Our 34 Best Meatball Recipes
Our 34 Best Meatball Recipes
Beef-Ricotta Meatballs with Braised Beet Greens
The secret to these luscious meatballs is using ground beef that has a fairly high fat content and mixing it with fresh ricotta, milk-soaked bread and aromatic seasonings like fennel and lemon zest.
Slow Cooker Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
These meatballs are served in a bowl, but they are equally delicious with spaghetti or on a hoagie roll.
My Grandmother's Meatballs
Milk-and-cream-soaked breadcrumbs and an egg are the secrets to these supertender meatballs from Swedish star chef Magnus Nilsson. Serve them as he does, with lingonberry jam and mashed potatoes.
Sesame-Ginger Chicken Meatballs
These superquick, juicy little Asian-inspired meatballs from F&W’s Justin Chapple are great wrapped in lettuce cups or served with steamed rice.
Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
When Jacques Pépin has leftover cooked meat from a roast or a stew, or even leftover steak, he often chops it and uses it to make these boulettes (“small balls”)—a staple in every French housewife’s cooking repertoire.
Lamb Meatballs with Cumin, Mint, and Tomato Sauce
Mint, cumin, and chopped almonds give these delicious meatballs their Middle Eastern flavor.
Cocktail Meatballs
According to Southern tradition, the hostess at a ladies’ luncheon should serve little meatballs in a chafing dish or on a platter with toothpicks as a satisfying snack for any men in attendance.
Chicken and Sun-Dried-Tomato Meatballs
One serving has just 290 calories and 10.4 grams of total fat.
Supersize Meatballs in Marinara Sauce
There’s something to be said for eating one giant meatball atop a simple plate of spaghetti.
Mushroom Barley Soup with Mini Meatballs
Grace Parisi has always been a fan of mushroom barley soup with beef that has been simmered until succulent. For a clever shortcut that still delivers deep flavor, she replaces the beef with meatballs made from a quick mix of sirloin, egg, bread crumbs and cheese.
Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs
Spaghetti and meatballs is a crowd-pleasing classic Italian-American dish. The mixture of beef, veal and pork makes the meatballs really flavorful.
Turkey Meatballs Two Ways
To spice these kid-friendly meatballs up for grown-ups, Katie Workman adds hot turkey sausage and crushed red pepper.
Swedish Meatballs
In Sweden, making meatballs is a very social family affair. The more kids you can round up the better, since a child's palm makes the perfect-size ball. Here, Fredrika Stj?rne uses her father’s recipe, with his secret ingredient (celery salt).
Grilled Middle Eastern Meatballs
Pass crisp lettuce leaves and tangy yogurt with these cumin-spiced patties and assemble them at the table.
Joyce's Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs in Lettuce Wraps
Jennifer Joyce gives chicken meatballs a heavenly sticky glaze by rolling them in sugar before baking.
Lamb Meatballs with Red Pepper and Chickpea Sauce
When these meatballs are almost cooked through, Nancy Silverton pushes them to one side of the skillet and adds the chickpeas so everything soaks up the luscious roasted red-pepper sauce.
Italian Meatballs in Caper-Tomato Sauce
Milk-soaked bread helps make chef Massimiliano Alajmo’s beef-and-pork meatballs incredibly light; bits of chopped olive make them extra-flavorful. The thick tomato sauce coats the meatballs nicely and doubles as an excellent pasta sauce.
Norwegian Meatballs
In her cookbook Scandilicious, Signe Johansen shares her unusual cocoa-sauced meatball recipe.
Meatball-and-Provolone Subs
Neal’s Deli serves tender, oversize pork-and-beef meatballs stuffed into a warm hero roll with melted provolone cheese. Although Matt Neal makes his own chunky tomato sauce for the sub, it’s fine to substitute six cups of jarred sauce.
Polpette in Spicy Tomato Sauce
A die-hard Sopranos fan, chef Ruggero Gadaldi says that the TV show inspires many of his hearty Italian dishes, including these polpette (meatballs).
Meatball Spiedini
On the skewer, alternate these super-flavorful meatballs with basil leaves and cherry tomatoes.
Lamb Meatballs with Mint
The bar at Seville's Enrique Becerra restaurant serves a standout tapa, Albóndigas de Cordero a la Hierbabuena, meatballs made with the classic combination of lamb and mint.
Asian Meatball Wraps
Serve the meatball-packed wraps with lots of hot sauce and lime wedges.
Meatballs with Peas
Eugenia Bone serves her meatballs with rice instead of pasta to soak up the fantastic marinara sauce.
Tangy Lemon-Egg Soup with Tiny Meatballs
With its blend of chicken stock and vitamin-C-rich, this restorative soup (inspired by the classic Greek lemon-egg soup avgolemono) is a good way to fight colds or the flu.
Olive-Mint Pesto Meatballs with Fettuccine
Some cooks are surprised when Grace Parisi tells them she mixes pesto into meatballs to add flavor quickly. If you’re pressed for time, good store-bought pesto works too.
Caesar Salad with Meatballs
This classic Caesar salad is incredibly good with the juicy meatballs David Burke serves in place of the usual croutons.
Grilled Meatballs with Scallion and Shaved Cheese Salad
Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson makes his savory meatballs with a mixture of lamb, veal and bacon and, surprisingly, a little ricotta cheese to keep everything moist.
Turkey-Date Meatballs with Lentils and Yogurt Sauce
Turkey is not only a soporific but a source of iron, zinc, potassium and B vitamins.
Chicken-Meatball Yakitori
Sylvan Mishima Brackett makes these meatballs, known as tsukune, with hand-chopped meat and skin from the best pastured chicken he can get.
Fried Italian Turkey-and-Cheese Meatballs
Fried meatballs are a Florentine specialty; this version can be made with any cooked meat, from roast or boiled beef to chicken and pork.
Pork Meatball Stew with Carrots and Pickled Mustard Greens
Rich pork broth—made with pork butt and smoked ham—brings together this comforting stew from brothers Andrew and Eric Dayton’s restaurant The Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis.
Albóndigas with Mushrooms
These Spanish-style meatballs are prepared with a quick béchamel, which makes them wonderfully moist and tender. They’re cooked in a deeply flavorful tomato-based sauce made with wine and brandy, then topped with crisp mushrooms.
Vietnamese Lemongrass Meatballs
The combination of lemongrass, a few dashes of fish sauce and tons of fresh herbs creates a salty brightness to crave year-round.
Meatball recipes include juicy slow cooker meatballs in tomato sauce and tender glazed cocktail meatballs. Plus more meatball recipes.