Italian Meatballs and Marinara Sauce

A versatile, great make-ahead recipe that can be used for meatball hoagies, spaghetti and meatballs, or even as a side dish to another Italian favorite! The recipe suggestion for meatball hoagies is included with this recipe!

Italian Meatballs and Marinara Sauce

Cook time: 30 min. Prep time: 30 min.

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1 lb. ground beef (73/27 ground beef or 80/20 ground chuck is best)
1 lb. ground pork sausage
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. Italian seasoning blend
1 egg
1/2 of a small white onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil

Marinara Sauce:

1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 of a small white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. Italian seasoning blend
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

To prepare the marinara sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat approx. 1-2 minutes. Add diced onion and chopped garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until onions are translucent and soft. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper, stirring until mixture begins to bubble all over. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20-30 minutes.

To prepare meatballs, heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan over medium-high heat approx. 1-2 minutes. Add finely chopped onion and garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until onions are translucent and soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, measure bread crumbs, onion powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, and Italian seasoning and stir together these dry ingredients. Add ground beef and ground sausage, cooled onion and garlic mixture, and egg. Using hands, mix together all ingredients until combined well—be as gentle as possible as over-mixing or over-working the meat mixture will result in tough meatballs.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large, oven-proof baking dish, spoon approx. ¼ of the marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish. Using a large (#20) ice cream scoop, form meat mixture into 18 meatballs; after taking a scoop of meat mixture, gently form into neatly rounded meatballs. Place the meatballs in the baking dish and then spoon another ¼ of the marinara sauce over the meatballs. Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake the meatballs for 30-35 minutes.

Cooked meatballs can then be served with spaghetti or sliced in half to make delicious Italian meatball subs. To make meatball subs, place an Italian hoagie roll, split in half, on an oven-safe tray, place 4 sliced meatball halves on one side of the roll, spoon a small amount of remaining marinara over the meatballs, and then place two slices of mozzarella cheese on top. Broil the sandwich for 3-5 minutes, just until the cheese is warm and bubbly and the bread is slightly toasted. This meatball and sauce recipe will make 9 hearty Italian meatball subs.

 

ENJOY! I hope you try some different variations with this recipe. Be sure to share your feedback (as a comment to this post) and also share if you try a different variation from meatball hoagies, spaghetti and meatballs, or as a side dish to an Italian favorite!