{Wicked Good} Italian Meatballs
The secret to moist, airy, perfectly seasoned meatballs is in the breadcrumbs — they can make or break the flavor and texture.
If you’ve never made your own breadcrumbs before, pardon me for yelling at you, but you really should MAKE YOUR OWN BREADCRUMBS! It takes seconds to whirl up in a food processor, and will make the best meatballs in town. Seriously.
Why store bought breadcrumbs stink:
Store bought breadcrumbs often take on the taste of the cardboard in which they are packaged, and offer a crumb so small that they could never allow the small pockets of air to form within the meatball, which keeps the meatballs light and airy. Store bought breadcrumbs make a dense, dry meatball, so stop using store bought breadcrumbs for meatballs, I mean it!
Use fresh bread, not stale:
Grab a loaf of any bakery-style bread — Italian, sourdough, French — or, make your own. It’s very important that the loaf or baguette be fresh. Fresh bread has a lot of moisture in it and will help to produce the larger crumb we need in the food processor. Dry or stale bread will produce a smaller crumb, which is bad for meatballs. Do not use sandwich bread. It’s full of chemicals to keep it stable and fresh for weeks, and will fall apart in the food processor {um, because it’s not real food — real food doesn’t contain exthoxylated mono and diglycerides or diammonium phosphate}.
Using fresh bread also eliminates the need for soaking the bread in milk, or anything else. Soaking stale bread will add necessary moisture, but it also creates a mushy mess that condenses within the meat, creating a dense meatball. We’re looking for light, airy meatballs. Milky bread does not make a light and airy meatball.
Flavor profiles:
The breadcrumbs are going to carry our herbs, spices and aromatics, and infuse them into the meat. We’re focusing on an Italian flavor profile in this recipe, but in the future, be brave enough to think beyond spaghetti night. More on that later.
The flavor will make its way into the breadcrumbs with an infused olive oil of roasted garlic, shallots and fresh herbs. Once the oil is fully infused with the roasted aromatics, the breadcrumbs will soak it all up and then be toasted, right in the pan.
Never put this into the meat:
Do you like steamed onions and garlic? Nope, I didn’t think so. Neither does anyone else. Do not add raw onions or garlic to your meat as seasonings. The onions and garlic will steam within the meat and produce an off-putting flavor that is strangely bland and unidentifiable. Is it an onion? Is it garlic? The world may never know when it’s steamed inside meat.
What kind of meat makes a great meatball?
The type of meat you use for your meatballs is personal preference. Some cooks and chefs like to use a mixture of ground beef and pork, or a trinity of ground beef, pork and veal. Ground turkey, chicken and lamb are also popular choices.
I’m not a fan of mixing meats for meatballs, period. I find the gray color that the pork and veal produce when cooked, along with the varied textures, unappetizing. Whether I’m making beef, chicken, turkey or lamb meatballs, I only use one type of meat. In this recipe, I’m using lean, grass-fed ground beef. Lean beef is important for this recipe because we’re adding olive oil back into the beef via the breadcrumbs, essentially removing the bad fats, and adding in good fats. If we used an 80/20 ground chuck, our meatballs would be too greasy {which, on rare occasion, isn’t such a bad thing}.
And what about the tomato sauce?
Wicked Good Italian meatballs are a treat on their own, but they’re even better when slowly braised in tomato sauce. The sauce itself couldn’t be simpler, with only four ingredients: tomatoes and garlic, salt and pepper. The meatballs absorb some of the cooking liquid while braising, plumping them up, and return the favor by imparting herby flavors from the breadcrumbs into the sauce.
Are you ready? Let’s make some Wicked Good Meatballs!
Wicked Good Italian Meatballs
Yield: 8 – 10 1 1/2″ meatballs
Method: pan-frying, braising
Allergy Info: soy-free, dairy-free; contains gluten and wheat
Fancy Equipment: food processor, baking sheet or large tray
Breadcrumb Ingredients:
1/2 loaf of Italian, French or sourdough bread, sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, lightly smashed (split but still whole)
1/4 cup fresh Greek oregano leaves, whole
4 fresh basil leaves, whole
1 shallot, finely minced
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
Meatball Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef, preferably grass-fed
1 anchovy fillet, smashed into a paste
Seasoned Breadcrumbs {above}
1 egg, lightly beaten
olive oil for frying
Tomato Sauce Ingredients:
2 (28 ounce) cans San Marzano Crushed Tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Make the breadcrumbs:
Place the slices of bread in a food processor and whirl until they resemble large breadcrumbs, no larger than 1/4″. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on low heat. Add the garlic to the warm oil and cook for one minute. Increase the heat to medium and toast the garlic in the pan until lightly golden. Add the oregano, basil and shallots and cook until wilted and aromatic. Adjust heat as needed to prevent the garlic from burning.
Add the breadcrumbs to the pan and gently toss or stir to coat with the olive oil mixture. Toast the bread crumbs in the pan over medium heat until golden brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Return the seasoned breadcrumbs back to the food processor, adding everything from the pan, including the herbs and garlic to the food processor bowl. Add the fresh parsley and pulse until the garlic and herbs are well chopped and combined. Set aside.
Make the meatballs:
Place the ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Add the smashed anchovy, seasoned breadcrumbs and egg. Mix with a fork until well combined and moist.
Roll a handful of the mixture into a 1 1/2″ ball and place on a baking sheet or tray. Repeat until all of the meat mixture is used. Place the tray of meatballs into the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up.
Heat a large, wide stock pot on medium heat with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the meatballs to the pan, in a single layer, without crowding. Allow the meatballs to sear and brown on the first side in the oil, and then gently turn the meatballs to cook another side. Some of the meatballs may stick, so use a flexible spatula or spoon to nudge the meatball from underneath. Repeat until all sides have been seared and browned, and have a well-formed crust on the outside of the meat. If the pan is not wide enough to cook all of the meatballs at once, sear the meatballs in batches.
Make the tomato sauce:
Add the garlic to the pan and gently stir, without breaking the meatballs. Add the San Marzano tomatoes, cover the post and slowly bring the sauce to a simmer. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, shift the lid to allow steam to escape, and cook for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Carefully stir without breaking the meatballs, and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Cover the pot, lid ajar, and continue to simmer for 2 hours. The sauce will reduce and thicken. Adjust seasoning as needed.
To store, separate the meatballs and sauce, and store in a glass or ceramic container for up to 7 days. (plastic containers can transfer other flavors and orders into the meatballs and sauce)
Meatballs without sauce:
If you’d like to freeze the meatballs without sauce, or use them in another way without tomato sauce, add low sodium chicken stock to the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.
Um, my meatball is flat on one side:
Worried about flat meatballs? Don’t be — whether you bake them or fry them, there will always be a sort-of flat side to every meatball, and it’s usually the first side down in the pan to cook. Once the meatballs have cooked in the sauce {or broth}, they’ll absorb some of the cooking liquid and plump up a bit, taking on a rounder shape.
Speaking of baked meatballs:
You may have come from a home where meatballs were baked, and that’s OK, we won’t hold it against you. Yes, you can bake them, but you’ll run the risk of drying out the meat in the oven, so be careful. Or, cook them in broth or sauce to be on the safe side.
But wait, there’s more!
Beyond spaghetti night:
The flavored oil and seasoned breadcrumb technique you learned above can be applied to any meatball or meatloaf recipe. In fact, this meatball recipe can easily be baked as a meatloaf — top it with a balsamic tomato relish instead of ordinary ketchup, and you’ll have the world’s greatest Italian meatloaf.
But, there’s life beyond spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce, and other flavor profiles infused into the oil and bread crumbs will expand your recipe repertoire past the borders of America’s Little Italy. Try sage, rosemary and garlic breadcrumbs with ground turkey or lamb. Or, sauteed apple, caraway and fennel with ground pork; or orange zest, ginger and toasted sesame seeds with ground chicken. Ahh, you’re catching on!
From meatballs to stuffing?
The infused oil and toasted breadcrumb technique can also be used to make stuffing. It’s true. Keep the bread pieces a little larger, about 1/4″ – 1/2″ pieces, which can even be cut by hand instead of pulsed in the food processor. Once the breadcrumbs have been toasted in the infused oil {maybe some sage, rosemary, marjoram, salt, pepper for Thanksgiving}, add them to a sauce pan with melted butter and sautéed onion. Mix to combine and add enough turkey or chicken stock to moisten. Add salt and pepper to taste, and you’ve got stuffing.
Now go, and crank out some kick @ss meatballs {or stuffing}!
Try the recipe above, and then start experimenting with other flavor profiles. Come on back to Wicked Good Dinner and let us know what you created using the infused oil and toasted breadcrumb technique — we can’t wait to hear about what you created!
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>YES, YES, YES! Hate store bought breadcrumbs in my meatballs!
Can't wait to try your recipe! Love your site! I'm a crazy, busy mom who secretly loves to cook gourmet cuisine…don't tell anyone, OK? I would hate for my hubs to know I love, love to cook!
I was asked to teach a class on tapas, so I bought a book today trying to brush up on my knowledge. There is a meatball recipe that says start with stale bread crumbs, then add milk… ??? Why not start with fresh bread? Oh well! I enjoyed reading this!
Brandon
from http://www.theyummybits.com
Hi Brandon – I totally agree! I prefer using fresh bread as well :-)