WANT AN EASY MEATBALL RECIPE?
I’ve got one for you! Now my traditional meatball recipe does call for a longer list of ingredients than we sometimes don’t have time to make, so here’s a quicker recipe with less ingredients and a couple different ingredients you wouldn’t expect!
I owe this recipe to my cousin Joey from Staunton, VA, who shared it with me when I visiting in 2021 to cook some delicious meals together! And because we were making homemade tomato sauce, eggplant parmigiana and lasagna, we decided to simplify the meatball recipe. We used some ground beef and Italian sausage to flavor the sauce and ended up mixing the beef and the sausage together to make the meatballs!
WHAT DO SAUSAGE AND OATMEAL HAVE IN COMMON?
In addition to the ground beef, there are two “not so usual” ingredients in this easy meatball recipe! Mix two parts ground beef to one part crumbled Italian sausage (I love the hot sausage, but obviously sweet works just as well) and instead of bread crumbs, you add oats! You’d be amazed at how the oats bind the meat together without having to add eggs, bread crumbs, and milk or oil! With some garlic, onion, salt, pepper and grated Italian cheese (Locatelli / Pecorino Romano or Parmesan), you are pretty much done!
OATMEAL IS NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST ANYMORE!
I don’t know about you, but I never would have through to use oatmeal flakes in my meatballs! And you know what? I LOVE it! It really binds the meat without drying it out! And if I have friends or family who are gluten-free, oats in their simple form are gluten-free (but there are some caveats to it I recommend you research if you want to better understand oats).
So if you decide to go the simple route to making meatballs, I hope you’ll try these meatballs!
Until next time,
Let’s get cooking together,
Madeline
Madeline's Signature Meatballs Made Simple!
Equipment
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Cookie Sheet or Aluminum Pan
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef (I like 80/20 ratio)
- ¾ pounds Sweet or Hot Italian sausage, without the skin
- ½ cup oatmeal flakes
- 2 tbsp onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup grated Italian cheese (parmesan, locatelli or Pecorino Romano)
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley You can substitute 1 tsp dried parsley flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° convection roast, or bake setting.
- In the large mixing bowl, mix beef and sausage together so the meats are well combined, but try not to over mix.
- Add in the remaining ingredients and mix so all ingredients are well combined (again, not overmixing).
- Place parchment paper on cookie sheet or aluminum pan.
- Roll meatballs 2-inch in diameter (they will shrink up a little).
- Place them on parchment paper leaving a little space between each of them.
- Roast for 15 minutes, and turn over roasting another 10 minutes.
- Serve with tomato sauce and pasta, or make a meatball sandwich with provolone cheese!
