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.
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. Whenever there's a chance to work spaghetti & meatballs into a conversation I do. I suggest you do the same, for it will change your life; only and always for the better.
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.
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.
The taste of this recipe completely changes according to how long you cook it. The longer you cook it the smokier and denser 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.
Here we go ...
If you're kind of a cooking expert who doesn't need photos you can jump straight to the printable recipe here.
Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 375 °F
Do NOT be alarmed! This is an old photo. I am not currently using decade old tomato sauce.
Pour all of your tomato juice (homemade or otherwise) into a roasting pan.
Add a full can of tomato paste. The recipe says a "large" can but I just add a full small can (the most common in stores)
Add your chopped onion and garlic.
Add in all of your spices and remember to crush them in your fingers to bring out the aroma and flavours of them.
Grate in about 2 Tablespoons of fresh parmesan cheese. Or used the stuff in a cardboard can. I won't judge or give a care.
Stir everything up and then set it aside because ....
It's time to make meatballs!!! I use 100% ground beef most of the time, but occasionally I'll mix things up and do a 50/50 blend of ground beef and ground pork. Also, judge for yourself how much bread crumbs you'd like to use. I find adding in a little extra bread crumbs tends to make the meatball less hard and dense. I like a slightly softer textured meatball. So I add extra bread crumbs.
Taking a large tablespoon of meat, roll it in your hands with medium pressure. Again, 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.
Once you have rolled all the meatballs ...
Throw em in the roasting pan full of sauce.
You may find they just sort of float on top of the sauce. Not to worry. This is how they brown.
Cover the roasting pan with a lid and put it in the preheated oven for half an hour to an hour. Once the sauce is bubbling and gurgling, you can remove the lid so the sauce will thicken. Cook for another 1 ½ - 2 hrs until sauce is thickened. Remember ... the earlier you take it out the sharper and more tomatoey it will taste ... the later you take it out the smokier and richer it will taste. I go for smoky and rich. Total cooking time ... around 3 hours.
Serve on a skillfully folded tea towel, placed in front of some artfully arranged parmesan cheese and shavings.
Spaghetti & Meatballs
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
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. Who happens to like my hair ... at the moment.
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Mary W
First time I ran to post before reading the comments. I have QUESTIONS! How do you keep the oven clean after removing the lid - 375 F? Seems it would be bubbling all over the interior. Once I know your answer, I will be making this tomorrow! The final picture is just exactly how I like my spaghetti and it normally ends up too runny even if I use a ready made sauce. Now I know the secret. Roasting it. Tell Betty I love her!
Karen
I don't know, lol. I've never thought about it bubbling over. It just doesn't. It spatters for sure but not a ton. :) If your oven happens to run a bit hot then just turn it down to 350. No problem. :) Do it! ~ karen!
Alena
I don't understand the obsession with spaghetti and meatballs. I make pasta only in emergency (nothing in the fridge, no time to do groceries) and even if I do, it's never with meatballs. Meatballs are something I prefer to make from ground turkey and I use them as meat with my (big) salad to take to work with me.
Don't remember where I got the idea but I usually add curry powder as seasoning or some Thai seasoning (whatever I have). I have also never ordered pasta when eating out (I guess you can tell that I have been to East Side Mario's probably a total of 5 times in my life).
Terri
I love days like this...warm enough to go to the grocery store today, gonna snow tomorrow, and an amazing new recipe to try. My Grandma served spaghetti sauce over Kluski noodles or papardelle instead of the skinny spaghetti strands.
Sabina
Heh heh, spaghetti and meatball season, that's cute. That would be every Sunday in my house! As a through and through Sicilian I silently scrutinize your recipe in my head, dry-spitting at the mention of some ingredients and shaking my hand, fingers pinched together and facing up, at the absence of others, lol! The foodie in me says, try a new recipe, you may be pleasantly surprised! So I will do just that, I will try your recipe this Sunday. If my family disowns me I hope you have a spare bedroom!
Gerald Dlubala
Looks good! The spaghetti...the meatballs... and your hair, hehe.
Terry
I have a niece who can't eat gluten, I've discovered that if you use grated parmesan in place of the breadcrumbs you get even better tasting meatballs.
Lynn Johanson
Really? I've been trying all the non-grain meatball recipes I could find and all of them make little rocks instead of meatballs. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try them next>
Lynn
Kelly
Do you use unseasoned breadcrumbs or italian seasoning breadcrumbs? Looks like you have little flecks of green in there, and I just thought I'd ask!
Looks delicious!
Karen
Whatever I have on hand Kelly, but it's usually seasoned. ~ karen!
MaryG
Just a textural hint for the meatballs.... Look at the ground beef texture before adding your egg. Add only enough bread crumbs, after mixing in the egg, to get the meat back to that original texture.
Also add a few lightly browned pork ribs to cook in the sauce with your meatballs. This will give another added dimension of richness to the tomato sauce.
I too like to cool, defat, then reheat my sauce for serving.
I am sure your recipe is divine as is so my apologies for adding anything to it but I am getting too old to hang on to the cooking hints and secrets I have gained over the years and just wish to pass these on!
Yyz
Is this a rerun? What’s with all the comments from October 2010?
What did your hair look like then?
I gotta find a cooking friend to try this out because Yum!
Karen
It's a rewritten, photo improved rerun. :) I repost things once a week or so, so that people who have joined The Art of Doing Stuff in say ... the last 8 years, lol ... get a chance to see some of the older content. ~ karen!
Lez
I've also been confused over some of the last posts, as there were mentions of "The Boyfriend"!!
I thought you were keeping something from us, and just 'casually' throwing it in there, until I saw the dates!
To be honest, I think you would upstage any man, with all that you can do, & they would feel their manhood threatened! :)
Heard today, Idris got married...but it's apparently not true! You still stand a chance girl, but do you really want 2 previous wives leftovers!? LOL.
You deserve better!
Julie Anne
Crumble the dried spices to bring out the flavour & aromas - brilliant!
Shawnna
Making this recipe now, it's been in the oven for 2 hours (took the lid off after 1 hour when the sauce was bubbling), the sauce doesn't seem to be thickening yet, any suggestions to make it thicker?
Karen
Hi Shawnna - It'll thicken up, don't worry. Just leave it and check on it every half hour or so. If you want to rush it up a bit turn your oven up by 25 degrees. ~ karen!
Karen
Or use convection if you have it. ~ karen
Shawn
Hi, Karen. I'm planning to try your recipe tonight, but my kiddos don't like meatballs, so I usually just crumble browned meat into the sauce to hide it from them ;-) Do you think the sauce will still turn out well without meatballs?
Karen
Sure it'll be fine Shawn. But why not make a few meatballs for yourself and just don't serve them the meatballs? Either way it'll be fine. Remember the longer you cook it the thicker and less "sharp" it tastes. So if you taste it and think "that's too acidic for my tastes or for the kids", just cook it a little longer. If it gets too thick just add some water and stir it in to loosen it up a bit. ~ karen!
Sarah McDonnell
meh, just goggle your eyes when you open the lid and say "Wowza! We have MEAT BUBBLES, Kids!!!!". Because kids will peck at anything weird and amazing. And Meat Bubbles are nothing like meatballs. Presentation is everything.
Jan in Waterdown
I was looking for a yummy dish to serve to visiting family this week on Hallowe'en night after trick or treatin' and thought to myself "What would Karen do?". That brought me to this recipe, just a tad later than most! Just wondered if you have any thoughts on using bottled passata? It was on special recently so I have a whole whack of it just waiting to be used. Also, was thinking about all that grease floating around in the sauce . . . does it just get absorbed or do you skim it off? Thanks!
Karen
Hi Jan! What do you mean bottled passata? I .. I don't think I know what that is, lol. Do you mean jarred pasta sauce? No. NONONO. No. Just buy the cans of tomato juice (reduced salt). It makes a much better sauce. Honestly, I wouldn't steer you wrong. And let it boil down until you're almost worried it's too thick. That's when you get the good roasty flavour. If you think too much of the sauce has boiled away just add some water once you take it out of the oven and stir it in. I just stir the grease in, but if you notice there's a TON of it, just skim it off once the sauce is cooked. ~ karen!
angie
Okay so I was just in the kitchen throwing this together and um...my pan was too small so I had to pour the sauce and meatballs into my turkey roaster. I'm not too good at math, but I figured that if you got two meals out of this recipe and there are two of you then maybe I should double the recipe for my family of 6 since we all like to go back for seconds. Did you know that doubling your recipe makes enough to FILL UP A TURKEY ROASTER?!? Yes, it does. I read where you said the balls freeze up great, but have you ever frozen the sauce before? If so please tell me what you put it in before freezing, I was thinking just a ziplock freezer bag.
Oh, and this sauce smells really great as it's cooking....neighbors sniffing the air as they walk to their cars like they do when someone barbeques great. I feel kind of like a rockstar for making my own sauce from scratch. Thanks for that.
Karen
LOL. Hi Angie. Sounds like you've got some sauce goin' on. I freeze the sauce w/ meatballs all the time. Just put it in baggies, or Tupperware and throw it in the freezer. Label it though. You'll look at it 2 months from now and think What the hell is that? For the meatballs to be their absolute best, let them float to the top until they get browned. Once you look in and see them browned, stir them up so their undersides, or the meatballs underneath can get browned. Good luck. You're gonna love it! ~ karen
Bridget
Help! I am making this now and just saw the part about "low sodium tomato juice" I used regular V8! Will it be too salty to eat? Should I put a cut up potato in it to absorb the salt? Seems like I read that somewhere....
If that doesn't work, I guess we'll all have to be longshore man salty dogs tonight.
Karen
Hi Bridget - V8? I'm not sure how that'll turn out. Does it taste like regular tomato juice? From what I remember V8 is kind of sweet, LOL. Oh dear. This might turn out like an interesting sauce. Don't bother with the potato, it doesn't really work. DON'T add the sugar if you haven't already. Taste the sauce about halfway through cooking if it's too strong (either sweet or salty) add in a whole container of water. Yup. Water. It'll take quite a bit to dilute the sauce. The other thing is, if you don't boil it down as much the salt and sugar won't be as sweet because you won't be evaporating as much liquid. This will be your practice batch. :) ~ karen
Bridget
Thanks for the speedy reply, Karen! I already have it all assembled ready to pop in when the family arrives from out of town! Argh. So, no to the potato, yes to more water if needed. Thanks for the suggestions! You could probably tell I was stressing out over this...
I thought v8 was what you really meant when you said "Yup, that tomato juice" and that you were just being careful how you worded it...I should know that you aren't shy! I have never considered drinking true tomato juice.
Well, at least I have a frozen pizza or two for emergency back up if this is a complete fiasco. On the other hand, it could turn out to magically be my best dinner yet! Time will tell. I will report back afterwards.
Bridget
It's a miracle! I tasted midstream as you suggested, and the V8 doesn't seem to have harmed the sauce! Tastes really wonderful - not too sweet or salty either. Whew! What a relief.
Now, I can relax and enjoy that wonderful aroma! My family will arrive from out of town in an hour, and I know they'll be eager to eat this up! It will be so nice to greet them with these lovely smells!
Karen
Excellent! Don't forget ... keep tasting. The longer it boils down, the stronger the salt and sugar become. Have a good dinner! ~ karen
Judy D.
I come from an Italian family and make meat sauce and/or spaghetti and meatballs fairly often. I've always cooked it on the stovetop. I'm so anxious to try your oven method as I can understand why it would get that smokey flavor. I just found your blog today and I know I'm going to learn a lot from you. Grazie molte.
Karen
You're welcome Judy D.! If you browse around a little bit you'll find my post on pressing tomatoes somewhere. You could probably just punch "pressing tomatoes" or "canning tomatoes" into the search bar on the right and find it. :) That's the tomato "juice" I use to make my sauce. Give it a shot in the oven! It's a great dinner. :) ~ karen
Celine
It made it in my books! WOW My husband said this should have won an award!! Made it on a cold day, took the kids out to Winterlude and came home to this meal. So good with a nice glass of red wine! :)
Thanks!
Celine
Wow, just found your blog today...I love you! haha Thank you thank you thank you! I will these meatballs for my 3 boys this weekend, I'll let you know if it was a hit!
Karen
Welcome to my site Celine! You're starting with a good recipe. :) ~ karen
miriam
Tomato JUICE, seriously? How does this work with tomato juice? I'm trying to believe all these rave reviews, but I can't get past the whole tomato juice situation. Tomato juice. Like Sacaramento Tomato Juice. How is this possible?
Karen
Miriam - When you "press" tomatoes like I do every fall, what you end up with is basically tomato juice. It's the basis for almost all tomato sauces across every Italian kitchen. Buying a can of tomato juice is actually the closest thing you can get to home pressed tomatoes. Give it a shot. You'll see. :) ~ karen
miriam
You're right, it was delicious and filled the house with a yummy smell all day. My meatballs did fall apart, so it was more of a meat sauce, but I might have cooked it a bit too long, or didn't use enough pressure, or too many breadcrumbs, or whatever.
Still, it's definitely a keeper, and yes, with ordinary tomato juice--who knew? Thanks for the recipe!
Chrissy
I made this sauce in a slow cooker yesterday. I can't believe how insanely easy it was for as great as it tasted. I'm sure the oven roasting would add even more flavor, but it was great in the slow cooker just the same.
Karen
Chrissy - Excellent! Did it thicken up nicely in the slow cooker? I imagine if your cooker has a vent it would. Isn't it easy and delicious? Those are my fav. recipes. :) ~ karen
Chrissy
It thickened just fine, no vent, and I only used the little can of paste. There's six in our family and this made enough for two meals. Thanks for the recipe!
Karen
Chrissy - Um ... heh ... well that's embarrassing. This feeds my family of 2 for two meals. Maybe I should get off the meatballs, LOL. They're an addiction. :) ~ karen
Jacquie Gariano
I also have used the slow cooker for our "family" recipe of spaghetti & meatballs (much like yours) with great results. I love being able to toss it together and set it and come home after a busy day to a wonderful smell and a great dinner. We almost always have garlic (lots of garlic) bread to sop up all the sauce. I always put up tomato sauce and our "family' recipe spaghetti sauce each fall. So quick for "those" days. My Italian grandpa taught me to sue a slice of bread to twist the spaghetti on rather than the spoon so many use. Even more flavor on the bread.