Easy Baked Meatballs
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The ONLY meatball recipe you need! The meatballs come out so perfect and so tender. Serve on pasta, polenta, or subs!
Homemade, super tender, super hearty meatballs. IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER?
No, the answer to that is always no. Yes, I sometimes grab those Trader Joe’s mini meatballs in the freezer aisle (they are utterly fantastic and my one guilty pleasure) but at the end of the day, nothing beats homemade.
And with this baking method, these meatballs require minimal effort with an easy clean up. Not to mention, they cook through so evenly, yielding those perfectly browned, melt-in-your-mouth tender meatballs, swimming in the sauciest goodness.
Serve over pasta, polenta, or subs. It is all just so so good.
Easy Baked Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup dry red wine
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (15-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the meatballs
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
- ½ small onion, grated
- ½ cup Panko*
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, Italian sausage, onion, Panko, milk, egg, Parmesan, parsley, garlic and basil; season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-to-1-1/4-inch meatballs, forming about 30-32 meatballs.
- Place meatballs in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake until cooked through, about 18-20 minutes; set aside.
- Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in tomatoes and Italian seasoning; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until flavors have blended, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in meatballs until heated through and evenly coated in sauce, about 3-5 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
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Finally, a moist meatball I skipped the basil because I have none in the house. I got rid of a bunch of it and I think that would’ve lifted the flavor up. Otherwise they are literally the most moist juiciest meatballs. I can’t even imagine them in the sauce, I just made them stand alone so we can freeze them and pull them out as needed. My daughter had me hand write every damn delicious recipe that I cook at home and now with her first apartment sophomore year in college, she is cooking for her roommates and they have all become raving fans. Thank you sister!
Meatballs and sauce turned out great! I made the day before we ate them, allowing the flavor and texture of the meatballs to really excel. Made a double batch. Added some additional garlic powder to the sauce because we love garlic.
Do you cook the meatballs on bake or convection setting? Can’t wait to try them!
What type of italian sausage – can you use sweet?
I made these once before and we loved them. I would like to serve these this on Christmas day along with lasagna. Question do you think I could make this ahead and freeze the meatballs and sauce together. Defrost overnight and then just reheat the day off.
These came out lovely and delicate, but slightly bland. I made a larger batch because I like to freeze the meatballs for week night meals, I did three pounds of meat and doubled all of the ingredients which I thought would be overkill on spice, they cooked perfectly but they came out a bit flavorless – I sprinkled a bit of kosher salt and Jane’s Crazy Salt and Jane’s Garlic Seasoning over the hot greasy meatballs to pull out some flavor, mixed them up a bit on the sheet to coat with all the saltiness and cooked a few more minutes to get more of the balls to caramelize – the final result was amazing – in short, these need a lot of salt in the mix to pull out all the unami! Must admit though, they came out VERY fluffy – thank you!
I adore all the recipes on this site and not one has let me down so far. This is no exception. The meatballs were so delicious! My husband said they were the best meatballs he’s ever had.
Other recipes worth checking out: Blueberry Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes, Creamy Red Pepper Shell Pasta, Korean Beef Bowl, Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Pork, Slow Cooker Beef Stew, Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast, Slow Cooker Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli, and so many more. All these recipes are so well suited to my family’s taste buds and can’t wait to try more!
so good! I added 1/2 lb ground pork. Curly parsley instead of flat, and added sherry . Playing a little Sinatra is also an ingredient.
This is the only recipe I use for meatballs. It is that good. I practically have it memorized at this point.
Any ideas on how to make these gluten free? I have a friend with celiac disease, and I’d love to be able to serve these when they come over. If I just leave out the panko, will the recipe still work? If not, any suggestions to replace the panko with something gluten free? Thanks in advance!
Allison, you can technically use any type of gluten free cracker/bread to substitute. I didn’t use Panko and they turned out absolutely fine!
I’m so excited to make these tonight!! Quick question… I’m doubling the recipe. if I happen to want to freeze any excess meatballs, should I freeze them by them selves, or in the marinara sauce?
Excellent meatballs, I have made the recipe twice.
I double recipe to freeze and have extras.
A must is grating the onions, just chopped onions the first time and they did not stay formed well.
Grated the 2nd time and taste and texture were amazing.
I will never buy meatballs again.
This website always has wonderful ideas and delicious recipes.
what if I dont have italian sauge? what else can i use to replace them?
These were delicious! I didn’t have fresh herbs so used dry, but they were still awesome. Have tried multiple recipes from this site and have yet to be disappointed. Thank you!
This looks so yum. The very best meatball recipe and easy to make.
Damn delicious! This will be my go to meatball recipe from now on. I used three hot sausage links and three Italian links. Next time I may use just four as a matter of preference. Thank you for a great recipe.
Highly recommend this recipe. Despite not having all the ingredients, my meatballs still came out fantastic and I think they’re the best I’ve made to date. I didn’t have the fresh herbs on hand so used the leaves from the celery stalk! Meh, it wasn’t the same but did the trick. I also used 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound ground pork. It still came out fantastic. The seasonings and spices quantities are perfect. Never let down by a recipe on this site YET!
Hands down, the very best meatballs! I pay them in ciabatta rolls with garlic butter and mozzarella cheese. My kids and hubby said they were the best meatball sandwiches they have ever had. I’m making an extra batch to freeze now.
OMG. These easy baked meatballs are to die for. So full of flavour. So easy to make.
We don’t don’t eat pork. Can I use all ground beef? Will it change the taste or texture? Can I use turkey sausage?
This turned out very well despite the fact I had no fresh herbs and the wrong sausage. Next time I will use ALL the proper ingredients and I am sure it will be even better.