Ultimate Spaghetti & Meatballs

When it comes to the ultimate comfort food, spaghetti and meatballs comes to mind almost every time. While some say you have to have this cooking all day long, you really can get great flavor out of just over an hour’s worth of cook time. Which makes it ideal for a Sunday supper, but also still doable for a weeknight dinner. This recipe for the Ultimate Spaghetti & Meatballs is going to really impress the whole family.

I have shared a few of my tried and true secrets in this recipe. Most of it comes from the technique but also in the ingredients. By adding a little bit of tomato bouillon to the meatball mixture, you get the flavor of cooking the meatballs directly in the sauce without having to take the extra time (they take much longer to cook through in the sauce). In that same idea, by adding the Worcestershire sauce and beef broth to the red sauce, you get the flavor that the meat was actually cooked in the sauce. It’s a win win!

When you are making the meatballs, having a food scoop makes portioning so much easier. I like to scoop them all out onto the cooking rack and then use the palms of my hands to make them into perfect rounds. When they are all the same size, they cook evenly. So you never have to worry if they are cooked through in the middle. I use a #30 food scoop – which is about 1.25 ounces. It works great.

I serve this up simply with some garlic bread made of sourdough, drizzled with olive oil, garlic and Italian seasoning that I toasted in the oven at 425degF for 8 minutes. You really don’t need much more than that.

Now Let’s Get Cookin’!

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Ultimate Spaghetti & Meatballs

A simple red sauce, with an easy homemade meatball that is so loaded with flavor, the family is going to love it.

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword beef meatballs, italian meatballs, red sauce, spaghetti, spaghetti and meatballs, sunday supper

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1½ lb Spaghetti Pasta

For the Sauce

• ½ White Onion minced
• 2 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 2 28oz can Crushed Tomatoes
• 2 15oz can Tomato Puree
• 1 cup Beef Broth
• ¼ cup Honey
• ¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

For the Meatballs

• 2 lb Ground Beef
• 1 cup Bread Crumbs
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Dried Minced Onion
• 1 tbsp Tomato Bouillon
• 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

• In a large saute pan over medium high heat, add olive oil, onion, garlic, basil and oregano. Let saute for 4 minutes. Add remaining sauce ingredients and thoroughly combine. Reduce heat to medium-low.
• Preheat oven to 350degF.
• In a mixing bowl add meatball ingredients and thoroughly combine. Using a 1 ounce food scoop to portion out meat mixture. Use you hands to roll each into a ball and place on a cooking rack (spray with cooking oil) over a parchment paper covered sheet pan. Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes.
• Remove meatballs from oven and add to simmering red sauce. Let continue to simmer until pasta is cooked.
• Start water boiling for pasta (salt as desired). Once ready, add pasta and cook as directed on packaging. Drain in colander and return to pot away from heat.
• Remove meatballs from the sauce to a bowl. Pour remaining sauce over cooked pasta and toss to coat.
• Serve a portion of sauced pasta with 6-8 meatballs over the top.