We’ve made a lot of meatball recipes in our lives (and shared more than 29 Meatball Recipes on TMP!). While we love to cook them in a skillet, nothing is easier than cooking meatballs in the oven. You can make a big batch of meatballs so easily with this baked meatball recipe, so it’s ideal for feeding a big crew, or for making enough to freeze for later (and they do freeze beautifully). Tender, moist, and so flavorful, baked meatball recipe is great for using in a lot of different situations:
- To feed a big crowd, easily. You can even ask friends to jump in and roll the meatballs with you!
- As a freezer meal! These freeze beautifully (instructions for freezer are below, and in the recipe).
- When you’re managing picky eaters. Who doesn’t love moist meatballs with tomato sauce? It’s a classic!
- For more easy Italian recipes try our hearty Homemade Spaghetti Sauce or simple Three Ingredient Tomato Sauce.
Easy Baked Meatball Ingredients
- Ground meat: Our favorite combination of ground meats for meatballs is ground beef (80/20, so you’ve got some richness) and ground pork. Use the highest quality you can afford, for the best results.
- Eggs: Eggs are the binder, here, helping the meatballs hold their shape as you roll and bake them.
- Italian-style breadcrumbs: This is short cut number one — using Italian style breadcrumbs. They already have Italian herbs mixed in, so they’re ready to lend a ton of flavor to your meatball mixture, for zero extra effort.
- Parmesan cheese: Freshly grated Parm adds tons of umami richness to the meatballs. Don’t use pre-shredded, you really need the fine powder that comes from using a microplane grater.
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, garlic and parsley.
- Tomato sauce: This can be as basic as opening a jar of store-bought sauce, or you can use our simple Homemade Marinara Sauce.
How Long To Bake Meatballs
Keep an eye on the meatballs as they bake, but they usually take just about 20 minutes to cook in a 400°F oven. That said, the cook time will depend a little bit on the size of your meatballs, so it’s always a great idea to keep an eye on them and test for doneness when you think they look ready. We tested this recipe with meatballs that are about 2 tablespoons of meat mixture per meatball, and that’s our preferred size. Whatever size you roll yours, be sure to be consistent in the size so that all of your meatballs are done cooking at the same time. Why? Uneven sizes make for uneven cooking, meaning some meatballs could be underdone, while others are overcooked.
How To Serve Baked Meatballs
- Over pasta! You could even stir the finished baked meatballs into our Easy Vodka Sauce pasta recipe, for a majorly indulgent dinner.
- With a Simple Italian Salad, and lots of good bread to dip in the tomato sauce.
- Or, instead of regular bread, make Garlic Bread, or even our indulgent Pull Apart Cheese Bread.
How Many Meatballs Per Person
Of course, this will depend on how hungry everyone is, and what you’re serving the meatballs with. If you serve the baked meatballs over pasta, they can be stretched a little further — maybe 3 meatballs per person, or 2 for little kids. If you’re serving them straight up, definitely plan for 4 meatballs per person.
How To Freeze Baked Meatballs
Mix the meatball ingredients together and shape the meatballs. After you shape them (but before you bake them) pop the entire sheet pan in the freezer. Once the meatballs have frozen through (it takes about 3 hours, minimum) then transfer them to an airtight container or freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to cook them, no need to thaw, just bake them in a 400°F oven for 25 minutes.
More Easy Meatball Dinner Ideas
Weeknight Dinner Inspiration, This Way
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