Meatball Parmesan Recipe and How To Guide - The Cookie Rookie® (HOW TO VIDEO) (2024)

4.53 from 174 votes

Author: Becky – The Cookie Rookie

• ▢ ½ cup dry breadcrumbs or 4 slices stale white bread
• ▢ 2 tablespoons milk or cream or buttermilk
• ▢ 3 large eggs lightly beaten
• ▢ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ▢ ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese divided in thirds
• ▢ 1½ teaspoon dried parsley
• ▢ 1½ teaspoon dried basil
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1½ pounds ground chuck or a blend of ground pork, ground sirloin, and ground chuck
• ▢ 2 cups marinara sauce store-bought or homemade
• ▢ ½ pound fresh mozzarella cheese cut into 2-inch pieces

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

• Place the breadcrumbs (if using bread slices, cut off the crust and tear bread into bite-size pieces) and milk in a large mixing bowl and stir until breadcrumbs are completely coated. Set aside for 5 minutes or until liquid is almost absorbed.

  ½ cup dry breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons milk

• Add eggs, salt, pepper, ⅓ of the Parmesan, parsley, basil, and oregano to the breadcrumbs/milk mixture and stir well.

  3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1½ teaspoon dried parsley, 1½ teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon dried oregano

• Add ground meat and mix, gently, just until incorporated and form into 2½-inch balls.

  1½ pounds ground chuck

• Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until brown & cooked through. If more color on the outside of the meatballs is desired, set the oven to broil and broil the meatballs 2-3 minutes or until a darker brown.

• Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F

• While the meatballs cook, prepare the sauce (if making homemade).

  2 cups marinara sauce

• Brush a 12-inch skillet with canola oil or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

• Place 1-cup sauce in the prepared skillet and sprinkle with ⅓ of the grated Parmesan. Set the meatballs in the skillet, leaving a little space between the meatballs. Pour the remaining sauce over the meatballs and sprinkle with another third of the grated Parmesan.

• Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is hot and bubbly. Top each meatball with a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese and the remaining ⅓ of Parmesan. Cook just until the cheese is melted and starting to lightly brown.

  ½ pound fresh mozzarella cheese

• Allow the Meatball Parmesan to cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

• Serve with a toasty Italian baguette and a side salad.

*Note – If there are extra meatballs, freeze for later use.

Any ground meat would work. Ground beef would work great as well. You can also combine meats like ground pork and ground beef together.

You can fry the meatballs. Heat about a tbsp of oil in a skillet then add the meatballs and fry until golden all around, should take about 7 to 10 minutes.

For easier prep, make meatballs ahead of time and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

In a pinch, you could substitute your favorite frozen meatball, partially thawed, and cook as directed, starting with the sauce step.

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I’ve made this several times now but I use frozen meatballs and it’s delicious. I always just measure the cheese with my heart..the more the better and I use Ragu sauce!

I have made this a couple times and we really loved it!I do agree that the recipe was confusing about the parmesan.It says “1/2 cup, divided” in the ingredient list.It says to add parmesan to the meatballs,and then tells you 3 more times to add 1/3 of the parmesan.The first time I made it,I forgot that it said “divided”,and aded the entire 1/2 cup to the meatballs.They were still delicious!Fixed that the next time.Will definitely be making again. Thank you!

I made these tonight and they were wonderful! I added some ricotta to the meatballs and they were delicious. Great recipe! Thanks for sharing!

Coming from an Italian, please add garlic to this recipe. Your directions are confusing when talking about parmesan. Please rewrite recipe. I used ground Italian sausage and that helped. Cooking time is a bit long

Terrible recipie. I am deleting it. A bland expensive mess. Most disappointing. Do not make

I just made this for my guys and I couldn’t even get a pic because they were into it so fast. So good! I used ground 85/15 sirloin and a roll of sage sausage, but followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Turned out fabulous! Thank you for sharing your recipe.

I used frozen Italian meatballs and crushed some croutons up on top. It was delish!

Very yummy, although I used more parmesan than called for and added a teaspoon of garlic powder..

This page directions are hard to follow. Ingredients isn’t specific on how múch parmesan cheese goes into meatballs. Page is extremely hard to copy and paste. Finding directions is difficult. Too much information it’s confusing. Hopefully I figure out the recipe. Thank you

Last edited 1 year ago by Kelly