Updated on June 26th, 2022
If you’ve been searching the net for the perfect recipe for Italian meatballs, your search has officially come to an end. Look no further because today I have for you the best Italian meatball recipe on the face of this earth.
Now before I continue I already know what your thinking, “but Bobby everyone claims to have the best meatball recipe,” and as true as that may be, these meatballs really are the best!
With their amazing flavor, they are sure to impress anyone, and they are great for eating for a casual dinner or to make on any special occasion. If you’re feeding a large crowd, make sure to make a lot because these are going to disappear.
I usually bake these in the oven, but you can also simmer them in pasta sauce for about 40 minutes and you will be amazed at the perfect texture it gives them. These meatballs can also be pre-made and then frozen, so you can just pull them out of the freezer and cook them whenever you like.
They go great with noodles and pasta sauce topped with mozzarella or parmesan cheese. Enjoy.
Italian Meatball Recipe
Ingredients
- 750 grams of beef or pork mince (you can mix)
- 1/4 cup crushed parmesan cheese
- 1 chicken egg
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt (can be less)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (oregano)
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients in one large bowl.
- Mold small meatballs from the mixture. If you are not going to cook them right now, put them in the freezer to cook later.
- Preheat your oven to 175 ° C and place the meatballs on a baking sheet (I used the pizza shape as a baking tray).
- Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I used it a few weeks ago — it was my first time making meatballs — and they were so good that I’m about to make them again tonight! Definitely a keeper, thanks again.
Howdy,
THanks for the meatball recipe! I’m about to pop the little nuggets into the oven, so we’ll see how it goes. I had every ingredient except the cheese, so that got left out. I also gave it Emeril’s BAM! — a little organic ancho chile powder — so that should liven up the party just a bit.
Have a great weekend!
This was my first time making meatballs and they were great! Me and my family loved it! Thanks!
Bobby,
I made these last week and loved them. I separated them into 3 servings. I vaccum sealed the portions and put them in my freezer. I did this uncooked. How should I cook these next time since they are frozen uncooked? Would it be better next time I do this recipe to cook first and then freeze? Thanks for your help, can’t wait to check out some of your other recipes.
Kimberley
Kimberley – I see no issues with freezing raw meatballs. Just put them into the sauce and simmer or into the oven. Of course, the cooking times will be longer. Unless there is alot of extra ice on the outside of the meatballs, I don’t see any need to defrost them first. If next time you want to cook the meatballs first, they still freeze well and will be good.
I think I messed up and used too much salt?! Directions called for 2 teaspoonfuls but that seemed too much?! I going to have to try it again with much less salt.
amazing meatballs! I had never made meatballs until this recipe, and they were a hit! my boyfriend loved them. thanks for the recipe!
I just put these in the oven. I made two modifications to it. I did not add milk but a little bit of olive oil and i added mozzarella cheese.
i will let you know how they turn out.
Tried the recipe and absolutely loved it! Instead of baking it, I just added it to a saucepan with 1 jar of speghetti sauce. It was delicious! My fiance enjoyed them as well!
i will try this dish.
Bobby,
These meatballs truly are awesome! I was out of bread crumbs so I crushed up some garlic croutons. My granddaughter Jessica actually made the meatballs while I read the ingredients to her. Thanks!
Patricia
hey, i am 15 and just starting 2 cook. how many will this make because i am trying 2 make a 3 coursed meal 4 a family of 4. is it a expensive meal??? cheers bobby
mollie – it is not very expensive, if you cook alot you probably have several of the ingredients. I would also say this recipe serves 4 people!
Yum! The whole family enjoyed it…that’s quite an accomplishment! Thanks for sharing!
Bobby – after reading all these positive posts, I decided to double the recipe because I was afraid my family of 5 would love the meatballs and I wouldn’t have enough. It fed us all, PLUS I had at least 15 meatballs left over which I froze for future use. I rolled them about the diameter of a quarter. As everyone has said, they were the best I have ever tasted, even better than store bought. I used the oven method and they didn’t shrink at all. The only modification I made was reducing the amount of salt I used. Thank you so much for this recipe. I am going to look for more of your recipes.
Karina
Perfect recipe – succinct and with just the right number of ingredients. I added some basil and thyme in lieu of the oregano, and used Romano cheese instead, as that’s what I had. The result was delicious.
YUMMY!! I made these as is and they were perfect! Easy to make and delicious
I just made these amazing meatballs. My extremely picky 2 year old keeps running in and asking me for more meatballs! Bless you – bless you!!
Just made these with my gf…absolutely amazing with my homade Sunday gravy(tomato sauce) thanks!!!!
Awesome!Awesome!Awesom recipe. If you are looking for the perfect recipe look no further. I always search the web for the perfect recipes and I read all the comments and they were not lying. These meatballs are the BEST!! I immediately had to try one right out of the oven. I used turkey and they came out great. The taste the texture the seasonings. These meatballs are the best.
Absolutely delicious! I added some oregano and thyme in addition to the parsley. Used the meatballs for subs and received rave reviews! Thanks for the recipe!!
Delicious! Thanks so much for this recipe.
Truly loooove ur meatball recipe!!!! Can u please send me other recipes that you may have…thank you so much!!!!
Wow!! read all your reviews….I’m making the meatballs tonight, can’t wait!! They look amazing, and sound easy and delicious:)
oh my LORD! SOOOOOOOO Good! Thank you! I am THE worst cook, and I’m getting MAJOR KUDOS from my husband and kids! THANK YOU!!!!!
Wow, I am so glad everyone is enjoying these meatballs! Thanks.
Fantastic recipe! Thanks so much for sharing. These are delicious. I’m an accomplished home cook who demands more from my recipes and these lived up to my hopes. You are my kitchen hero.
I’m going to try your recipe tonight. I wanted to have something different from the usual frozen meatballs for spaghetti dinner. I just did have a couple of questions before I destroyed your recipe. 🙁
1. Is there a difference between regular breadcrumbs and italian breadcrumbs? I have regular but not italian will that make a difference in the quality or taster of the meatballs?
2. What kind of milk do you use. Will any milkfat % work, because we use skim. I’m was just wondering if it should be whole or 2% or something.
Please let me know….
Thanks
~Tanjia~
Tanjia – Sorry for the delayed responce, if you made them, I hope they turned out well. To shed some light on your questions-
1. Yes, there is a difference. Regular bread crumbs are not seasoned, where italian breadcrumbs are seasoned with italian seasonings. So yes, it will make a difference in the taste. However, even with regular breadcrumbs, they should be good.
2. I usually use 2 percent but I don’t see why skim milk wouldnt work fine.
I hope this awnsers your questions and you enjoy the recipe!
Thanks Bobby! I did make them that night. I used my regular breadcrumbs (to get rid of it) but added a little parmesan cheese and romano cheese, Mrs. Dash Italian Medley and a little garlic powder. They turned out great…a little salty…but I think my 5 yr old added more salt when I went to wash my hands. LOL
I baked them for a few minutes to brown them and then I placed them to the sauce and simmered the rest of the time. It was delicious. Thanks for the recipe and thanks for the response.
I can’t thank you enough for this recipe. I made these delicious meatballs with spaghetti and marinara and everyone loved them. Then, we had them with rice and brown gravy and everyone loved them even more.
They are now our standard Sunday family dinner item.
My family loves you!!
Tried this recipe tonite – they where awsome but will cut back some on the garlic next time. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Very Good!! I made a big batch the first time around and froze some meatballs. Yesterday morning I put 2 jars of spag sauce, some grated parma cheese and 10 meatballs in the slower cooker and turned it on 3 and let it simmer all day! It was great to come home to a great smell and dinner was almost done. YUM!!
I tried thias meatball recipe tonight and my son (picky eater) loved them. I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand, so I ended up substituting grated mozzerella for the parmesan and I left out the egg, and it still turned out fantastic. Love these meatballs and will be making them again. Thanks for sharing!
Now i have been making meatballs for a longggggg time!! But this recipe is hands down THE BEST i have ever tried!! Thank you so much for this recipe!! Everyone had three helpings!! :o)
I couldn’t wait to try them after reading all the comments. They were easy and very yummy. I had to tell you the best compliment: my picky boyfriend ate one before I got home from work– straight out of the refrigerator, cold, no sauce, and pronounced them delicious!
All this positive feedback has inspired me to make these for my family. I’m excited to try them, thanks for sharing!
This was my first time ever making meatballs, and of course it was for a surprise dinner for my boyfriend. I was terrified that they’d turn out horrible because I didn’t have half of the ingredients, so I kind of improvised.
Instead of italian breadcrumbs, I crumbled regular bread; garlic cloves, I used garlic powder; no milk, parmesan, oregano, or parsley, so I used Italian Seasoning and a little bit of water (I’ve seen water used in meatballs to substitute milk). I simmered them in Bertolli merlot & portabello mushroom sauce and poured the whole thing over angel hair spaghetti.
I got 20 meatballs out of this recipe and every single one was delicious! I’m saving this recipe so that when I DO have all the ingredients, I can try it again and taste the difference.
Either way, thanks for such a straightforward recipe and for helping my first meatball experience be such a scrumptious one!
My father has been cooking Italian Sauce, meatballs, lasagna, baked ziti, you name it all my life. But when he passed away this year, we had to start figuring out for ourselves how he made all those items. This is it! the key to forming the balls, (as my mother instructed) is to keep your hands wet with water. And FRY them – not bake! Thanks for the direction on the ingredients!
Could you possibly NOT imbed all questions and comments in the recipe section. I printed 23 pages to get this recipe!
Thomas- All you need to do is click on PRINT THIS POST in the upper right hand corner (right by the post title) of each recipe.
Prolly the best meat ball ive eaten, better than my friends grandma’s, my first time cooking meat balls and they tasted great!!! simple delicious tasting recipe.
Such a great recipe! Thank you!
Ballsy statement (no pun intended) you made on your meatball recipe being “the best.” There are several ways you can improve it. First, fresh ingredients — no dried herbs and no prepackaged breadcrumbs (that stuff is like sawdust); homemade breadcrumbs are better. Second, add a little tomato sauce to the meatballs (if you are cooking it with sauce). It makes a moist, taste saturated meatball. Third, Pecorino Romano — way better than parmesan. That’s all the information I’m sharing.
Anthony- thanks for the information but these are still…the best meatballs, EVER! 🙂
First of all, let me make it clear that I have NEVER EVER liked meatballs. I’ve had homemade ones and frozen ones, neither could I stomach. My husband, on the other hand, LOVES meatballs. I havent ever made them for him, because I have never found any that I have been able to eat……until now! These are absolutely amazing, both my husband and myself were impressed with this recipe. Thank you thank you thank you for such a wonderful recipe and opening my tastebuds to a great meatball! 🙂
Hands down the best meatballs I have ever made, or eaten (and I’m a harsh critic of my own cooking). Huge crowd pleaser–no one could get enough of these! I have made them multiple times, and I prefer browning them in the oven for 25 minutes and then letting them simmer in the sauce for 20 min. They have a whole new dimension of flavor if you use fresh, finely chopped parsley as opposed to dried parsley.
Personally I did not care for these. I followed the recipe exactly so I don’t know why they didn’t taste as good as everyone else said. Way too salty, I would have used less like it was mentioned in the recipe..
Hey there. Definitely trying this recipe over the weekend…looks great!! I was wondering if you can go larger with the diameter of the meatballs without ruining the recipe? Would the cooking time or temperature change? My family likes the traditional large tennis ball size meatballs so I’m looking to modify if it won’t ruin the results.
Michelle – doing the larger meatballs is fine, the temperture would stay the same but they will probably take longer to cook. Just check them after the set time for this recipe and try and go for from there. I cant give you an exact cook time.