Italian Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Italian Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

  • Prep Time: 0 mins
  • Total Time: 0 mins
  • Servings: 4

    • About This Recipe

    “A delicious meatballs and sauce recipe!”

    Ingredients

    Sauce

  • 3/4 cuponion, chopped
  • 2clovesgarlic, minced
  • 2tablespoonsolive oil
  • 1/3 cupfresh parsley, minced
  • 1teaspoondried basil, crumbled( or 3 tablespoons minced fresh basil)
  • 28ouncestomatoes, crushed
  • 6ouncestomato paste
  • 1/2 cupchicken stock
  • 1/4 cupdry red wine
  • 1teaspoonsugar
  • 2tablespoonsromano cheese, freshly grated
  • 1/2 teaspoonsalt
  • 1/2 teaspoondried oregano, crumbled

    • Meatballs

  • 2slicesbread, soaked in broth or milk( with liquid squeezed from it)
  • 1lbchuck, ground
  • 2largeeggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cupromano cheese, freshly grated
  • 2clovesgarlic, minced
  • 3tablespoonsfresh parsley, minced
  • 1teaspoondried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoonsalt
  • 1/8 teaspoonblack pepper, freshly ground(to taste)
  • 1/4 cupolive oil

    • Directions

  • Make the sauce: in a heavy saucepan cook the onion and the garlic in the oil over low heat, stirring, for 2 minutes; add parsley, basil, tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, wine, sugar, romano, salt, and oregano, and simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
  • While sauce is cooking, prepare the meatballs: in a large bowl combine bread (with liquid squeezed from it), chuck (it’s really good if you grind your own!), eggs, romano, parsley, garlic, the oregano, salt, and pepper; mix well and form into 8 meatballs.
  • In a large skillet brown the meatballs in the oil over high heat, turning them often; make sure to not crowd them in the pan, otherwise they won’t brown properly.
  • Transfer the browned meatballs to the sauce with a slotted spoon and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
  • You can serve them with your favorite pasta right away, but these improve in flavor if they’re cooled and chilled, covered, and refrigerated overnight or up to 2 days before serving.

    • Reviews

  • “Since I used my own marinara sauce,I did not need to make the tomato sauce in this recipe.But I am giving the meatball recipe 5 STARS!!I have been searching for a really good meatball recipe, and these meatballs were great!I thought they were easy to make.I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out delicious.My family really liked these meatballs too.I will definately make them again.Thanks Recipezaar!”

  • “I thought I would be daring and actually follow a recipe for once. Glad I did! I shall make this again. :o)”

  • “Thank you so very much for sharing this wonderful dish Recipezaar. We enjoyed it so much. I added 1/2 cup of sliced sweet vadilliaonion, celery, mushrooms and green peppers as my family likes vegetables in their sauce. The sauce base and meatballs are absolutely wonderful…The meatballs are so tasty and tender and big…I will certainly be making this quick, easy to prepare dish again and again.”

  • “Not bad, easy prep. Didn’t make the sauce, just the meatballs and used my own sauce. The kids loved it more than I did, which is a good thing!:)”

  • “I was looking for a sauce for some meatballs I had made and frozen previously. This sauce was delicious!!! It is now my go-to tomato sauce…so good! Thank you!”

  • “I’ve made these meatballs and it is out of this world.Charmaine Viljoen – South-Africa”

  • “Yummm!!!! It’s funny because I have tried the highest rated meatballs with the most ratings, and they didn’t even compare to these! These are wonderful and full of flavor! I only made the meatballs and this is what I did differently. I added about 2 tablesoons of italian bread crumbs, as the meat mixture was too runny with just the two slices of bread. (I used potato bread) I also added a tablespoon of minced dried onions and a half tablespoon of minced dried garlic instead of the fresh garlic. I also used 2 tablespoons of dried prarlsey instead of fresh. And for the cheese I had to use a mix of parm and romano as that is all I had on hand. I also prefer to bake the meatballs at 450 for 10 minutes instead of frying. Then I added them to the sauce to simmer for an hour or so to finish cooking.Next time I am going to try the sauce as well :)”

  • “This is one awesome recipe.I’ve made this several times for my friends and family and they all enjoyed it immensely.It is on the top of my list for Italian sauces.PaulSan Francisco, CA”

  • “Great tomato sauce!I already had meatballs prepared from another recipe here (691738), but needed a similarly sensational sauce to go with them and this was it!I followed the recipe exactly as written, except for the addition of extra garlic;the red wine really gave it awonderful earthiness and I promise never again to use that icky store bought tomato sauce!”

  • “This was delicious and easy. I decided to make small meatballs and got over 20 from the recipe since my family likes them small.”

  • “I made the sauce, not the meatballs.Very tasty and easy to make with all the ingredients on hand!”

  • “Great sauce, I used 4 cloves garlic, fresh basil and followed your recipe. I had meatballs in the freezer but will try these next time. They soundvery good. I like the romano cheese in the sauce. Thanks for a lovely dinner Julesong”

  • “What a wonderful sauce! I followed the recipe exactly for once and it was really delicious and so easy to make! I used the sauce with #69173 Parmesan Meatballs and it was a really yummy dinner, thanks for a great tomato sauce I will use again and again!”

  • “I was looking for a tomato sauce to top some spaghetti squash, and decided to try this one.It’s SO good.Got rave reviews.Thank you!!”

  • “This is my the same as my mother’s recipe for meatballs (from Sicily).Try adding some finely chopped onions to the meatballs.”

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