Taste 'N Swear

recipes and easy cooking with Tates 'N Gravy

All-around Amazing Meatballs

  • Balls of Glory

The first time I made these meatballs, I asked myself, “Why the hell have I been buying those nasty store bought balls?” They are so easy to make, and like I said, If you can make cookies, you can make some amazing meatballs.

I have used these in stroganoff, and the flavors matched perfectly. Left overs got used in meatball subs with marinara and fresh mozzarella- holy shit. The sub was even great cold the next day at lunch.

You can also freeze them. This recipe makes a shitload of balls, so you better plan to eat them for awhile, or freeze them for later.

Gather Your Needs:

The “drys”

  • 1 cup of plain bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

The “wets”

  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 1 pound of Italian sausage
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup of onion (about of half a small onion)
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of oil or butter

get your shit together

  • Pull out 3 bowls. One small one, one medium and one large. You will want to mix your components separately. This is important, if you overmix the meat, it won’t hold shape. Don’t fuck this up.
  • Dice your onion. Make sure the pieces are small enough. You will be rolling about 1″ balls.
  • grate or super fine dice the garlic clove.
  • Line one or two baking sheets with foil
  • Preheat Oven to 400o

Get Cookin’

  1. In a medium pan, heat the tablespoon of oil/butter under medium-low heat. Add diced onions. Salt and pepper to taste only. Cook until opaque. When ready, add the onion to the bottom of the large bowl and mix in grated garlic. Allow to cool.
  2. While the onions cook, Using the medium sized bowl, Combine all of the “drys”- bread crumbs, cheese, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. Wisk until well blended.
  3. In your small bowl combine the eggs and Worcestershire sauce. Wisk together.
  4. Once your cooked onion has cooled, add your ground beef and Italian sausage to the mixture. Fold the onion and garlic in lightly.
  5. Add your egg mixture to the meet. Mix gently by folding, but make sure to get the egg mixed in well enough that you don’t create a bread-mixture goober in the following step.
  6. Add HALF of the dry mix to your meat mixture. Fold over several times. Add in the remaining half of the dry mix. Fold in well, paying attention to how well the mixture holds shape.
  7. Once thoroughly blended, grease a tablespoon measuring spoon. (I like to use a MISTO oil mister. I can put what I want in it, and it does not have any aerosol additives). Scoop up a tablespoon of mixture and plop it onto your baking sheet- DO NOT ROLL IT YET. Chill out, this is its own step. Fill your baking sheet. You want airflow around them in the oven, but not space so damn far apart they dry out.
  8. Get your hands damp. Roll each ball until nicely round. If the mixture begins to stick to your hands, wash them and re-damp.
  9. Once all your balls are rolled, or until the pans are full, bake them at 400o for about 15 minutes. Remember, they are made with pork and beef. Get them up to safe temp before eating ( at least 160o) . Don’t fuck around and find out.
  10. Once they reach appropriate temperature, let them cool on paper towel. This will take care of the excess fat.
  11. Make sure to eat, refrigerate or freeze promptly!

Leave a comment

Leave a comment