These delicious baked meatballs make the perfect addition to pasta night! Ground beef, Italian sausage, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese with fresh basil mixed together then form little balls of goodness that are baked, not fried.
I want to say that I make these meatballs every time I make pasta. It would be great to say, ‘This is a beloved recipe that my grandmother handed down to me.’ But I want to be honest with you, so I will. I just started making this recipe exactly one month ago.
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While baking meatballs is my preferred way to make meatballs, I didn’t have a good recipe that went with spaghetti sauce. The usual grainy, bland, and just plain yuck meatballs that I quickly make don’t leave any impression at all. Except for my youngest son, he LOVES spaghetti and meatballs, so for him, I felt like I really needed to up my game.
After playing with a few different versions, this oven baked meatball recipe was by far the best and little kid
Ingredients
These oven baked Italian meatballs have-
- Both ground beef and Italian sausage
- Breadcrumbs soaked in whole milk
- Egg
- Seasonings like garlic, salt, ground black pepper, Italian seasoning, and fresh basil
- Shredded mozzerella and parmesan cheese
So what made the difference between these and the other meatballs I had made before? What I had run across before was when I used breadcrumbs for
What is a good meat mixture for making baked meatballs?
Prior to this, I was just using ground beef. Boring! So I added half ground beef (80/20 mixture) and half Italian sausage. No longer boring.
How to make baked meatballs step-by-step
Add the breadcrumbs into a bowl and soak them in the milk.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl with the soaked breadcrumbs add the ground beef, Italian sausage, egg, both cheeses, seasoning, garlic, and chopped basil.
Mix all of the meatball ingredients together.
Take a pinch of the meat and form them into 1 to 2-inch balls. I like them on the smaller size and this recipe makes about 35 meatballs.
Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake the meatballs in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes and serve with cooked pasta and your choice of sauce.
Tips & Variations
- Make sure the internal temperature in the center of these beef meatballs is at 160 degrees.
- If you do not have breadcrumbs, you can toast slices of bread until slightly burnt then crumble the pieces and soak in milk.
- These meatballs will freeze beautifully! Follow this how to freeze meatballs post from Will Cook For Smiles.
Want some un-boring ground beef recipes?
And here you are…..
From our home in the Bottom Left of the Mitten to yours ~ Enjoy!
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Baked Meatballs
Equipment
- 9x13 baking sheet
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound Italian sausage
- 1/2 pound ground beef 80/20 mix
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves chopped
Instructions
- Soak the 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs in 1/4 cup milk for 5 minutes before adding the other ingredients.1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup whole milk
- After soaking the breadcrumbs, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl with the soaked breadcrumbs add the beef, sausage, two cheeses, egg, seasoning, garlic, and chopped basil.2 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1 bunch fresh basil leaves
- Form into 1 to 2-inch balls. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.1/2 pound Italian sausage, 1/2 pound ground beef
- Bake the meatballs for 30 minutes and serve with cooked pasta and your choice of sauce.
Notes
Tips for making this recipe:
- You can use toasted bread in place of breadcrumbs.
- The internal temperature of ground beef meatballs should be 160-degrees.
Originally published in August of 2019. Updated post in April of 2022 with new photos, same great recipe.
*Affiliate links are included in this post. Please read my Discloser Policy.
Last Updated on April 15, 2022 by Erin@BottomLeftoftheMitten
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