Spaghetti and Meatballs- learn to make meatballs for spaghetti, and even get the kids involved with this easy homemade meatball recipe! Served over a bed of spaghetti with hearty marinara sauce, this pasta favorite is guaranteed to please the entire family!
Spaghetti and Meatballs Saturday!
This post is sponsored by Bounty.
The boys have been begging to make homemade meatballs, so last weekend we declared it Spaghetti and Meatball Saturday and made homemade meatballs for the first time with the boys. They had a blast helping us in the kitchen and of course they loved eating the finished product. It was a fun messy first!
I was in charge of making the sauce and spaghetti and Josh was in charge of the meatballs. I made my easy Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce to go with the spaghetti and meatballs. I put the sauce in the slow cooker and let it simmer away.
Kids Love Making Homemade Meatballs
While the sauce was simmering, Josh made the meatball mix and let the boys help roll them into balls. Caleb said making meatballs was even better than playing with play dough, ha!
Maxwell wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. He loved helping!
How to Make Meatballs for Spaghetti
Josh’s meatballs are made with ground beef, Italian sausage, garlic, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Since he was making the meatballs for the boys, he left out the crushed red pepper, but you could easily spice the meatballs up if you like things on the spicy side.
- Cook the meatballs in olive oil and then let them rest on a plate that has been lined with Bounty paper towels. This helps drain some of the oil off of the meatballs. Bounty is 2x more absorbent vs. the leading ordinary brand, and easily helps soak up the oil from the meatballs.
- Next put the meatballs on a large baking sheet and bakes them for about 10 minutes, so they cook all the way through.
- When the meatballs come out of the oven, they go for a swim in my hearty marinara sauce.
- Serve the meatballs and sauce over a big bed of spaghetti, and poof you have spaghetti and meatballs! And don’t forget the Parmesan cheese and garlic bread.
The boys always yell for more cheese please!
The boys were SO excited to eat their special spaghetti and meatballs meal. They were great little sous chefs.
I knew they would make a mess, so I made little bibs out of Bounty paper towels. I wanted to enjoy the moment and not the mess:) I always keep a roll of Bounty paper towels on our counter because I want to keep our new white kitchen clean.
The boys slurped up their spaghetti and dominated the meatballs.
I think they have a new favorite meal!
That smile says it all! Spaghetti and Meatballs were a hit with our boys. I know we will be making them again and again.
Of course, we will keep the Bounty paper towels close by so we can clean up all of our messy moments in the kitchen. Messy is all part of the fun!
Make Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner! It is a fun meal from start to finish and a great meal to involve the kiddos!
If you like this Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe, you might like:
- Pasta Pomodoro
- Rigatoni with Sausage
- Sheet Pan Pasta Bake
- Chicken Parmesan Baked Pasta
- Pasta Fagioli
- One Pot Sausage Pasta
- Easy Shrimp Pasta Salad
Main Course
Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Cuisine
- Italian
- Servings
- 8
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Marinara sauce for serving
- 1 pound spaghetti
- Parmesan cheese and fresh basil for garnish, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, add beef, sausage, bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, herbs, eggs, salt, and pepper. Stir together until combined. Roll meat mixture into 2-inch sized meatballs.
- In a large, heavy pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, add meatballs in batches. Do not crowd. Brown well on bottoms before turning or meatballs will break apart. Continue cooking until browned all over. Remove meatballs to a plate that has been lined with Bounty paper towels, as each batch is finished.
- Place meatballs on a large baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked all the way through. Remove from oven.
- Place a large pot of water on to boil for spaghetti. When it boils, add salt and pasta and cook to al dente.
- While the spaghetti is cooking, put meatballs in a large pot and cover with your favorite marinara sauce. Heat over medium-low heat.
- When the spaghetti is done cooking, drain and place in a large serving bowl. Top with meatballs and marinara sauce. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil, if desired. Serve immediately.
- Note-we like to use our slow cooker marinara sauce for this recipe, but you can use jarred sauce if you wish.
Keyword
spaghetti and meatballs
My favorite!! Spaghetti! Adorable post, thank you Maria!
Thanks Marian! xo
Seriously, how cute are your boys!!! Love a good paper towel like Bounty for messy meals like this!
Thanks Naomi! Bounty makes my life so much easier:)
How would you substitute dried basil and parsley for the fresh? Would it be as good?
Dried herbs will work. Use less because they are stronger.
Beautiful photos & delicious food. I let mine begin early also …they all worked a stint when old enough at some top restaurants as waiters and waitress where we lived at the time…one is even a professional chef.
BTW I truly enjoy your blog, your love of cooking and your hard work shine through beautifully.
Margo
They love helping us in the kitchen. Thank you so much!
hey girl this looks oh so good! Love the pics of the boys! SO cute!
Thank you! They had fun helping.
The meatballs look amazing!
Thank you! Our boys devoured them!
This looks so yummy! I need to try making your recipe soon! I’ve never made spaghetti and meatballs from scratch before!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
They look really good and I loved the pictures of the boys enjoying them.
Your boys are too cute!! My kids love spaghetti and meatballs as well – I need to try your recipe next time!
We should have a spaghetti and meatball night soon:)
I just made meatballs last night too!! Although, Italian (born and raised) husband refuses to eat them with pasta! Where he’s from (Sardinia), meatballs are meant to be eaten alone…it’s actually so strange for them that we eat them with pasta!!!! I make meatballs for him and the kids http://www.bitesforfoodies.com/recipes/polpette-with-marinara-sauce/ and a meatless version for ME! http://www.bitesforfoodies.com/recipes/eggplant-meatballs/
What a fun recipe! Great pics of your cuties too! xo
Thanks Jenny!
Looks like the perfect bowl of pasta!!
Hi, would these meatballs freeze well? Would you freeze them before or after browning them? Thanks!
Yes, we have some in our freezer now. We freeze them after they have been cooked.
Apart from recipes, what a lovely photos! so sweet xx
Made this the other night with Italian seasoned turkey instead of sausage, and it turned out tasty! The whole family loved them!
This was delicious! I love a good homemade sauce, and my 5 yr old declared the meatballs to be the best he’s ever had! We all agreed. I only had plain breadcrumbs and plain ground pork, so I googled how to turn them into italian style breadcrumbs and italian style sausage. It was easy to do with ingredients I already had. Fyi for anyone else who finds themselves in the same boat.
So glad you liked the recipe! Our boys LOVE this recipe!
It was the best Saturday that you never going to forget. You can make anything for sure with the help of your boys.
These were incredible and for so many reasons – fresh herbs, combo of Italian sausage and ground beef, and freshly grated Parmesan. Yum
Your recipe was easy to follow and the spaghetti and meatballs were great!
DELICIOUS…I’ll be making this again
I have no fonder memories than eating spaghetti and meatballs as a kid, this looks awesome!
Would it be possible to cook the meatballs in the slow cooker with the sauce?
This was delicious! I used a raos marinara and added some brown sugar!
I made this for dinner tonight. My husband absolutely loved them!! i didn’t know how easy they are to make. I ended up using dried herbs because that’s all i had, but i can imagine with fresh they would be so much better!
I also made extra and put them in the freezer so i can just thaw them and throw them in the sauce next time 🙂
Excellent. Keep coming back to this recipe… Great fresh or thrown in the freezer to pull out as needed for 1 or many.
Can I have the nutrition facts? Thanks!!!
This is hands down the best meatballs recipe , I made it once and it was amazing and then accidentally pulled up a different recipe the next and was so sad once I realized it wasn’t this one . New family favorite in our house for sure!
It is a favorite in our house too!
Made these meatballs, didn’t follow recipe to a t, but they were fantastic. I had half pound leftover if Italian sausage from chicago deep dish pizza, so I used lbs and half sausage and just a bit over lbs of burger, upped the bread crumbs half cup. Followed recipe, except I packed the spices and did about half teaspoon of salt. Restricted salt intake for medical reasons. But the recipe kept me from going too much on some spices and kept this home cook from making it another home cook flop. Paying it along to a kid I work with who is just learning to cook. The directions are great and easy to follow and the final product delicious.
Is it possible to make this without parm? My husband is dairy-free.