Easy Meatball Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to bake or pan cook meatballs? ›

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

After all of the Italian meatballs I've been making lately, I consider myself a meatball expert. A good rule of thumb is to bake meatballs for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Milk: Adds moisture and tenderizes the meat, making our meatballs juicy and tender once cooked. Egg: Adds more moisture and helps the mixture firm up once cooked. Parmesan: My secret ingredient for the best meatballs! Parmigiano-Reggiano adds flavor and salt to our mixture.

Baking them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes should do it. I bake turkey meatballs for 15 minutes, and bake beef/pork ones for 20–25 minutes to ensure they're cooked through. If you need the drippings to make your sauce, you can scraped them out of the broiler pan bottom.

Although the meatballs are not browned first, they still cook though in the sauce and it is safe to add them to the sauce raw, as long as the sauce is kept at a simmer until the meatballs are cooked through. Cooking the meatballs this way means that they stay quite tender even when cooked.

You can brown the uncooked meatballs in a sauté pan before adding them to the sauce. You can brown them in the oven. Or you can skip browning altogether and put the raw meatballs straight into the sauce to cook.

Covering them with foil can help when reheating, but you will still want to remove it during the last few minutes of cook time in the oven. How do you keep meatballs moist when baking? The key is in the preparation! Make sure to handle the meat as little as possible and mix the ingredients just until combined.

This is especially important when working with pork, turkey and chicken, which are very wet when ground. Refrigerating gives the fat in the meat time to solidify, which helps maintain the shape. Chill your meatballs for anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on their size.

When it comes to adding liquid to meatball mixtures, milk is often used for its versatility, depth of flavor, and richness. Without the use of milk, you may be faced with a plate of dry meatballs. Milk adds a certain level of moisture that helps produce perfectly tender meatballs.

Because meat shrinks when cooked, mince proteins are likely to separate and crumble unless bound together. Whether it's breadcrumbs or egg (or both), or simply salt, binding the mince is a crucial step in maintaining the softness of your meatballs while preventing them from falling apart.

Can a meatball be a little pink? ›

To be sure all harmful bacteria are destroyed, cook all ground beef products to an internal temperature of 160 °F throughout. Ground beef can be pink inside after it is safely cooked. The pink color can be due to a reaction between the oven heat and myoglobin, which causes a red or pink color.

A traditional size for this sort of meatball is 2 to 3 inches across, but you can make them any size you want. Once you roll the meatball in your hands, roll it in the flour to give it a good coating. Set each one on a baking sheet as you work.

Filler ingredients like breadcrumbs or flour are important too because they stop the meatballs becoming dry. The breadcrumbs absorb the juices from the meat as it cooks, trapping them within the meatball.

You can brown meatballs in the oven or in a skillet. For the crispiest exterior, use a heavy skillet with hot oil. You can finish cooking in a simmering sauce or the oven.

Baking them gives the meatballs a little more flavor without additional oil since you are searing the outside under the broiler in your oven. Just make sure you bake them on a really heavy-duty baking sheet like this one.

You want the oil to be about half a fingernail deep in the pan. Usually, I'm making meatballs with Sunday sauce. I simmer them in the sauce for 2-3 hours. The longer you simmer them, the softer they will be.

The texture and flavor of the meatballs is enhanced by either frying them in hot oil, or baking them in a hot oven first. You want a nice brown crust on the outside before placing them into the pot of sauce to simmer gently and finish cooking the inside.