The components for a meatball sandwich are all present; they have just been put together differently. At our house, this recipe is a perennial favorite. Due to how delicious it is, we NEVER have leftovers!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 5 |
| Yield: | 5 to 7 servings |
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup chopped green onions
- ¼ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 (1 pound) loaf Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 cups spaghetti sauce
- 1 cup water
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
- Mix together onions, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and ground beef. Roll into 1 inch diameter balls, and place in a baking pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until beef is no longer pink. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Arrange the bread cubes in a single layer in an ungreased 9×13 inch baking dish. Mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, Italian seasoning and black pepper until smooth. Spread this mixture over each bread cube. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the grated mozzarella cheese.
- In a large bowl, mix together spaghetti sauce, water, and garlic. Gently stir in meatballs. Pour over the bread and cheese mixture in the baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese evenly over the top.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or until heated through.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 1046 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 74 g |
| Cholesterol | 153 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 41 g |
| Saturated Fat | 26 g |
| Sodium | 1876 mg |
| Sugars | 15 g |
| Fat | 65 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Didn’t care for at all. That being said, I’m not fond of meat balls to start with, but thought w all the cheese it would be ok. But no, even my husband who is not picky at all…didn’t care for.
I thought this was amazing! Make sure to coat the bread completely, even on the sides, with the cheese mixture. This will prevent soggy bread.
Something didn’t work and I can’t figure out what it is. It all should have worked.
Used 1 1/2 lbs hamburger Added 1 egg. Increased breading to 1/3 cup. No water added. Next time I am going to try putting the bread on top of casserole to help with sogginess.
I have some big eaters so I doubled the recipe and was short on mozzarella cheese so I substituted peper jack and parmasian . Plus I added extra sauce so it wouldnt be dry
My teenage son loved this recipe! I skipped the cream cheese and mayo due to picky eaters in the family. Everyone said this was a keeper!
Very tasty. I decreased the amount of bread because it just seemed like too much. Came out good.
Like others, I use Ricotta cheese instead of sourcream and cream cheese. I also cook the bread separately.
one of my very favs. been making this for years and never gets old.
Bread was soggy. Leaving water out might help
It was delicious! Because of the anticipated tediousness of spreading the cheese on individual bread cubes, I followed Adrian’s idea to cook it all in a hollowed out bread bowl, and substituted ricotta for the mayo. I think it was too much work and created too many dishes for meatball sandwiches though. My son, whose day it was to wash dishes, agrees. I will keep the cheese spread recipe (that was FABULOUS) and just spread it on the hot dog buns for our regular meatball sandwiches.
It makes a lot. It would be a good dish for a pot luck. I didn’t make any changes. Would make it again but I would not use the brown gravy the next time.
I have made this several times. I double up on the meatballs, pound of hamburger and 16z of hot Italian sausage. Make hamburger meatballs, Italian sausage meatballs and a mix of both. Instead of cubing up the bread, too hard to spread the spread on them. I just slice the bread into half inch thick rounds and put those in the dish. Much easier for me. If there is time I will make a quick marinara, if not I will use jarred. Both work fine for us. What I really like is that this makes a lot but the leftovers will be eaten. Doesn’t last long.
Just made this. I didn’t read the reviews until this was in the oven cooking. Next time, I’ll make sure i read them BEFORE I do anything! I made some small changes to this. I didn’t make my own meatballs, I used frozen. I cooked them in the spaghetti sauce with the garlic, water and pepper until the meatballs were hot. I couldn’t find an Italian loaf so I used french bread instead. Others said they toasted the bread first. I’ll didn’t even think about this and will definitely do this the next time I make this. Quite a few reviewers said to leave out the water, I didn’t. The bread was a little soggy, but that was ok with us. Next time though, I’d cut the water in it half and see how that works out. Other reviewers said to skip the mayo and use Ricotta cheese. I used the mayo and it was fine, but I think I’ll try the Ricotta next time. I’d also add more Italian spice to the mix. It was just a tad bland. This made a really good meal and I will definitely be making it again soon.
I made this with gluten free bread. I only had sliced sandwich bread available at my local grocery store. I sliced about 3/4 of the loaf into cubes and then toasted in the over for a bit. Then I topped with a layer of shredded cheese. I don’t love Mayo so I used ricotta and cream cheese. That was spread on next, followed by meatballs, sauce and more shredded cheese. Baked as directed and it was amazing! I will make again. The toasted bread did not get soggy.
Only change was using ricotta instead of mayonnaise. Delicious, will make again.
My picky eater loved it!
I skipped the mayo, doubled the ground beef, put the pyrex with bread in it in the oven on broil to toast the bread, which in turn made it easier to spread the cream cheese. Came out amazing. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Wish I had read the reviews first. Recipe as is is awful!
We loved this recipe. As much as I hate rating something that I didn’t follow exactly, it was close enough to the original recipe. I made my own spaghetti sauce and meatballs to start. Instead of cubing bread and then spread the mixture over each small piece. I baked frozen garlic bread and used that. I didn’t cut up the bread but just spread the cream cheese mixture on top of each piece of bread. This was SO Good!! My husband went back for seconds! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!
Did not care for this at all. Despite toasting the bread and eliminating as much as the liquid as possible, it was still soggy. Not for us.