Make the best Spaghetti and Meatballs in homemade marinara sauce from scratch with this incredible recipe. These are amazing “WOW” factor MEATBALLS – so tasty and juicy and BIG. I’m sharing all of my secrets for incredibly tender and flavorful meatballs with an easy-to-follow video below.
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Helpful Reader Review
“If there is 10 stars, I would’ve given it. The meatballs is soooo unbelievably good. Moist, juicy, succulent. I cannot thank you enough for this recipe. xoxo” – Julina ★★★★★
Spaghetti and Meatballs Video
Watch me make Spaghetti and Meatballs from scratch with my easy recipe and timeless technique. Even beginners can master my easy recipe.
Best Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe
This is seriously the best spaghetti meatball recipe I’ve ever tried. Store-bought meatballs can’t touch these (cue M.C. Hammer), and they are incredibly easy to make. Pair with a Caesar Salad and Garlic Bread, and dinner is made.
First, I mix together a super-flavorful meatball using the best kitchen tool–your hands (or your KitchenAid if your muscles need a break). Then, after I brown the meat, I finish these up by simmering them in the super yummy and easy homemade marinara sauce made in the very same pot as I cooked the meatballs–that means fewer dishes.
This recipe tastes authentic and complex, but it’s completely beginner-friendly! It is also great for meal prep and to-go lunches since it freezes and reheats really well.
Ingredients for Meatballs
The secret to getting uber tender meatballs is bread; yes, bread. And the secret to getting uber flavorful meatballs is using a combination of meats: lean ground beef with sweet Italian sausage. This combo gives such depth of flavor and the perfect texture. It makes 22-23 meatballs, depending on the size.
- Bread absorbs moisture, so the meatballs are super juicy and hold together nicely. White bread is best, but you can use whole wheat or other soft sliced bread. You can also use gluten-free bread.
- Lean ground beef – 7% to 15% fat content, which makes for the best texture, perfectly moist without being greasy.
- Italian sausage adds extra flavor to the meatballs. If you can’t find ground sausage, you can buy sausages and remove the casings.
- Parmesan cheese – Use freshly grated parmesan or finely shredded
- Egg – egg binds all the ingredients together so the meatballs don’t fall apart when cooking. You can omit the egg, but the meatballs will be more delicate.
- Flour – all-purpose flour works great to create a nice browned crust on the meatballs. You can substitute 1:1 gluten-free flour.
Ingredients for Easy Marinara Sauce
After browning the meatballs, you’ll make this easy marinara sauce right in the same pot. It only takes 5 ingredients, so opt for better-quality canned tomatoes for the best flavor.
- Onion and garlic – staple Italian ingredients! It seems like a lot of chopped onion, but they shrink considerably when cooked
- Crushed tomatoes – If you use “Crushed tomatoes with basil,” you can omit the fresh basil if desired
- Bay leaves – these are optional if you don’t have them on hand, but they lend a depth of flavor
- Basil – Fresh basil adds vibrant flavor. You can substitute with 1 1/2 tsp dry basil, but add it to the sauce at the beginning of simmering.
- Pasta – We use spaghetti for that classic bite, but you can substitute your favorite pasta, like homemade pasta, linguine, or angel hair pasta. You can also use Spaghetti Squash.
How to Make Italian Spaghetti and Meatballs
My spaghetti and meatballs recipe is so simple to make in about an hour! First, we’ll make the meatballs, then the sauce, and then we’ll simmer the two together while boiling pasta. Follow along below.
- Soak the cut bread in 2/3 cup water and then mash together with a fork.
- Mix – In a large mixing bowl (while I often use my hands, feel free to use a stand mixer to do the work), add all the remaining meatball ingredients except for the flour.
- Brown the meatballs – Use your hands or an ice cream scoop to roll 1 1/2″ meatballs, and then lightly coat in flour. In a deep, large skillet or a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, cook meatballs in batches until each side is browned (2 minutes per side). Set aside browned meatballs to finish cooking in the sauce.
How to Make Marinara Sauce
Use the same pan for the sauce to sop up all the great flavor from browning the meatballs.
- Saute the chopped onion, stirring often until soft and golden (5 minutes). Add minced garlic and stir 1 minute until fragrant.
- Stir in tomatoes and bay leaves, and then bring to a light boil (stir periodically to keep the sauce from splattering).
- Add all of the meatballs back into the sauce, and lower the temperature to cook at a gentle simmer for 30 minutes. Stir basil, salt, and pepper into the sauce 5 minutes before it’s done. Remove the bay leaf before serving over al dente spaghetti noodles.
Pro Tip:
While the meatballs and sauce simmer in step 3, use another pot to cook the pasta according to package directions. It should be ready just in time! See my quick directions below.
Combine with Pasta and Serve
While some Italians eat meatballs as a side dish, Americans love a heaping plate of saucy pasta and meatballs served together. Here’s how I serve spaghetti and meatballs.
- Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water until al dente or softer if your family loves it that way! Truth be told, I love slightly overcooked pasta. Drain pasta and return it to the empty pot.
- Pour the saucy meatballs over the spaghetti and toss gently until covered in sauce. Plate in a large bowl and garnish with basil and parmesan. Serve with Garlic Bread and Roasted Broccoli.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Spaghetti and Meatballs keep well in the fridge to serve later or for meal planning. Let everything come to room temperature, and then store in an airtight container.
- Make Ahead: Meatballs in sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for 3-4 days. When ready to serve, reheat gently on the stove and toss with pasta.
- Refrigerate Leftovers: Store in the fridge for up to 4 days
- Freezing: For meal prep, it’s best to freeze the meatballs in sauce separately from the pasta for up to 3 months. You can also freeze leftover combined spaghetti and meatballs for 2-3 months.
- To Reheat: Thaw in the fridge overnight. Heat in the microwave or pan on the stove, stirring gently until heated through. Add a splash of water to re-moisten.
Traditional Spaghetti and Meatballs is the best family-style, crowd-pleasing meal to serve, and this recipe makes it easier than ever to make the whole meal from scratch in just an hour! Impress your family with this timeless Italian comfort food.
Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for Meatballs (makes 22-23 meatballs):
- 3 slices white bread, (crusts removed), diced or torn to pieces
- 2/3 cup cold water
- 1 lb lean ground beef, (7%-15% fat)
- 1 lb Sweet Ground Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, to dredge meatballs
- 3 Tbsp Light olive oil to saute, or use vegetable oil
Ingredients for Sauce:
- 1 medium yellow onion, (1 cup chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 56 oz crushed tomatoes, (from 2 – 28 oz cans)
- 2 bay leaves, optional
- Salt & pepper , to taste
- 2 Tbsp basil, finely minced, plus more to garnish
Other Ingredients:
- 1 lb spaghetti
Instructions
How to Make the Best Italian Meatballs:
- Soak – Combine bread pieces with 2/3 cup water and set aside for 5 minutes, then mash with a fork.
- Mix – In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add: 1 lb ground beef, 1 lb sausage, 1/4 cup parmesan, 4 minced garlic cloves, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 egg, and mashed breadcrumbs. Mix until well combined.
- Brown the meatballs – Form into 1 1/2" meatballs (about a flat ice cream scoop of meat). Dredge/roll meatballs in flour, dusting off excess. Heat a deep, large, heavy skillet or a Dutch oven over medium heat with about 3 Tbsp oil. Add meatballs in 2 batches without crowding the pan and saute until browned on all sides (about 6 min total or 2 min per side). Remove meatballs and set aside (don't worry about cooking through at this point).
How to Make Marinara Sauce:
- Saute onion – In the same skillet over medium heat, add more oil if needed and saute 1 cup chopped onion, stirring often until soft and golden (5 min). Add 4 cloves minced garlic and stir 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes and 2 bay leaves. Bring to a light boil (stir to make sure it's actually boiling and not just sending bubbles to the surface).
- Add meatballs back into the pan with tomato sauce, partially cover and cook at a gentle simmer for 30 minutes, turning the meatballs occasionally. Meatballs will be tender, and the sauce will be thickened. A few minutes before the sauce is done, stir in chopped fresh basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. While meatballs simmer, make the pasta.
How to Make Spaghetti and Meatballs:
- Cook pasta according to package instructions in salted water until al dente (or to desired doneness), drain, and return to the empty pot.
- Toss together – Pour sauce and meatballs over spaghetti and toss gently to combine. To serve family-style, transfer to a large platter, garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh basil, and serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Family-Favorite Pasta Recipes
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- Creamy Shrimp Pasta
- Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo
- Penne Alla Vodka
- Chicken Tetrazzini
- Chicken Florentine Pasta
- Baked Feta Pasta
- Chicken Orzo Bake
I made your spaghetti/meatballs and they were delicious! I will always use this recipe, we hurt ourselves eating this! 🤪😅😅
Thank you for sharing this with us! I use many of your recipes, I’m a Hugh fan!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Barbara! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Hi Natasha, I want to compliment you, from an italian(sicilian) guy, I can onestly tell you that this recipe is the closest one to our original recipe, keep going with the good work!
Thanks a lot for the compliment! I appreciate it.
How come a recipe says dredge and flour meatballs,and the other recipe says nothing about dredging of the meatballs?
Hi Mike, it’s a nice flavor addition to dredge and then sautee the meatballs.
Natasha, my son doesn’t eat anything fried could these be baked instead?
Hi Carolynn, this is what one of my readers said, “line a baking sheet with foil, spray with cooking spray, arranged the meatballs, and bake at 400 F. for about 30 minutes.”
Loved the recipe! What would you suggest adding to the meatballs to give them a little kick? Cayenne? Also, would it be okay to let the sauce and meatballs simmer for a few hours?
Thanks!
Hi Ashley! I’m glad you loved the recipe. I think adding some Cayenne would work fine, even crushed red peppers to the sauce would give this a nice kick. I don’t know about simmering the meatballs in the sauce for that long. Since they are in the sauce, the meatballs shouldn’t overcook easily but without having tested it, I don’t know at what point they could overcook. You’d have to experiment with it. Let us know how they turn out if you do.
These meatballs were a great hit with the family. I got all kinds of compliments. I will definitely make these again. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Tiena! I’m so glad they were a hit. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
When heating meatballs that were cooked and frozen. How would you do this, Thaw? Cook covered or uncovered? Etc etc
Many of my other readers have frozen them cooked and reheated them just fine. I think you could heat the frozen meatballs without thawing, it should work just fine.
Super the only thing I did different was instead of bread I used Ritz crackers. They were awesome.
Nice to know that you liked it!
Made this yesterday and made it gluten free. I was worried the gf bread wouldn’t hold meatballs together. It was fantastic.
Hi Sheila! That’s great to know, thank you for sharing with us.
would canola oil work isstead of vegetable oil to saute the vegetables?
Thanks!
Hi Wendy! Yes, that would be fine.
I’ve made many spaghetti and meatballs recipes and this is one of the best! The meatballs were perfect! I followed the recipe pretty closely. Was a hit!
Hi Lisa! That’s wonderful. I’m so glad it was a hit! Thanks for sharing.
This was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I’ve never gotten so many compliments from my family saying they were literally the best meatballs and sauce they’d EVER HAD. And 2 of them lived in Italy for a year! 🙂
Meatballs were so moist, so flavorful and so delish!
I made enough for 12 people and the ingredients and recipe translated great!
I opted to add some hot italian sausage as well – so I did 1/2 ground beef, 1/2 sweet italian sausage and 1/4 hot italian (i realize that’s more than half but that’s how it worked out with expanding recipe portions. I would add more HOT next time and half and half the sausage as i didn’t get any spice from the little amount of hot sausage I added!
These were great ! I made them with elk meat and it was fabulous. I even accidentally mixed the 3/4 cup of flour to the meatballs and they were still very moist ( even with dredging them after).
That’s great, Nicole! Thank you for sharing.
Meatballs were not very tender and the sweet Italian sausage was overpowering.
I made this tonight for Supper and the meatballs were so moist and delicious. The only thing I did different was I used my own homemade Salsa as I did not have any canned tomatoes in the house. It turned out perfect and I will make this again in the near future.
That’s great, Colleen! I’m so glad you loved it. Thank you for the review.
These meatballs are delicious!!!! I will definitley use this recipe for meatballs in the future, they held their shape and are tasty.
Love it! Thank you for your lovely comments and feedback, Kat.
Great recipe! I had 3 lbs of ground beef and sausage so adjusted the ingredients for the meatballs accordingly. Also added a nice cabernet and honey as I prefer a slightly sweeter sauce. Similar to other reviewers, I baked my meatballs in the oven before adding to the sauce.
Thank you for sharing, Jennifer! 🙂
This is a delicious recipe! Where can I find a link for the cheese grater?
Hi Christina! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! You can find our favorite kitchen tools in our Amazon Affiliate Shop HERE.
This recipe for spaghetti and meatballs is the best ever! I cooked the sauce with meatballs all day, slow n low! Didn’t change a thing! Having meatball hoagies with leftovers tonight! I will be making this again!
So glad you found a favorite to add to your rotation, Joanne! 🙂
Hi Natasha! – LOVE your recipes! I use them all the time!
I have a question. Following the recipe exactly, can I make the meatballs ahead of time (in the morning), then brown and then simmer later in the afternoon? Will having them prepped in the fridge change the consistency? I’m worried the gluten from the bread mash with rest too much in the fridge and make them tough. Thanks again!
Hi Lindsay! I’m glad you love my recipes. That would be fine. You can prepare the meat and form the meatballs the next day before cooking them. You can also prepare them ahead and store them on parchment paper, covered in plastic, and refrigerate them until ready to use the next day. They also freeze very well.
I made this last night and it was absolutely delicious! My husband raved about it as well. We paired it with fresh bucatini pasta from the farmer’s market. Will definitely be on permanent rotation at our house and it’s just the two of us!
Hi Ashley! That’s wonderful. So glad you found a new favorite to add to the menu. Thank you for the review.