Homemade meatballs are surrounded by pasta sauce and long strands of spaghetti. It’s the ultimate comfort food!
This comes together fairly quickly which makes it a great weeknight meal. To speed up the cooking time, I’m using canned pasta sauce. I’ll be honest, I really enjoy the taste of canned sauce and so does the family 🙂
The meatballs are tender and packed with flavour. If you’re feeling like a sub, go ahead and make the meatballs and add the canned sauce then scoop them up into a sub bun. Top it with cheese and bake it in the oven… yum! I have no doubt these meatballs are going to be your go to recipe!
HOW DO I MAKE IT?
You’ll start by making the meatballs. In a bowl, you’ll add the beef with all the seasonings, bread crumbs and egg. Mix until all the ingredients are combined then you’ll shape the meat into balls. I like to use a tablespoon as a guide so they’re all roughly the same shape.
Next you’ll sauté the meatballs in a skillet with some olive oil and cook until all the sides are browned. Once the meatballs are cooked, you’ll add the canned sauce with a little water to loosen it up. This will simmer for about 15 minutes.
While the sauce simmers away, you’ll boil the pasta in a separate pot according to the package details. Then you’ll add the pasta to the skillet with the sauce and meatballs.
Stir the pasta to coat with the sauce and then serve with a sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese.
TIPS TO MAKE MEATBALLS:
1. Don’t over mix the meatballs. Once the ingredients are combined, shape the balls immediately and don’t over mix so the meat stays tender.
2. Use canned sauce. If you have fresh sauce on hand, definitely use it. If not, the canned sauce makes for a quick meal and tastes great.
3. Don’t over cook the pasta. Cook it according to the package details then transfer to the sauce (without rinsing it). The starch will act as a glue so the sauce sticks to the pasta noodles.
Ingredients
3 cups pasta sauce
1 cup water
1 400g box spaghetti
For the meatballs:
1/2kg ground beef
1 egg
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Instructions
In a bowl mix beef, egg, spices & bread crumbs until just combined; don’t over mix
Scoop 1 tbsp of the mixture and shape into balls; set aside
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet then add the meatballs.
Cook until brown then flip and cook until browned on all sides.Â
Add pasta sauce and water.
Simmer for 15 minutes.Â
In a separate pot, boil spaghetti according to the package details then add spaghetti to the meatball/sauce.Â
Stir to combine.Â
Enjoy immediately.