Quick and Easy Meatballs in Marinara Sauce

Quick and Easy Meatballs in Marinara Sauce

When trying to make the perfect meatballs, I've tried a few different things, but the method I'm going to share with you today has been a winner every time.  When short for time, I've made meatballs and put them in a slow cooker to heat through and absorb the sauce, but they come out too mushy even when I've browned them ahead of time.  The best method I've found so far is cooking the meatballs in the oven then transferring to sauce to soak up some of the flavor of the sauce.  I've used this recipe with pasta, but also as meatball subs.  If for some reason we have many left over (we normally never do), I will dice up the leftovers for a topping for Italian nachos.  Also, side note, many recipes I've found call for parmesan cheese.  Since we have a dairy allergy in our house, I do not put any cheese in the meatball mixture.

Yields: 24 golf ball size meatballs

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork, if you can't find ground pork, use 3 lbs of ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. breadcrumbs
• 2 cloves fresh garlic smashed, sliced, and minced
• 1 c. fresh parsley, minced
• salt and pepper
• 1 jar marinara sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic smashed, sliced, and minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare a baking sheet with foil and cooking spray.  Combine ingredients through salt and pepper in a large bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly combine the meat with the other ingredients.  
2. Once everything is well combined, start to form meatballs.  To get the meatballs all around the same size you can use an ice cream scoop to form them.  Place meatballs onto baking sheet.  Bake the meatballs in the oven for 30 minutes.  While the meatballs are baking, begin to prepare the marinara sauce.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet.  Add onions and garlic and saute.  Season with salt and pepper, oregano and basil.  
4. When the onions start to turn translucent, add the jar of sauce.  Add a little water to the jar, cover, shake to get the remaining bits of sauce in the jar and pour into the skillet. Season with salt and pepper.  I also add a little sugar since the jarred sauces tend to be bitter.
5. Allow sauce to come to a low boil, stir often.  Reduce heat to simmer.  
6. Remove meatballs from the oven.  If there is a lot of grease on your baking sheet, before transferring the meatballs to the sauce, place them on a paper towel to soak up some of the grease as to not add it to the sauce.
7. Allow meatballs to soak up the sauce for 5 minutes on a low heat.  Ready to serve over pasta!

Note: These can easily be a make ahead recipe.  I've often made the meatballs ahead of time.  Sometimes I've prepared them, placed on the baking sheet, covered and put into the refrigerator for later in the day.  I've also baked them and allowed to cool completely before putting into the sauce to warm through.  These meatballs also freeze well.  Prepare through step 7, just allow to cool completely.  Add to a freezer safe container and freeze up to one month.