Easy Baked Italian Meatballs Recipe. (2024)

Homemade Baked Italian Meatballs are so easy to make. Skip the messy frying process for this no-fuss, classic recipe. This is a meatball recipe dense enough to hold up in a long simmer in your favorite Italian Spaghetti Sauce. Just like they’re supposed to. Let’s take a look.

This article was first published December, 2015 and updated October 13, 2020

About The Recipe and Why It Works

A classic pairing like spaghetti and meatballs is truly a beautiful thing. Gather your loved ones around a big plate of meat, sauce and pasta and you’ve got the perfect family meal.

And even though those bags of frozen Italian Meatballs can seem awfully tempting, making your own, making homemade meatballs is easier than you think.

Quick prep, easy to bake and the texture and flavor superior.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients that go into homemade Italian Meatballs.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Mise en place. Always gather ingredients before starting any recipe. It will save you time and organize your mind.

• Ground Beef: The base for these easy homemade Italian meatballs is a lower fat ground beef. 85% lean and 15% fat works well here, and will produce a less greasy meatball and one that won’t fall apart while cooking. A combination with not enough fat, such as a 95% lean and 5% fat, will result in meatball that is too dry. And save that 20% fat ratio for burgers.
• Onions: This is a good time to practice those knife skill. Keeping the onion diced in small pieces is insurance that a meatball that won’t fall apart. Too large of chunks will compromise the stability of a meatball while it cooks. Cut the onion into a small dice, about 1/4 inch. If you’re really serious about honing those knife skills, have some fun and order this handy tool, a Mercer Ruler. Culinary School provided me with one and I’m always surprised at the number of times I use it.
• Bread Crumbs: This recipe uses two types of crumbs. The crispy crunchy nature of Panko bread crumbs absorbs less moisture. I simply like using them for baked Italian meatballs. The finer and seasoned Italian Bread Crumbs will aid in the sturdiness of the meatballs. I simply like using both for baked meatballs.
• Eggs: How to keep meatballs from falling apart? You simply can’t make meatballs without eggs. While they cook, the eggs bind all the ingredients together. For this recipe and the ratio of breadcrumbs, we’re using two large eggs.
• Cream and Buttermilk: To finish the panade, I like using both cream and buttermilk. Cream for the obvious reason of its rich buttery flavor. And Buttermilk’s acidic nature adds lightness and tenderness.
• Italian Seasoning Spice Blend: In a perfect world, we would always use fresh Italian herbs. But for ease, I keep a premium quality brand of dried Italian Herbs in my pantry. It contains the best of classic Italian herbs, thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram and rosemary. Easy and flavorful.
• Parmesan Cheese: My secret ingredient. Adding grated parmesan cheese to the meatball mixture adds not only one more creamy component, it also brings that savory, nutty/fruity flavor to the overall flavor of those meatballs.

Ingredient Swaps

• The Meat: You can use a 50/50 combination of ground beef and ground pork. Or you can use ground veal in the mixture. If using ground pork, remember it’s usually higher in fat and the overall experience may seem a little greasier, but totally delicious. I like sticking to a 100% ground beef meatball.
• Dairy: If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, use all cream. You can also use half and half. Just make sure you have 1/2 cup of thick rich milk product for this recipe. You can also use milk, but I would recommend using full fat milk. No reason to skimp on fat calories at the risk of flavor and texture.
• Italian Seasonings: If you want to substitute fresh herbs for the dried mix, please know the ratio rule of thumb: One tablespoon fresh herbs to one teaspoon of dried herbs. This recipe calls for two tablespoons dried herbs. There are three teaspoons in a tablespoon, so you will use a total of 6 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs.

How To Make Baked Italian Meatballs

• In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and milks to combine. Then simply place all ingredients in a large bowl.
• Use your hands to mix the ingredients together. The light touch of your hands is a perfect tool for this job. Using a spoon will crush ingredients together rather than combine, and you risk mashing the ingredients into a paste. Full pieces of ground meat should be visible for a perfectly textured meatball.
• Roll the meat into balls: Again, use your hands. Grab a chunk of the mixed meat mixture and using the palms of your hands roll into a golf ball sized meatball. About 15 gentle rolls will form a good solid meatball.

• Place the meatballs on a sheet pans.

• Bake the meatballs in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

FAQ’s, Baked Italian Meatballs

How To Use These Meatballs

Now that we’ve finished cooking our meatballs here are some ideas on how to use them for dinner.

• Spaghetti and Meatballs. A perfect family meal.
• Use these meatballs in your Sunday Gravy Italian Feast. Combine Italian Meatballs, Italian Sausage Links and Braciole in your favorite recipe for Italian Red Sauce. I follow the method I found years ago from this video called Sunday Gravy…That’s Right Its Called Gravy on YouTube courtesy of Diana DeLaFuente. Very Italian and very East Coast. Watching you’ll see why I trust hers to be a great version.
• Homemade Italian Meatballs are perfect to make an Italian Sub Sandwich
• Serve them at your next party as an appetizer. Just serve hot meatballs along side a dish of warm marinara sauce. Provide toothpicks for dipping.
• Toss cooked meatballs in with your favorite mac and cheese recipe. Yum.
• As you can see in the photo, I always make a couple of “giant” meatballs. Why? for an appetizer recipe. A tip from one of my favorite pizza restaurants in South Denver, who serves a single large meatball a fun appetizer, topped with tomato sauce.

Recipe For Baked Italian Meatballs

I hope you give this baked Italian meatballs recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating and scroll down and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.

And if you’re looking for more beef recipes, don’t miss my Beef Category. You’ll find lots of recipe ideas, including the more popular on my site, my line up of 31 Grilled Burger Recipes.

Baked Italian Meatballs with Spaghetti …It’s what’s for dinner.

More Meatball Recipes

More Beef Recipes