Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

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Light and soft large meatballs slowly simmered in a rich tomato sauce: absolutely classic, absolutely delicious and absolutely, hands down, the easiest and best recipe I have made for this dish.

The recipe is from a cookery book called Heirloom Kitchen by Anna F Gass sharing and celebrating heritage recipes from immigrant women in the US. This particular recipe comes from Anna’s own mother, Gina Crocco Francese, who immigrated to the US from Southern Italy with her husband and young family.

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Although you have to slowly cook this dish for a long time, ideally up to 3 hours, I was attracted to it for its simplicity. The tomato sauce comes together in less than 10 minutes, hands-on time, and the meatballs are poached in this rich and delectable sauce. No frying or baking them first. Again, all very quick but, more importantly, infused with deep and rich flavours and soft, melt in the mouth meatballs. Serve with your favourite pasta and some pecorino Romano or parmesan cheese on the side. Supper sorted!

How to make Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Start making this about 3 hours before you want to eat the meatballs.

Collect all your ingredients together –

For the tomato sauce –

• extra virgin olive oil
• fresh basil leaves
• garlic cloves, peeled and lightly mashed
• red chilli flakes, optional
• passata or crushed tomatoes
• water
• tomato paste
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• sugar

For the meatballs –

• minced/ground pork
• minced/ground veal
• minced/ground beef, 15% fat
• chopped fresh parsley
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• freshly grated pecorino Romano
• bread crumbs
• milk, ideally full fat
• tomato sauce, taken from above

To serve:

• cooked pasta, your favourite
• shredded basil leaves
• grated pecorino Romano or parmesan cheese

First you need to make the tomato sauce:

1. Heat the oil with the basil, garlic cloves and chilli flakes over a very low heat for 10 – 15 minutes. This allows all the flavours to infuse and develop. Be careful the garlic doesn’t burn or get too brown.
2. Meanwhile, pour all the passata/crushed tomatoes into a large cast-iron casserole or saucepan. Swill out the passata cartons/tins with the water and add to the pan.
3. Add the salt, pepper, tomato puree and, when ready, strain the oil mix and add the infused oil.
4. Stir well to mix and bring to a simmer.
5. Remove 125ml/½ cup of the tomato sauce and set aside to cool and use when making the meatballs.
6. Partially cover the tomato sauce with a lid and cook for 1 hour, stirring from time to time.
7. After 1 hour, taste the sauce to see if it needs any sugar to sweeten it slightly. This will depend on the tomatoes you use. I added a teaspoon here.
8. Also check to see if it needs any extra salt, pepper and/or chilli flakes. If so, add them now.

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Make the meatballs whilst the tomato sauce is cooking:

1. Place all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. The easiest way is to use your hands.
2. Now form the meatballs – I use a large ice cream scoop around ¼ cup/60ml in size. If making this size, you should have around 14 meatballs. You could make them smaller, if you prefer.
3. The meatballs will be very soft and delicate. Use your hands to carefully roll them into neater shapes.
4. Slowly and carefully lower the meatballs into the sauce. If they do not all sink into the sauce, gently shimmy the pan so they distribute evenly. Do not be tempted to stir the pot, or the meatballs may break apart.
5. Bring the sauce back to a gentle simmer and cook, partially covered for a minimum of 45 minutes, but ideally up to 2 hours. The longer the better, deeper flavour.
6. Serve with your favourite pasta, some shredded basil and some pecorino Romano on the side.
7. We often have plenty of sauce left-over after all the meatballs have been eaten. Freeze any left over sauce and either serve it as is with pasta, use it to poach more meatballs or stir though some cooked minced beef. Delicious.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.