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So you're wondering how to make spaghetti and meatballs. Try this easy and undeniably delicious version. Or don't. But then you'll be missing out on something realllyyyyyyy good.

Skip right to the recipe.

I wanna talk about spaghetti & meatballs. Kind of because it's spaghetti & meatball season and kind of because I often want to talk about spaghetti & meatballs.

Take these conversations I recently made up, for example:

My mother: "I don't really like your hair that way, dear. You look like a squirrel.."
Me: "Do you like spaghetti & meatballs?"
My mother: "Oh my Lord! I LOVE spaghetti & meatballs. I remember this one time when your father and I ... is that a new hairdo? It looks sharp!"

Another example:

Your Boss: "Did you finish that assignment I gave you today?"
You: "No. You can suck it. I'm taking a 5 hour lunch today that will involve eating spaghetti & meatballs, you miserable wound."
Your Boss: "Did you say spaghetti & meatballs? I LOVE spaghetti & meatballs. Hey! When's the last time I gave you a raise? Or a day off for no reason? And do you have a company car? You totally need a company car. Jeez ... I can't believe you love spaghetti & meatballs. I love 'em too."

There's just something about spaghetti and meatballs that brings out the best in us. And by "us" I mean human beings, dogs, cats, most other animals and the occasional stray from outer space.

So if you're looking to lift your mood today - do it with love. Do it with meatballs.

Homemade Spaghetti & Meatballs

Ingredients for Sauce

Tomato juice
Tomato paste
Onion
Oregano
Basil
Garlic
Sugar
Parmesan
Bay Leaf

Ingredients for Meatballs

Ground beef (& pork if you like)
Egg
Bread crumbs
S&P

There are a multitude of ways to cook spaghetti & meatballs including using fresh tomatoes, but my preferred way is to use tomato sauce that I jar in the fall.

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Dump in the juice.

Some tomato paste.

Diced onions.

The spices and stuff. Add in all of your spices and remember to crush them in your fingers to bring out the aroma and flavours of them.

A bit of cheese.

Give it a stir and the sauce is ready.

Mix your beef ingredients (and pork or veal if you're using it).

Form into balls. Taking a large tablespoon of meat, roll it in your hands with medium pressure. The harder you roll the meatball the more dense it will be. If you barely form it together it will be too soft and will fall apart. Medium pressure.

I mostly use beef, but sometimes I do 50% beef and 50% pork for the meatballs.

You may find they just sort of float on top of the sauce. Not to worry. This is how they brown.

The taste of this recipe completely changes according to how long you cook it. The longer you cook it the smokier and richer it tastes ... the less you cook it the more vibrant and bright it tastes.

As you can see from the recipe ... if you don't have a couple of quarts of homemade tomato sauce you can use the secret ingredient ... tomato juice. From the can. Yup ... that tomato juice. The kind you'd normally drink in a juice glass while lounging in the velvet booth of a 1970's steak house.

Make sure you get reduced salt tomato juice though, otherwise your spaghetti sauce will be too salty. Dead sea salty. Salt lick salty. Long Shoreman salty.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Classic homemade spaghetti and meatballs. PLUS it's super easy!

4.74 from 19 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 2 30

Total Time: 2 45

Servings: servings

Author: Karen

Ingredients

Sauce

48 oz tomato juice (1 large can, reduced salt)
12 oz tomato paste
1 onion diced
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon basil
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tbsps parmesan cheese grated
1 bay leaf

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef Or use ½ lb pork and ½ lb ground beef
1 egg
½ cup bread crumbs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F or 350 degrees F convection.
Combine all the sauce ingredients into a dutch oven.
Mix the ingredients for the meatballs and then form them. You'll get 15 smaller sized meatballs from 1 lb of ground meat or 8-10 larger ones.
Add meatballs to the sauce allowing the tops to float out a bit. This will brown them.
Put a lid on the dutch oven and put it in a 375 degree F oven for half an hour. After that time, remove the lid and continue to roast for another 2 hours.
Stir the sauce occasionally to allow the meatballs to turn over and brown on various sides. (anything sticking out of the sauce will brown)
The sauce is done whenever you want. The longer you cook it the darker and earthier tasting it will be. If you take it out early it will be brighter and more tomatoey tasting.

Notes

I use 2, one litre jars of my own home pressed tomato sauce for this recipe but if you don't have that (and many people don't) the best substitute is regular tomato juice. The kind you would drink. Don't forget to buy the reduced salt version of tomato juice because you boil it down so much in the oven it'll be too salty otherwise.

And the reason it's called "Gramma's Spaghetti & Meatballs"? Because when my niece first moved out of her parent's house I typed out a bunch of her/my favourite recipes to give her. (GREAT gift idea by the way)

And the originator of this recipe is ... her gramma. My mother. Betty.

Mmmmm .... Spaghetti & Meatballs