Best Homemade Meatballs
- PREP 20min
- COOK 20min
- TOTAL 40min
This is our essential meatball recipe. It’s quick to make, calls on ingredients we always have, and makes delicious, juicy, tender, and flavorful meatballs. The recipe calls for one pound of ground meat. The meat you choose is up to you. We especially love using a combination of ground pork and ground turkey.
You Will Need
1 pound (450g) ground meat, use beef, pork, chicken, turkey or a combination (I love a 50-50 blend pork and turkey)
1/2 cup (35g) breadcrumbs or crushed saltine crackers
1/2 cup (118ml) milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup (1/2 ounce) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil, for cooking, try avocado oil, grape seed oil and vegetable oil
Directions
Prepare Meatball Mixture
Stir breadcrumbs and milk in a large bowl, and then let sit for 5 minutes. Add the egg, cheese, oregano, salt and the pepper. Stir until well blended.
Add the ground meat and use a fork or your fingers to gently mix everything until combined. For the most tender meatballs, try your best not to over mix.
Wet your hands, and then form the mixture into small balls (1-inch to 1 ¼-inch balls). You should get about 35 meatballs. A small cookie scoop is useful for portioning out the meatballs.
Baked Meatballs
Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, foil or a silicone baking mat.
Place formed meatballs onto the baking sheet, leaving a little space in between each meatball.
Lightly spray the top of the meatballs with cooking spray or brush with oil.
Bake until they are cooked through, the outsides are browned, and they register 165°F in the middle on an instant-read thermometer, about 20 minutes.
Stovetop Meatballs
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a wide Dutch oven or nonstick pan over medium heat.
Place the meatballs down into the hot oil and cook until they are cooked through, the outsides are browned, and they register 165°F in the middle on an instant-read thermometer; about 15 minutes. Depending on the shape or size of the pot, this might need to be done in two batches.
Storing
Cooked meatballs will last up to 3 days in the refrigerator when stored in an airtight container or frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight, freezer-safe container.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Cooking tips for using a slow cooker, pressure cooker (Instant Pot), and in an air fryer are in the article.
- Dairy-free: Substitute the milk for unsweetened dairy-free milk and the cheese for 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
- Gluten-free: Substitute the bread crumbs for crushed gluten-free cereal or crackers
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We included 8 ounces of ground turkey and 8 ounces of ground pork for the calculations.