These classic meatballs in marinara sauce are a quick one-pot meal. Unlock zesty Italian flavors with lots of garlic, herbs and tangy tomatoes. Perfect served over spaghetti or stuffing into meatball subs!
Making a One-Pot Meal
As much as I love the idea of a pot of sauce simmering all day long, I more often reach for recipes that can be ready quicker than that. And this one delivers big bold flavor in less time with fewer dishes.
I made this recipe in such a way that everything cooks in one pot. You brown the meatballs first. Set them to the side. Then make the sauce in the same pot, taking advantage of all those crispy bits and drippings from the browning.
Once the sauce comes together, you pop the meatballs back into the pot with the sauce and let them finish cooking as the sauce continues to thicken and simmer away.
I love to make these when we have guests over because they can continue to simmer away over low heat until I’m ready to serve them. They’re not time-sensitive making them perfect for entertaining.
Want to make your own rolls for meatball subs? Check out my sourdough discard breadsticks pictured in the photo above. Or make meatball sliders with homemade sourdough dinner rolls or overnight sourdough discard focaccia bread.
Tips from the Cook for Homemade Meatballs in Marinara Sauce
Give the milk and panko time to hang out together.
This one step helps your meatballs to turn out nice and light instead of tough and dense. When the panko breadcrumbs have enough time to soak up the milk, they help prevent the meat from releasing all its juiciness and shrinking up. That moisture retention means better meatballs.
Use a scoop to portion out your meatballs.
The food stylist in me loves uniformity. I use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop or food disher to scoop out my meatballs. If you like your meatballs smaller in size, go with a smaller scoop.
Take the time to brown the meatballs in a skillet.
I have made meatballs by cooking them on a baking sheet in the oven to save time, but the nice crispy browning you get on the meatballs is worth the extra effort. Too, the drippings make the sauce extra rich when you use that to saute your onions.
Freeze Leftover Meatballs in Marinara Sauce
This recipe makes a ton! Much more than our family of four can eat. I find we all eat 3 to 4 meatballs each if we’re having this for dinner.
Once the meatballs and marinara have cooled, I spoon the leftovers into a freezer-safe, airtight bag. Sauce and all. I keep them in my freezer up to 3 months. They’re just as good defrosted and reheated.
Meatballs in Marinara Sauce
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 30 meatballs
- Category: entree
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
These classic meatballs in marinara sauce are a quick one-pot meal. Unlock zesty Italian flavors with lots of garlic, herbs and tangy tomatoes. Perfect served over spaghetti or stuffing into meatball subs!
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 Tbs whole or 2% milk
- 1 lb ground beef, 80% lean
- 1 lb sweet Italian pork sausage (not links in casings)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning *see notes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup avocado or vegetable oil *see notes
For the Marinara Sauce:
- 1 Tbs avocado or vegetable oil *if needed
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 3/4 cup (14oz) water
- 2 tsp Beef Better Than Bouillon or 1 beef bouillon cube
- 1 – 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 – 6oz can tomato paste
- 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp fine or kosher salt
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
Make the Meatballs:
- Combine 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs and 2 Tbs milk into a small bowl. Toss to combine and set aside while the breadcrumbs soak up the milk for approximately 5 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 lb ground beef, 1 lb sweet Italian pork sausage, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 beaten egg, 2 tsp Italian seasoning, and 1 tsp salt along with the milk-soaked breadcrumbs.
- Gently mix everything using a fork or your hands (you can wear gloves if raw meat makes you nervous) until everything’s fully combined, though try not to overmix as that can lead to a denser meatball texture.
- Line a sheet pan with wax paper or parchment paper. Form your meatballs by scooping out meat mixture using a 3Tbs cookie scoop. Then gently roll the scooped meatballs between your hands to smooth them out. Though if you like a more rustic meatball, don’t worry about rolling them.
- Place formed meatballs onto the lined baking sheet and continue to form meatballs until you’ve used all the meat mixture.
- Once your meatballs are formed, heat a Dutch oven or other 3 quart (or larger) pot over medium-high heat on the stovetop.
- Add 1/4 cup of avocado or vegetable oil to the pot and once it’s hot, add your meatballs to brown in batches of 6 to 8 depending on the size of your pot. Avoid overcrowding the pot as that will reduce the heat too much, add too much moisture, and will prevent nice browning from happening.
- Turn the meatballs every 45 to 60 seconds to brown them on all sides. At this point you’re not trying to fully cook the meatballs, just get a little browning on them to add flavor and texture.
- Once meatballs are browned, transfer them to a clean platter or unlined baking sheet and let them rest.
- Once you have browned all of your meatballs, it’s time to make the marinara sauce.
Make the Sauce:
- Once you finish browning your meatballs, leave the residual fat and oil and browned bits in the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. If there is no oil left in the pot, add the extra 1 Tbs of oil.
- Add 1 medium diced onion and 6 cloves minced garlic to the Dutch oven and stir frequently for 2 minutes until they soften and become fragrant, adding color to the onions and garlic.
- Next add in 1 3/4 cup water, scraping up the browned bits in the bottom of the pot.
- Then add in the bouillon, 28 oz crushed tomatoes, 6 oz tomato paste, 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp Italian seasoning. Increase the heat to medium-high until the sauce starts to bubble, then reduce the heat to low to simmer.
- Next, gently add the browned meatballs and any collected juices in the pan they were resting in, into the pot. Make sure the meatballs are fully nestled in the sauce so that they cook through.
- Leave the pot uncovered and allow the meatballs to simmer in the sauce for at least 30 minutes so they get fully cooked. You can also leave them as long as 2 hours simmering on the stove. As the meatballs are cooking, the sauce will also reduce and thicken a bit.
- Serve the cooked meatballs in a roll with mozzarella cheese for meatball subs or over your favorite pasta with a heaping helping of the sauce and parmesan cheese.
Notes
*Italian seasoning is a blend of herbs typically including some or all of the following: oregano, bail, thyme, rosemary, and sage
*For browning meats, I like to use an oil with a high smoke point like avocado oil or vegetable oil. You can read more about the importance of smoke points for oils in this article.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 3'' meatballs
- Calories: 349
- Sugar: 6.5 g
- Sodium: 912.8 mg
- Fat: 23.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.4 g
- Fiber: 2.8 g
- Protein: 20.1 g
- Cholesterol: 80.3 mg
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