Happy Tuesday!
Over the weekend, I did what I’m assuming is a universal “mom thing”. As we were packing up and getting ready to come home, I was thinking about my week ahead, making my meal plan, writing my list, and asking my family “what should we have for dinner this week?”. After two glorious months of eating a whole lot of seafood, my family was quick to say MEATBALLS!
They were ready for BEEF 🙂 .
Last night, for our first family dinner in McKinney in over two months, I made my EASY BAKED MEATBALLS, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you again today and remind you why you might want to make them too.
A few things to note about this recipe:
1: It’s EASY!
2: You can make them in advance! (The busy lady’s best friend is a make ahead dinner!)
3: You can eat them right out of the oven or pop them in the slow cooker with a jar of your favorite pasta sauce.
4: My husband is not a big leftover guy. He prefers to eat his dinner and be done with it…well that is not the case with these meatballs. He wants them for dinner, AND he wants them the next day for lunch reheated.
5: I use ground beef in my recipe, but of course, you do you. You can use ground turkey or ground chicken instead if that’s what your family prefers.
6: I typically make a quadruple batch (yup, four pounds of ground beef) for the leftovers.
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! It’s a great recipe year around, but it’s especially great during Back to School season too!
Enjoy! xx
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Easy Baked Meatballs {can add to slow cooker!}
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: This serves 4, but can easily be doubled or tripled 1x
Description
Oh friends, I am excited to share my EASY BAKED MEATBALLS with you today! These are EASY, you can make them in advance, you can eat them right out of the oven or pop them in the slow cooker with a jar of your favorite pasta sauce. I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! It’s on regular rotation at our house! This is a VERY easy recipe to double or triple. This is enough to serve four good helpings, but totally double it for a bigger batch.
Ingredients
- 1 pound of ground beef
- a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup of Italian style breadcrumbs (we use g-free)
- about ¼ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- a handful of torn basil leaves
- a little pinch of garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- a jar of pasta sauce, optional
- prepared rice or pasta, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- I like to line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up.
- In a large mixing bowl, add in your ground beef, drizzle a little EVOO over the top, add your two eggs into the bowl, add in your breadcrumbs, grated Parm, basil, and garlic powder with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Using a wooden spoon, mix all of this together until it’s combined. After that, start shaping your meatballs (we like golf ball size) and placing them on your baking sheet. Repeat until you’re done.
- Pop the baking sheet in the oven and bake about 25 to 30 minutes or until they’re browned and a little bubbly around the edges.
- At this time, you can remove the meatballs and enjoy right away or if you’re making them and want to keep them warm and serve them later, after they’re pulled from the oven, add them to your slow cooker on either the “keep warm” setting or a very low heat. Pour a jar of your favorite pasta sauce on top, cover and let them simmer until dinnertime.
- We like to serve ours over rice or pasta with a garnish of a bit more Parmesan and basil.
Notes
Several things to note:
1: If you want to make these in advance (that morning or afternoon), after they’re pulled from the oven, add them to your slow cooker on either the “keep warm” setting or a very low heat. Pour a jar of your favorite pasta sauce on top, cover and let them simmer until dinnertime.
2: We love to serve ours over rice or pasta.
3: If you use gluten-free breadcrumbs, this is an easy g-free recipe.
4: I use ground beef in my recipe, but of course, you do you. You can use ground turkey or ground chicken instead if that’s what your family prefers.
Angela says
This sounds delish!! How many sheet pans did you have to use for four pounds of ground beef? I love the idea of having leftovers… my family would love these meatballs!
Mix and Match Mama says
One large one! The great part about meatballs is that they don’t expand when you bake them (unlike a cookie), so you can pack them on there pretty tight.
MelanieL says
I have been making these a ton lately, they’re great for meal prep but so delicious straight from the oven. An older version has a drizzle of olive oil on the rolled meatballs before placing them in the oven and they get a little crispy, so good! We also serve over rice.
Yvonne says
These sound so delicious! I definitely want to make some. I like how you add fresh basil! 😋 I think I will try to make extra and freeze them.
Heather says
I think this will be what I make for dinner on our first day back at school! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Nova says
I love this! Instead of mixing the meat and things by hand with a wooden spoon I use my kitchen aid mixer and meat hook. I also use a large cookie scoop to shape the meatballs, makes it fast and consistent! I use almond flour instead of breadcrumbs for gf.
Crystal Bushnell says
Try with mashed potatoes.