Homemade Meatballs with Chunky Veggie Marinara

This classic combo of spaghetti and meatballs is anything but basic.  It may not be the most exciting new recipe - there's no essence of basil foam or anything, but it's a hearty and tasty meal.  I honestly don't even usually eat meatballs, but I'm trying to push myself out of my comfort zone when it comes to cooking and try out new things.  Ryan is also a big meat eater, so I'm having to challenge myself and find meat forward, healthy meals that we'll both enjoy.

We bought a ton of ground meat - both beef and pork - when we first freaked out and stocked up on food, so meatballs just seemed like the best new way to utilize what we had.  I'm also a sucker for making homemade tomato sauce, so this recipe not only walks you through how we made our meatballs, but also a chunky veggie tomato sauce that pairs perfectly with meatballs and spaghetti.  Also, since Ryan is dairy free, these meatballs don't have any parmesan in them - I just top my dish with a heap of it so I can get my daily dose of cheese in.

Now I'm going to tell you that there are 2 typical methods of cooking meatballs - on the stove and in the oven.  I looked at a lot of different meatball recipes before coming up with this, but I'm not giving you the option between stove and oven.  Every time I thought about putting the meatballs in the oven, I thought of dry, flavorless balls of meat and it sounded awful!  Color = flavor, so I'm suggesting (or demanding??) that you cook your meatballs on the stove.  We used a cast iron skillet to give the meatballs a great crust, which I think is essential.  If you don't have a cast iron skillet, that's okay, just promise me you'll cook them on the stove with whatever type of pan you have.  You'll thank me in the end!

  

How good does that look?  It's not difficult either, just a little time consuming.  I'm not one for spending hours on a recipe that only has a few servings, but if I get 3+ meals out of it, I don't mind putting in a little extra time and energy.  So, without further ado, I'm going to first give you my meatball recipe and I'll finish with my homemade chunky veggie sauce recipe.  You can use the store-bought stuff, but it's really no good.  It's definitely worth taking the time to make your own sauce.

Total Time: 30-40 minutes

Servings: 6-8 (makes 18 meatballs)

Ingredients:

4 slices bread, lightly toasted (or 2 cups bread crumbs + 1/2 cup milk)

1 lb 85% lean ground beef

1 lb ground pork

2 eggs

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbs fresh basil, finely chopped

2 tbs fresh parsley, finely chopped

Salt & Pepper

~1/4 cup olive or avocado oil

Instructions:

1. If using freshly toasted bread rather than breadcrumbs, tear the toast into pieces and add to food processor until bread crumb consistency.  If using bread crumbs, add crumbs to a bowl with 1/2 cup milk and set aside to re-hydrate. (The fresh bread will have enough moisture in it that you won't have to do this step, so this was another way I made my recipe dairy free!)
2. Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix until fully incorporated.  
3. Lightly oil your hands and form the meat into ball shapes.
4. Once your meat is rolled out into even balls, heat a pan on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes.  Add your oil and about 1/2 your meat balls to the pan.  You want to leave enough space between them so they don't steam.
5. Cook each meat ball for 2-4 minutes per side until you have good color all around.
6. Once the meat balls have good color on them, add them to your warm tomato sauce and continue to cook on low for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through.

Don't forget to keep scrolling for my homemade chunky marinara recipe!

Add your ingredients to a large bowl and mix.  As you may already know, I like to get in there with my hands to make sure all the ingredients are evenly incorporated.

Your mixture should look somewhat like this once it's all combined.

How good do these look?  I'll admit that I started off with a slightly smaller size and they incrementally got bigger as I started rolling more balls.  That's okay though!  You can always go back and make them more even at the end.  Again, it's important that they're all roughly the same size so they cook evenly.

You want some serious color on the outside of these, so I definitely recommend using a cast iron skillet it you have one.  The inside of the balls should still be pink at this point, but you want some good color on the outside before you transfer them to the sauce.

It's okay if your sauce doesn't fully cover the meatballs - just make sure to stir the sauce and turn the balls over a few times during the cooking process.

The final result: an inside look at these delicious meatballs.  They stayed completely moist on the inside and had a really great depth of flavor from the meat combination and herbs.

Okay, so now that you're 100% convinced that you're making these delicious meatballs, you need an equally delicious sauce to simmer them in and enjoy them with.  So here's a recipe for a chunky veggie marinara sauce that pairs perfectly with this dish.

Total Time: 1 1/2 hours

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

2, 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbs butter

3 ribs celery

3 large carrots

2 tbs olive oil

3 tbs dried basil

2 tbs dried thyme

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Finely dice your carrots and celery and add to a large dutch oven on medium heat with olive oil and minced garlic.
2. Cook the carrots and celery until soft and translucent - about 6-8 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and herbs, stirring to combine.
4. Simmer sauce, stirring frequently until you're ready to add your meatballs (about 30-40 minutes).

I love the chunkiness the veggies added to this sauce (plus I'm always trying to find ways to sneak veggies into recipes!)  I used yellow carrots in this recipe, but you can use any color/kind you want!

Making your own pasta sauce is really so easy, there's no reason not to do it!  It's all about adding your ingredients to a pot and letting it simmer for a long time, so the seasonings have time to come together and create a great depth of flavor.  I didn't even time how long my sauce was going - I just made the sauce, set it on low heat and then added the meatballs when they were ready.

You'll want to keep the lid on your sauce even if it looks watery.  When you add the noodles to the sauce, they'll soak up some of the liquid.  This is also a huge must - I always cook my pasta a minute or two under the al dente instructions call for because I know they're going to continue to cook in the sauce and you don't want overcooked pasta.

Here's another photo of the final result.  It's almost too pretty to eat - topped with some fresh basil, parsley, and shredded parmesan.

I know it seems like a lot of work, but I promise you, this recipe is totally worth it!  And again, you'll get 6-8 servings out of this recipe, so you'll reap the reward of putting in the time and energy into making a tasty meal.  Enjoy!