Melt-In-Your-Mouth Italian Meatballs Recipe (9 Ingredients, 25 Minutes) by Donna John

Spaghetti and meatballs. That is a classic combination that shows up on my dinner table at least two to three times a month. Sometimes I'm lazy and just make a quick meat sauce – but now I ask myself, "What would Katie do?" Katie is my daughter who is an amazing cook and goes above and beyond when she's cooking. (Check out Katie's recipes on 30Seconds.) So when I was staring at the pound of ground beef on the counter, I knew she'd make homemade meatballs.

Another thing I thought was that my husband occasionally complains when he gets a piece of onion in his meatballs. So I did another WWKD and came up with a solution: cook the onions until soft before adding them to the meatball mixture. Delicious idea that tames the onion's sharpness and adds even more flavor to the meatballs.

To make this homemade Italian meatballs recipe you only need nine simple ingredients. Here is your short shopping list for this easy recipe: ground beef (Katie would use ground turkey instead), olive oil, onion, fresh garlic, soft breadcrumbs, milk, an egg, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. If you're making the meatballs into spaghetti and meatballs, grab some dried or fresh pasta and your favorite pasta sauce (marinara, alfredo sauce, bolognese, etc.).

Pro Tip: When a recipe calls for soft breadcrumbs, I like to grate whatever type of bread I have in the pantry. Regular sandwich bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns and even leftover dinner rolls are great for breadcrumbs. Simply rub the bread over a cheese grater into a bowl. 

These high-protein, Italian-style meatballs are so tender and moist, they almost melt in your mouth. Use the meatballs with pasta, for a meatball casserole or even for a meatball sandwich. The meatballs freeze well, so this is also a wonderful meal-prep recipe. 

So the next time you're staring at ingredients wondering what to do them with, think, "WWKD?"

Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped small
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup soft breadcrumbs (I grated brioche hot dog buns)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Here's how to make it: 

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion. (You can use yellow, white or red onion.)
   
2. Cook, stirring often, until onion softens and begins to lightly brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic during the last 30 seconds of cooking.
   
3. While the onion cooks, put the ground beef, breadcrumbs, milk, egg, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning into a mixing bowl. Season with salt and black pepper.
   
4. Add the cooked onions and garlic.
   
5. Stir to just combine all the ingredients. (Do not overmix or you could get tough meatballs.)
   
6. Shape into meatballs. (I used a 1/8 measuring cup to form the meatballs. How big or small you make them will determine the amount of meatballs you get.)
   
7. Put the meatballs into the skillet. Cook until golden brown on the bottom.
   
8. Flip the meatballs over and continue to cook until cooked through, about 10 minutes in total. Use the meatballs as desired.
   
9. If you're putting them into a sauce, pour the sauce over the meatballs and simmer as long as you like. Store the meatballs in the fridge, or cool and freeze them to use later.
   

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