This is a pretty tall claim: the best meatballs? Trust me on this.
I love meatballs. Every time I open up a menu at an Italian restaurant (or Italian-American, more accurately) the soaring sounds of Rosemary Clooney belting out “Mambo Italiano” echoes in my brain—it begs me to order the spaghetti and meatballs. I almost expect Sophia Loren to be dancing somewhere near by singing a sultry “Tu vuò fà l’Americano” a la It Started in Naples while sharply dressed maître d‘ fearlessly guides the busy wait staff through a jungle of red-and-white checkered tables.
Alas, most meatballs are a little disappointing. They’re either dry and crumbling, or overly moist, like a taut mousse and lacking any texture. I think meatballs should be a little bit of both. I don’t want something that’s dry and chewy, but I don’t want them springy and so flawless in their consistency when you cut one open—the mark of frozen packaged meatballs if there ever was one. Even in the event of perfectly textured meatballs, having both moistness and structure, the flavor is usually the next thing that’s lacking. Frankly, there often isn’t any.
But the perfect meatball isn’t as illusive as it may seem. First, a mixture of ground beef and pork is essential. Using exclusively ground beef is a little lackluster; they turn out more like Italian-flavored hamburgers than anything else. There are times when I am perfectly happy to make meatballs solely from ground pork, even to go along with a tomato sauce, but for the ultimate in taste and texture a mix of the two is ideal. I stick to a 1:1 ratio of pork-to-beef, and, no, I don’t bother with veal—frankly, I don’t think the distinction is that noticeable with all the other flavors going on here, but don’t let me stop you from using it with the beef and pork if you feel so inclined.
The fattiness of the meat is just as important as the animal they come from. I typically go for something around 90% lean for the beef in an effort to compensate for the pork, which is usually fairly fatty. Though it is rarely marked at your local supermarket, most ground pork clocks in at 80—85% lean at most. Usually coming from the shoulder of the animal, it has a great porky flavor and is incredibly tender, so using beef that’s a little leaner helps to keep these from being greasy (though, full disclosure, 85% lean beef is still perfectly acceptable—I just wouldn’t go much fattier than that for this recipe). This mix gives you the perfect balance of fat: just enough to keep the meatballs moist and juicy, but not overly so, making them squishy or greasy.
While the right fat ratio does keep these flavorful on its own, the difference between a decent meatball and a great one—or, the best—is more flavor. Sautéed onion, garlic, chili flakes, dried oregano, toasted and ground fennel seeds, and parsley add tons of flavor without masking the taste of the meat itself. It’d practically be sacrilege to not grate a generous bit of Parmigiano-Reggiano into these, too. Not only does this powerhouse from Emilia-Romagna add some salty pungency, fortifying the flavor of the meatballs even further, but also adds moisture to the mix.
Speaking of moisture, I want to mention panade. Basicall, panade is somewhat stale bread that’s been soaked in a bit of milk or water, squeezed of some of the liquid, and sort of worked into a paste. It’s the traditional bringer of moisture for meatballs. Now, please restrain your Nonnas for what I’m about to say: I don’t do the panade. There was a time when I would, but found I needed more bread to keep the shape of the meatballs. Bread is part of meatballs, sure, but so is the meat. Not only that, but, while it brought great moisture to the mix, it faltered in flavor. Using dried breadcrumbs mean that some of the fat from the meats are absorbed, which, along with the egg, extra yolk, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, leave these perfectly moist without pumping them full of panade, masking all the great flavors going on here.
The sauce is fairly simple: onion, garlic, oregano, chili flakes, tomato paste, and San Marzano tomatoes are all it needs. It’s so light and fresh tasting, almost as fresh as having made the sauce from tomatoes picked from your own garden. You can add a glug or two of wine if you’re opening a bottle, otherwise I don’t bother; in fact, I prefer it without the wine because it lets the taste of the tomatoes really shine. I think another key to both meatballs and sauce is the onion; I want their flavor, but I don’t want to bite into any. You can very finely minced the onion, sprinkle with salt and mince more until it’s a juicy paste; grate it coarsely on the large holes of a box grater; or, and perhaps most simply, cut the onion into chunks, tumble into a food processor and pulse until it’s finely minced. You don’t want them to be totally pureed and liquidy, but more of a juicy pulp—you’ll sauté the onion pulp, which will help to dry out the natural waters you’ve blitzed out of them, but also allow them to melt into an allium-sweet gunge that gives the meatballs and their sauce the best flavor.
The only thing this really needs alongside it is some rustic bread, slathered with olive oil and toasted before rubbing it down with garlic. You could always make up a small salad of arugula and shallot and toss it with a lemon-parmesan vinaigrette, or blanched broccolini tossed with chilies, garlic and olive oil or even the oh-so-Italian digestif of raw fennel, thinly shaven with a mandolin and dressed with lemon, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, but frankly, spaghetti & meatballs are all I need! Piatto ricco, mi ci ficco!
Oh, and yes—you have to toss the pasta with the sauce. Other than that, saluti!
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 - 10 | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| About 1 hour 30 mins |
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The ultimate meatballs, made from both beef and pork and flavored with onion, garlic, chilies, oregano, and fennel seed, are simmered in the perfect San Marzano tomato sauce before being tossed with spaghetti for the ultimate in Italian comfort food—Piatto ricco, mi ci ficco!
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- 1 pound ground beef about 90% lean
- 1 pound ground pork (see note)
- 6 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano finely grated
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 6 tablespoons breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup yellow onion very finely minced or coarsely grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for frying
- 2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
- Scant 1 t-spoon fennel seed toasted and finely ground
- Scant 1/2 t-spoon dried oregano
- 1/2 t-spoon chili flakes
- 1-1/2 t-spoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion very finely minced or coarsley grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup wine red or white, doesn't really matter (optional)
- 2 28oz cans whole San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 t-spoon dried oregano
- 1/4 t-spoon chili flakes
- 1 t-spoon sugar
- 1 t-spoon kosher salt
- 2 pounds spaghetti
- kosher salt for the pasta water
- Parsley or Basil fresh chopped, for serving
- Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving
- Fill a large pot of water, cover and place over high heat for the pasta.
- Start by adding the olive oil, garlic, minced or grated onion, oregano, chili flakes and ground fennel seed from the meatball ingredients in a small pan. Turn the heat on low, sprinkle in a little salt and cook on very low until the onions softened and kind of melt into the oil – about 8 – 10 minutes. Let this cool once it’s done.
- Pour the pan mix into a large bowl, add in the egg and whisk to combine. Beat in the parsley, Parmigiano-Reggiano and remaining salt.
- Once all that is combined, plunk in the ground meats and sprinkle over the breadcrumbs. Use either your hands or a fork, just make sure you don’t over mix the meat. For this reason I prefer to start with a fork, breaking up everything and fluffing it as you would steamed white rice until its about 75% mixed. Finish it off with your hands to make sure it’s evenly mixed. This ensures evenly mixed meatballs that aren’t overly compacted.
- I usually use a 3/4oz (1-1/2 tablespoon) ice cream scoop to portion these out before rolling them by hand. If memory serves, I think I usually get about 60 meatballs with this size. However, if you like large sized meatballs feel free to make them bigger—just plan on a little longer cooking time. I prefer smaller ones because I think their texture is much better and they cook more evenly.
- Fry the meatballs, in batches, in a Dutch oven, which you’ll make the sauce and return all the meatballs to for final simmering in, with a thin layer of regular olive oil. They really just need to be deeply seared on all sides. They will probably start to flatten a little on a few sides as you fry them so once they’re all mostly seared start stirring them around to get them rolling. Once you’ve done this remove them all to a plate and set aside.
- Pour out the oil from the meatball pan and discard.
- Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan with the minced onion. Turn the heat on low and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the onions softened completely and resemble a sort of jam without being caramelized.
- Add the garlic, dried oregano, chili flakes, sugar and tomato paste and turn up the heat, stirring to break up the paste and melt it into the oil. Cook for just a minute or two, stirring frequently to melt the tomato paste but making sure the onions and garlic don’t burn.
- Add the wine and let it bubble up, stirring it into the pastey onion mixture and scraping up any bits of the meatballs that had browned and adhered to the pan. Dump the tomatoes in a large bowl and squish them with your hands, removing any under ripe or hard bits from the tomatoes as you do so. Pour in the San Marzanos, juice and all, to the pot.
- Stir to combine and add the meatballs back to the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook on low for 15-20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through. You could simmer for up to 30 minutes or so but I wouldn’t go beyond that, otherwise you run the risk of the tomatoes loosing their flavor, and that’s the point of using San Marzanos.
- While the sauce and meatballs simmer, add a ridiculous amount of salt to the boiling water. Drop in the pasta and cook to the package instructions for al dente. Before draining off the pasta water, reserve about 1 cup’s worth of the starchy pasta water. You wont need anywhere near all of it but better to have too much than not enough. Drain the pasta, drizzle sparingly with olive oil and toss to coat.
- Add a little of the pasta water to the sauce if its thickened too much. Start with a tablespoon or two and go up from there, otherwise you’ll have to wait for the sauce to reduce down again if it’s too thinned out. You want the sauce to be, well, saucey - enough to cover the pasta but viscous enough to coat and stick to it and not run straight off it and pool on the bottom of the plate.
- This is best family-style, with all the pasta on a huge, wide and deep serving platter or bowl, tossed with just enough of the sauce to coat the pasta well, and topped with the remaining sauce and meatballs.
- Either chop some fresh parsley or tear some basil leaves and throw over top and bring to the table, immediately, with a giant chuck of Parmesan for everyone to cheese up to their heart’s content.
- If you're not using any wine, which is totally fine, just add a little water to the pan to help liquidate the tomato paste so it incorporates into the sauce evenly. I think that I actually prefer the sauce without the wine because it keeps it simple, letting the flavor of San Marzanos shine through.
- You can make everything in advance, save the pasta, and just reheat over medium-low to low heat until it's warmed through. Then carry on with the pasta.