This Italian meatball recipe includes onion, breadcrumbs, fresh herbs, garlic, and minced beef cooked in tomato sauce. With a little bit of simmering, these meatballs become juicy and delicious.
COOKING MEATBALLS IN SAUCE
You can also bake them instead of frying and add them to the sauce after baking. Today however we went with our regular fry the meatballs and add them to the sauce.
I find that cooking the meatballs on a simmer and when I say simmer I mean a very low simmer for about an hour, they tender the best results. In turn, the meatballs thank you for that low and slow cook by giving you a juicy, tenderized meatball.
WHAT PREPARATION METHOD IS INVOLVED?
Clean hands for rolling the meat mix into bite sized or golf ball size meaty delicious balls and the patience to simmer a sauce. If you are serving the meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta then the smaller the better because it makes for easier eating.
FRESH HERBS
Always a wonderful addition to meatballs whether they are in sauce or not are your favorite fresh herbs. In this recipe the herbs are added into the minced meat ingredient mix and again 5 minutes before removing the pan from the heat. The parsley or basil overcooks if added too earlier on.
ONION
If you are someone that doesn't want to see the onion in the meatballs then it's best to grate rather than chop the onion as I did in this recipe where I also used sliced bread as opposed to breadcrumbs.
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TYPE OF MINCE TO USE
Normally for Italian type meatballs you can use both pork and beef mince just as I did here in this Saucy Meatball Pasta – Italian South African Recipe. however, you can use any red meat, chicken, or simply mix a little of both pork and beef mince.
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Not only does this gentle simmering make some of the most tender and most flavorful meatballs you’ve ever had, but the sauce also becomes richer and more savory in the process.
Cook's Tips and Suggestions
- serve with any type pasta, potatoes, rice veggies or a super simple mashed buttery potatoes!
- grated parmesan is great addition
- fresh herbs, green onion and chives for finishing touches
- make these meatballs bite sized for wraps
- turn them into a curry and make meatball curry
- make them in advance and add to a curried chickpea dish
If you try this meatballs in sauce recipe don’t forget to tag your creation and share it with me on Instagram. Use the @anosmickitchen and hashtag #anosmickitchen so that I don’t miss your post!
Juicy Meatballs In Sauce
Ingredients
Meatball Ingredients
- 500 grams extra lean beef mince
- 3 fresh garlic cloves minced or chopped
- handful fresh Italian parsley roughly chopped
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon fennel spice
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- canola oil for frying the meatballs
Tomato Sauce
- 2 cans peeled tomatoes 340 grams each
- 1 red chopped onion small
- 2 fresh garlic cloves chopped
- 2 tbsps olive oil for frying onions and garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt & pepper
- fresh parsley
Instructions
- To make the meatballs, mix the ingredients in a bowl and shape them into bite-sized balls. Refrigerate them while you cook the sauce.
- Cook onions and garlic in oil, pour in tomatoes and (a swirl of water from the tomato can, about ¼ cup), then add seasoning.
- Cook the sauce on low heat for 30 minutes. Fry the meatballs separately.
- Add the salt, pepper, half the parsley and cook low heat for 30 minutes.
- While the sauce cooks on low heat prepare to fry the meatballs.
Fry the meatballs
- To cook meatballs, take them out of the fridge, fry them in canola oil until golden brown, and drain on kitchen paper.
- Add them to the sauce and let cook for 15 minutes.
- Add parsley 5 minutes before sauce is done.
- Serve with pasta or as desired.
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