great homemade meatballs Archives

I always keep a few bags of homemade spicy meatballs on hand. Grab them out of the freezer, toss in some marinara sauce, serve over pasta… dinner in no time! I also use them to make super easy meatball sandwiches. And slice them in half to top a homemade pizza. They’re very versatile, easy to make and taste great! And they’re way better than those store-bought ones you find in the freezer section. You know the ones. Dinky. Kinda weird colored. Questionable texture. Not so tasty. Yep, not these.

Perfect Tender Tasty Meatballs

You can make these spicy meatballs as spicy as you want. Or leave out the red pepper flake entirely and just make ‘meatballs’. The meatballs taste fantastic with or without the heat. They’re wonderfully tender and delicious. Just make sure you don’t overwork the meat. Mix it just enough to combine the ingredients. Anything more and they’ll start to get tough and you don’t want that. Mix lightly and they’ll stay soft and tender. I prefer to use my hands though I picked up some food-safe gloves to make the job easier.

Meatball Master

Also try my meatloaf meatballs.

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5 from 1 vote

Spicy Meatballs

Make sure you don't overwork the meat. Mix it just enough to combine the ingredients.

Course Main

Cuisine American

Keyword meatballs, spicy

Prep Time 1 30

Cook Time 30

Servings

Calories 533kcal

Author Based on a recipe from Ree Drummond

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
½ cup Parmesan freshly grated
½ cup ricotta cheese
¼ cup fresh parsley minced
½ teaspoon dried red pepper flake or more
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
3 cloves garlic finely grated
2 large eggs
splash milk
ground black pepper
½ cup olive oil for frying

Instructions

Place all ingredients except for the oil into a large bowl.
Using your hands, combine everything thoroughly, but try to not overwork the meat.
Form the mixture into small balls. Depending on how you plan on using them, you may want small or large balls. It's all up to you.
Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Working in batches, fry the meatballs until golden brown and cooked through, with an internal temperature of 160 F. Flip the meatballs once or twice while cooking to brown on all sides.
Transfer cooked meatballs to a plate and continue cooking the remaining ones.
Enjoy!