Once you make Grandma B’s Italian Meatballs and Pasta Sauce you won’t ever want to use a jarred sauce or frozen meatballs again. I think it depends on which party of Italy your grandparents are from as to whether you say pasta gravy or sauce.
I guess I grew up saying both but use sauce now that I am an adult. Every now and then I reach into my family cookbook my mother gave me when I was married, and pick a recipe that I might make but don’t really follow the recipe.
Today I decided to go with Grandma B’s Italian Meatballs and her pasta sauce recipe. I make meatballs often but sometimes use turkey instead of pork and beef to keep calories low. My family prefers beef so I thought I would treat them with this amazing recipe and also elicit my son to help. He has to learn at some point right!!
Grandma B’s Italian Meatballs with Pasta Sauce
The pasta dish is all about the Italian meatballs since you will be flavoring the sauce with the meatballs. Of course my grandmother would use all sorts of different meats when she made these but I will stick with the meatballs.
Make a batch of these over the weekend for the perfect Make Ahead Dinner.
HOW TO MAKE ITALIAN STYLE MEATBALLS
Make sure your meatball mixture is well blended. Since you are using 2 different meats you don’t want half to be all pork and the other all beef.
I used an ice cream scoop to form the size of the meatball then my son and I rolled them in our hands. This is the fun part right!
I baked them since I made a large recipe and wanted to freeze some. You can also semi-bake them and cook them fully in the tomato sauce.
Everyone makes their sauce differently and I am sure my grandmother made it a little differently than the recipe I have on hand. She never wrote anything down unless my mom sat with her to get it for a recipe card.
To flavor it further, we added our meatballs and let them simmer for 40 minutes.
In a large pot get the water boiling and ready to throw in the pasta. Cook al dente and cover with the sauce and meatballs.
Top your creation with yummy shredded parmesan cheese and you have a taste of my Sunday Night suppers.
Grandma B’s Italian Meatballs and Pasta Sauce.
Italian Meatball Recipe
Mix of Pork and Beef Italian Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1 lb Ground Pork
- 1 cup Bread Crumbs, Italian Seasoned
- 4 TBL Spoon Chopped Parsely
- 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a bowl and work together with ;your hands until well blended. Form into meatballs.
- Broil in oven until slightly brown on all side. You can fry them in a little olive oil on top of a stove also, just until browned.
- Simmer meatballs slowly for approx 20--30 minutes in your tomato sauce.
- You can freeze meatballs on a cookie sheet and store in freezer bags.
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1 meatballAmount Per Serving Calories 280Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 104mgSodium 591mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 0gSugar 1gProtein 23g
All information and tools presented and written within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on stayingclosetohome.com should only be used as a general guideline.
Hope you will check out some of these other bloggers pasta recipes and find a few new favorites too.
coming from a true Italian!! Thanks for your tips..
thanks will fix it now!!
In Grandma B’s meatball recipe “crusted tomatoes” should read “crushed tomatoes”. Onions make sauces sweet and light. My Grandmas A & C would us onions for lighter sauces (ragus) to be used with fish or chicken so as not to overpower the lighter flavor of either. My grandmas would use garlic in sauces for beef and and pork, as their flavors are strong enough to balance the more intense garlic flavor. (NOTE: Typically, garlic would be crushed, sautéed with tomato paste in the still-hot drippings from frying the meatballs, and then removed before adding the paste and drippings to the still-simmering sauce. That way, nobody would have to bite into a strong-tasting piece of garlic while enjoying the sauce over pasta or rice. To avoid an oily taste from the drippings, my grandmas (and aunts, uncles & cousins) would separate the meat from the sauce, refrigerate both over night, and skim off most of the congealed oil and meat fat from the sauce before reheating with the meat and serving over pasta or rice.) — Uncle Nick
Oh my goodness, this looks amazing! I love meatballs!
Who doesn’t love a good meatball! This recipe looks good delicious. And if it comes from a grandma then it has to be good .☺️
thanks so much !
These meatballs look delicious, and so does the sauce (or gravy?) ~ so it’s a doubleheader! Adding to my recipe file and can’t wait to give it a try 🙂 Bwg ~~~