Perfectly Seasoned Italian Meatballs Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S ITALIAN MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Cover a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
• Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onions in hot oil until translucent, about 20 minutes.
• Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl. Stir onions, bread crumb mixture, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and Parmesan cheese into meat mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour.
• Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Using wet hands, form meat mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Arrange onto prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

ITALIAN MEATBALL SEASONING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200°. Place bread on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn; bake until dried, 15-20 minutes loner. Place bread in a blender or food processor; cover and process until crumbly. Add seasonings. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. Yield: 2 batches (about 2 cups total)., To prepare meatballs: In a bowl, combine eggs, milk, 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-1/2-in. balls. In a large skillet, brown meatballs in oil; cook until meat is no longer pink. Drain on paper towels.

PERFECTLY SEASONED ITALIAN MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In larger sized mixing bowl mix together milk and eggs.
• Break bread in pieces and soak in milk-egg mixture until bread falls apart and it becomes a fairly well mixed consistency.
• Add in seasoning packets and all optional seasoning. Stir until well incorporated.
• Take off all rings and jewelry and add ground meat to mixture. Use your hands to mix until all ingredients are well blended.
• Mix in parmesan cheese.
• Allow mixture to rest for about 15 minutes. This gives it a chance to firm up so it will be easier to work with.
• Form into balls that are between the size of a walnut and an apricot, they will be soft so be gentle.
• Place on cookie sheets and try to space out enough that they don't touch once on the pan. I do 20 to 30 per pan depending on how much of a hurry I am inches.
• Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through. If I feel vigilant I broil them for about 5 minutes right at the end. If you skip that step they are still tasty.
• Pull out of oven and cool on the pan or drain on paper towels if you so desire.
• Eat them as appetizers or add to your favorite pasta dish.
• NOTE: If this is a larger batch than you plan to eat you can freeze extras for later use. One other option is to roll out as many as you want and use the rest of the mixture to make meat loaf. Put meat mixture in a loaf pan and bake it at 350 for an hour. Drain excess fat off when you pull pan out of the oven and then allow to cool completely in the pans before slicing.

AUTHENTIC ITALIAN MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand.
• Use your bare hands for best results.
• Roll meatballs to about the size of a golf ball. (wet your hands to prevent the meat from sticking to them while rolling the meat balls).
• Drop raw meatballs into large (I use a stock pot) pot of sauce.
• (I have an incredible sauce recipe {#92096} I use for my meatballs).
• Simmer for about 3 hours.