I had been craving REALLY GOOD Italian food for a while when I added this recipe to my weekly meal plan. All I could think if was a GIANT meatball, so I HAD to make one. Perfectly tender, superbly seasoned, and the sauce simmered to delicious greatness, these meatballs are a little extra effort, but totally worth it!
What you need:
A short and humble ingredient list provides the most tender and delicious Giant Meatballs I have ever made. I have experimented with quite a few varieties and I am convinced this style that starts with soaked bread yields the best result.
This recipe starts with the soaking of white bread in milk. This will keep the meatballs perfectly tender, and moist. Tear the bread and let it soak in the milk for 10 minutes.
Then crumble in all the meats and add in all the remaining seasonings and ingredients. Mix it all together by hand for the most even distribution.
Once you have your mixture all put together, use a scale to portion the meatballs out into 9, 9-ounce meatballs. Or evenly separate them out.
Place the meatballs on a sheet pan and roast them in the oven until they brown slightly on the outside. Then place them in a pot with the tomato sauce and cover them with some of it. Simmer until cooked through and a thermometer inserted in the middle reads 150˚F.
Before you finish cooking the meatballs in the sauce, you can cool them after roasting and freeze them for later use. Be sure to thaw them fully before finishing cooking in the sauce. Follow the finishing directions for frozen meatballs.
After the Giant Meatballs finish cooking in the sauce, boil some pasta and serve them over it with a healthy spoonful of sauce.
More Italian Favorites
I love to make a handful of Italian dishes, if you love them too take a look at my recipes for:
Quick and Classic Homemade Lasagna,
Eggplant Parmesan Rollatini,
and Homemade Sausage Manicotti Recipe.
These a some of my very favorite comfort foods and warm up a winter day and give you a full belly.
Giant Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
I created this recipe after having a hankering for a giant meatball during Covid-19 times. Something about a big ol' meatball just is so fun and brings back childhood memories of a certain song.
Ingredients
- 6 slices Texas Toast ripped up
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- 1 pound Ground Pork
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- 1 pound Italian Sausage
- 2 cup Shredded Parmesan + more for serving
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Parsley minced, + more for garnish
- 5 Garlic cloves grated
- 1 lg Onion finely diced
- Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper
- 2, 28 oz jars Store-Bought Marinara Rao’s, Victoria, or comparable
- 1.5 lb Pasta bucatini, spaghetti, or rigatoni
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- In a large bowl, stir together the ripped up toast and milk and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Crumble the pork, beef, and sausage into the bowl. Add the parmesan, parsley, garlic, onion, and some salt and pepper to the bowl. Use your hands to work the mixture together, and break up the bread while you mix everything together.
- Form the mixture into 9 - 9 oz balls. Place the meatballs onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until a crust forms on the outside of the meatball.
- Gently place the meatballs into a large dutch oven and cover them with the tomato sauce and a little water from rinsing out the jars. Bring the mixture to a simmer and continue cooking the meatballs, covered for 30 minutes longer.
- Cook your pasta while the meatballs are finishing cooking. They are done when a thermometer inserted in the middle reads 150 degrees.
- Serve meatballs over the past with a generous spoon of sauce. Top with parmesan and parsley and enjoy.
Notes
After the first bake of the meatballs, you can cut the recipe down by half and only finish half the meatballs in 1 jar of sauce and serve with 1 lb of pasta. Freeze the remaining meatballs and thaw completely before finishing in sauce and serving with more pasta.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 9 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 931Total Fat: 47gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 27gCholesterol: 141mgSodium: 1862mgCarbohydrates: 68gFiber: 7gSugar: 15gProtein: 56g
If you make this recipe, please let me know by leaving a review at the bottom of this page!
And make sure to sign up for my newsletter and follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook for more KendellKreations!
MY LATEST RECIPES!
Get my NEW e-Cookbook here!! ⬇️
MY FAVORITE KITCHEN TOOLS!
Here are a few links to some of my favorite kitchen tools! You get a car, YOu get a car, YOU ALL GET A CAR…in my best Oprah voice
These Rösle Silicone Tongs are a little pricey but they will last you the rest of your life and are the softest in your hand. This is important for someone like m that cooks so much. It reduces strain, I have 4 sets in my kitchen!
These are my FAVE Nordic Ware Sheet Pans, every kitchen should have at least 2 sets of these! I think I have at least 4 of each of these.
This is my favorite pressure cooker, the Fagor is the same concept as the “Instant Pot” but easier to use in my opinion, if you don’t have one you NEED one, it will be your best friend in the kitchen!
A sharp knife is the most important tool in the kitchen, these Japanese steel “Shun” knives are my favorite! And this is a great starter set to build on. Once you try them you will be in love so use this as a foundation you can build on for years to come.
This Scanpan 11″ skillet is just the right size for almost anything you will need to cook and my best friend and a real workhorse in my kitchen, it’s also a great deal at $99. Scanpan is the best in the world for healthy cooking. It is coated with a proprietary ceramic-titanium coating that is durable while allowing you to use fewer fats and oils when cooking. It is a coating only they use. I could talk all day about my love for these pans, message me if you want more info. Here are some other sizes that are available if you are looking to outfit your kitchen with some new goodies. 8″ & 10″ Skillet set or 8″ Skillet, I still need this one for my kitchen Also, I don’t really know how to cook small so the 12.5″ is my other fave!
This giant vat of olive oil is my favorite, I decant it into a smaller bottle for my counter. Or put this spigot on top of a wine bottle!
My favorite baking dish that is so easy to clean even burnt on cheese slides right off!
This Tovolo jar scraper has to be my single favorite kitchen tool, it is definitely the most used tool in my kitchen. If you are NOT a gadget person, this is the only necessity I say is a MUST beyond the wooden spoon.
A great wood spoon is essential, this Olive Wood one is my favorite, I have more than I can count. But can you really ever have too many?
A food scale can be a very important tool in your kitchen, this one is the one I use every day!
If you love Joanna Gaines as much as I do then the ‘Magnolia Table Cookbook’ is a must in your kitchen, get a copy HERE!
Leave a Reply