This easy Italian meatballs recipe is made with a blend of ground beef, Italian sausage, cheese, breadcrumbs, and the perfect blend of seasonings that will have your whole family asking for more.
One of my favorite things about this recipe is the way you make the meatballs. Using a muffin tin to bake them in saves on a lot of cleanup time. It’s also an easy way to keep all of the meatballs separate for better, even cooking.
Don’t you love meatballs? Who doesn’t love homemade meatballs?
One of my favorite recipes is this Italian meatball recipe. It has so much flavor and is crazy delicious. It’s even kid-approved over at this house! Why is it so good? You will have to make a batch and see for yourself!
Using a muffin tin to bake them in saves on a lot of cleanups when you are finished making this recipe. It’s also an easy way to keep all of the meatballs separate for better cooking.
What Ingredients you will need for an Italian Style Meatballs Recipe
- ground beef
- Italian sausage
- plain breadcrumbs
- minced garlic
- eggs
- finely chopped (fresh) flat leaf parsley
- freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- salt
- fresh ground pepper
Now that you have all of your ingredients together let’s make some meatballs. See below for my step-by-step instructions on how to make the best meatballs ever.
How do I make Meatballs?
Step 1: Heat the oven to 350.
Step 2: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add each of your ingredients into the bowl and mix well after each addition. I find it best to use my hands versus a spoon.
Step 3: Make slightly more substantial than golf ball sized meatballs and place them into a Muffin pan like this one.
Place a coat of non-stick cooking spray. (Make sure not to overpack meatballs as you want them to cook evenly and all the way through.)
Step 4: Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, flipping them when you are halfway through.
Italian Style Meatballs
You can serve these meatballs naked without sauce.
Or serve them with your favorite marinara sauce.
Serve with noodles and sauce for meatballs and spaghetti, or on a hoagie for a meatball sub. We also like to double the recipe and freeze leftovers for future meals.
This is such a delicious recipe, and while it may take a little prep, it is very worth the time and effort you put into it.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
If you enjoyed this easy homemade Italian meatballs recipe, you might also enjoy these other recipes:
- Taco Spaghetti
- Sweet Chili Chicken Meatballs
- Easy Instant Pot Meatballs
- Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread
- Instant Pot Meatloaf
If you make this recipe, we would love it if you would come back and give it a rating. It lets us and our other readers know what you think! If you snap a photo and post it on Instagram, make sure to tag us @pinkwhenjen. We love to see what you’re making!
Italian Style Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound italian sausage
- 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs KETO – use panko or almond flour
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350
- Add meat, breadcrumbs (or Keto substitute), eggs, salt, pepper, parsley, and cheese to a medium bowl. Mix well.
- Make larger than golf ball sized balls and keep them loosely packed. Toss them back and forth in your hands to help them form and keep them from packing to tightly.
- Place in a muffin tin for easier cooking, and turn them 15 minutes in to the 30 minute cook time.
- TIP: Replace the breadcrumbs with Panko or Almond Flour to make this recipe KETO friendly.
Notes
- The secret to cooking evenly is by LIGHTLY packing the meatballs. I do this by tossing them back and forth in my hands from left to right, right to left. Don’t pack tightly or they will cook unevenly.
- For easy cleanup, bake the meatballs in a muffin tin.
- For extra flavor, you can also grill these meatballs on the grill before adding them to any spaghetti or favorite dishes.
- Serve with your favorite marinara or serve naked without sauce.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is a calculated guesstimate. Please note that this can change with different brands and modifications you may make to the recipe. For the most accurate information, use a nutritional calculator with the exact brands and measurements you’re using with each recipe.
©PinkWhen 2023
This looks great! I have to tell you, this morning when I woke up, I was thinking that I wanted to find a good meatball recipe for dinner tonight (because my meatballs are never that great!). I love this idea of putting them in the muffin tins! Making it tonight! Thanks! – Shelley
I make hard boiled eggs in muffin tins so why not this?
I’m going to try this! Des loves meatballs. So do I!
Love these! look yummy. My kids would like them:) pinned to try. found at cast party ed. Have a great week.
These look great. I recently tried a meatball recipe I wasn’t particularly impressed with, so I’ll have to try yours next.
That’s a mini muffin tin, right?
That is indeed a muffin tin! 🙂
Hi Jennifer
I’m so glad to have found your lovely blog! I love the idea of meatballs in muffin tins, and pinned it so I would remember! I am following you on bloglovin, so look forward to keeping up with your posts!
Why have I never thought of this! You’re brilliant! I hate the mess of grease when I make them on the stove top. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love that you use the cupcake pan! What a great idea! Thanks for this recipe – pinning to my dinner ideas board!
These sound delicious! Love the muffin tin idea.
Love the idea of baking in the muffin tin! Excellent tip, thanks for sharing!
I found you through a Pinterest pin of this recipe. I made it last month and my family loved it! This is the first ever meatball recipe that my family has loved! I’m making it again tonight and I’ll be checking out your other recipes for July’s meals planning menus. Thank you so much!
That is awesome! I am so glad that you and your family love this recipe as much as we do. Thank you for taking the time and letting me know!! 🙂
How many meatballs does this recipe make?
You can get a good 18 meatballs out of this dish.
These look VERY good!
Regular or mini muffin tin please? Thanks, love the recipe!
A regular muffin/cupcake tin.
Great recipe for meatballs but what about the spaghetti recipe…looks like a real winner and would be interested in seeing it.
Thanks Rich, I will have to post that soon…it’s an AMAZING recipe!
Have you posted your spaghetti sauce recipe yet? I can’t find it and want to serve it with your delicious meatballs.
I have not! It’s on my to do list…I should have it posted in the next couple of weeks. 🙂
This sounds just like my recipe–but I never thought about using muffins tins. Much less clean up–I usually make about 6 doz at a time. If there are any left over–I freeze them.
These meatbalsl are AMAZING.
I just pulled some out of the sauce to test them.
I have no words.
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
Yay! So excited you like them 🙂
Could your italian meatballs be used as a slider sandwich?
Oh my goodness yes! We cut the leftover meatballs in half and then cover them with a little sauce and some parmigiana reggiano cheese and it is AMAZING!
I’ve never made these before but you make them possible 🙂 Trying them now! Thanks!
what kind of italian sausage do you use? links which you cut up? I don’t recall buying ground italian sausage before.
I buy ground italian sausage at my local Kroger store. It’s in the meat section and it should be near the regular ground beef. 🙂 Hope that helps!
Was looking for a meatball recipe to take to a birthday party and came across your site on pinterest. I just made these and I will say that they are probably the best meatballs I’ve ever tasted. Absolutely delish. The only thing I changed was baking them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. I shaped them with a “cookie” scoop. I used shredded cheese rather than grated and I wouldnt do that again. the Shredded melts just slightly.
Thanks
I am so happy you liked these! We made them over the weekend again…they are always a favorite here in our house.
I bake mine on a cookie sheet lined with foil in the oven. No clean up – just roll up the cooled foil and toss in the garbage pin.
I just made these last night and they were awesome!! I didn’t have plain breadcrumbs so I used italian breadcrumbs and it was great. Thanks for the recipe.
I am so glad you like them! If you have leftovers, add them to a hoagie bun with some sauce and mozzarella cheese for the best meatball sub you will ever taste 😉
I am making these now! I cannot wait to try them only 10 more minutes!
You are going to LOVE them 🙂
These are amazing! I made them last night, put them on garlic bread with marinara sauce and melted provolone….hands down the best meatball sub I’ve ever had!! The whole family agrees.
Thank you for the delicious recipe!
I know! I seriously need to make these in the next few days. I haven’t had them in a while and now I am craving them. So glad you and your family love them as much as we do!
We are having these for dinner tonight! I used my mini muffin tin & got 24 meatballs. We prefer ours smaller than golf balls! They were right about done in 25 mins. I’ve added them to my spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. It’s just waiting on everyone to get home!
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Jen, I just saw your delicious meatball recipe in your feature at Making It In The Mountains. It was great seeing you chosen as the featured blogger! Love how your blog name came about – too cute! I’ve pinned this recipe and plan on making them very soon – yum.
Amazing meatballs! I received the best complement a wife can get… better than moms! 🙂
Whoa!!! (Just don’t brag to her about it,) 😉 Seriously, so glad you like them!
I have tried many meatball recipes, never quite getting things “just right” and I never take the time to leave comments but this time is different! These meatballs are fool proof and using the muffin tins is genius. They come out perfect, not falling apart like lots of recipes and no frying required. This is my go-to recipe from here on-thank you!
I am so glad you love these as much as we do. They really are the most amazing Italian meatballs. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
I have adopted this recipe as my own and everyone loves it , but to tell you the truth I don’t care if anyone likes them or not I do!! I could never make meatballs right until I found this recipe. Tks for sharing! Yumm!
I play poker every Monday night and we rotate who hosts/provides food. Last June, I made these meatballs for meatball subs which were a HUGE hit. My friends have been begging me to make them again so their wish will finally be granted Monday night. However, I now get home like 2 min before poker starts so I have to cook these the night before. How do you recommend reheating them so that I don’t dry them out? Should I under-cook them a touch the night before so they finish cooking on Monday? They won’t have time to come to room temp before I reheat them 🙁 Or could I prepare them and place them in the muffin tin on Sunday then throw them in the oven when I get home on Monday?
Thanks for the awesome recipe!
You can totally make these the day before, store them in the refrigerator, and then easily reheat the next day. (We love to eat these with spaghetti on day one, and then on day two we make sub sandwiches with them.) Heat them back up in the oven and cover with foil so that the moisture stays in while reheating. Hopefully that helps! 🙂
So very YES! What an easy way to cook meatballs, and for all these years I had been frying or broiling them, dealing with the mess and splatter… ugh. This was so easy, and I thank you. 🙂
The muffin tin idea is genius!