — just remove the casings first.
- Eggs — to help bind the meat mixture together
- Bread — I use 3 slices of fresh bread torn into pieces, about a cup and a half. If you happen to have sourdough bread, I highly recommend it!
- Milk — Mix with the bread to make moist meatballs. I use 2 percent milk.
- Grated Parmesan cheese — adds delicious flavor
- Dry spices — salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion flakes and either basil, parsley or Italian seasoning
How to Make Baked Italian Meatballs
First, preheat your oven, and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment paper for easier clean-up. Now, tear the bread into smaller pieces, place in a small bowl, and pour the milk over the bread to moisten it. Next, add your eggs to a large mixing bowl, and beat lightly with a fork. Now, all you do is combine the ground beef with the ground sausage or pork and mix all of the remaining ingredients for meatballs together.
Then, gently form the meat mixture into balls. I usually make 1 1/2 to 2 inch meatballs. Place meatballs in rows on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Then, pop them in the oven, and bake!
How Long to Bake Meatballs at 400
I bake meatballs at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. This works perfectly in my oven. But since all ovens are different, check the temperature of the meatballs at about 15 minutes. Meatballs baked in the oven are done when they reach 160 degrees internally, according to a meat thermometer. If you’re adding them to spaghetti sauce to simmer on the stove, they’ll finish cooking there.
Serving Suggestions
I usually add the meatballs directly to my favorite sauce –my Grandma’s homemade spaghetti sauce for the most amazing flavor. Just leave them simmering in a covered pot or Dutch oven until you’re ready to eat. The flavors in the meat make the homemade sauce taste even better. If you don’t want to make homemade spaghetti sauce, I recommend Rao’s or Victoria’s.
You can use this homemade meatball recipe in place of frozen meatballs for meatball subs, Instant Pot Pasta and Meatballs, Instant Pot Grape Jelly Meatballs or Instant Pot Cranberry Orange Meatballs, which can also be cooked in your Crock-Pot.
Recipe Tips
Use your hands to mix and form the meatballs, friends. This is the best way to get the most perfect meatballs!
Yes, it’s squishy, but it works. Just be sure not to over mix the ingredients or they meatballs may be tough. As soon as the meat mixture starts to stick together, you can start shaping them.
Using your hands works best to shape meatballs, but you can also use a cookie scoop for this.
Variations and Substitutions
You can use 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs if you don’t have fresh. You can also use cracker crumbs or cracker meal if you have it.
For spicier meatballs, sprinkle in red pepper flakes for extra flavor. Use fresh chopped onions in place of dried and fresh minced garlic in place of dried, if desired.
You can also use either Italian seasoning in place of the basil or dried parsley. I use fresh parsley, sometimes if I have it. Fresh herbs always add more flavor.
Storage and Reheating
Store leftover baked meatballs in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They keep for about 3 to 4 days.
For longer storage, place cooked meatballs in a freezer safe container or storage bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. You can use them in any recipe that calls for frozen meatballs. You can also freeze the raw meatballs to bake later. If you have extra sauce, you can freeze the leftovers together. Meatballs and sauce reheat easily on the stove or in individual portions in your microwave.
Grandma’s Baked Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 ½ cups soft torn bread crumbs about 3 slices
- 3 tablespoons milk
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onions
- 1 tablespoon dried basil or Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoons ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper
- Tear bread into smaller pieces, place in a small bowl, and pour milk over bread until moist.
- Add eggs to a large mixing bowl, and beat slightly. Add bread, and all remaining ingredients, and mix with your hands until mixture is just combined
- Form into roughly 2-inch sized balls, and place on baking sheet
- bake for 15-20 minutes or until just brown and internal temperature is 160°
- Remove from oven, and add to sauce. Or use in your preferred recipe. Or, let cool slightly, then refrigerate for later or freeze
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These were delicious! So much flavor and way easier to make than I thought! Never thought of using sourdough in meatballs before but it worked really well!
These were the best meatballs ever! Nice blend of beef and pork along with the sourdough bread makes them great. I will be using this recipe from now on!
Thanks! So glad you liked the meatballs!
I have had tremendous flavor results using smashed/crumbled store bought Garlic Texas Toast croutons as my binder! Try it and I promise you will not be disappointed