For this dish’s fresh flavor explosion with a tinge of sweet and sour, fresh basil is a necessity. When my herb garden is in season, all the components are available! For a simple evening meal, include a favorite vegetable and a salad.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 30 meatballs |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds coarsely ground pork
- 1 ½ pounds sweet Italian sausage without fennel, casings removed
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef sirloin
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef chuck
- ½ loaf day-old (hard) Italian bread, torn into chunks
- 1 (32 ounce) carton low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 whole head garlic, minced
- 1 cup packed fresh Italian parsley leaves
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 8 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese (such as Locatelli®), grated
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- Combine ground pork, Italian sausage, ground sirloin, and ground chuck in a large bowl. Mix them with your hands until thoroughly combined.
- Soak bread chunks in chicken broth in a bowl until completely soft. Combine garlic and parsley in a mini chopper or food processor and grind to a fine paste. Squeeze the excess broth out of the bread, reserving the broth in a bowl, and add the bread to the meats along with the garlic and parsley paste. Gently mix in beaten eggs and grated Pecorino Romano cheese with your hands until fully incorporated into the meat mixture. If the mixture seems dry, pour in some of the reserved chicken broth.
- Pinch off golf ball-sized pieces of the meat mixture and roll them into meatballs, taking care not to pack them too tightly, and set them on a baking tray. Depending on how big you make them, you should end up with about 30 meatballs.
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in two or three batches, brown the meatballs on all sides and drain on paper towels. If you’re adding them to a pot of sauce, you may undercook them slightly, as they will finish cooking in the sauce.
- We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. The exact amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature as well as ingredient density.
- Look for sweet Italian sausage without fennel. The amount of garlic may seem a bit much, but if you look at the amount of meat and all the other ingredients, it’s not. My mother uses less garlic but I prefer a little more. If you are looking to make this a little lighter you can cook them in the oven. It will change the texture but they will still be good. You probably won’t need the whole loaf of Italian bread, depending on the size, so just use what’s needed–about 1/2 to 2/3 of a loaf.
- I use the meatballs in my
- recipe. Brown the meatballs as directed and add them to the sauce about 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 710 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 22 g |
| Cholesterol | 211 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 47 g |
| Saturated Fat | 17 g |
| Sodium | 913 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 47 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Every time someone cooks this dish, ten italian grannies die all over the country. Please don’t say this is an italian recipe!!!! Nobody would evere think about cokking such a (for us) terrible thing in Italy! You can eat it if you like, but please don’t say it’s tipically italian: we would be really hurt by this declaration. Sincerously, an proud italian. P.S.: please don’t take offence at my message, it just wants to be a funny way to tell you these dishes aren’t really eaten in Italy. P.P.S.: sorry for my english, forgive me for my (probably multiple) mistakes.
Made this for dinner for company. Although I did not fry the meatballs I (I broiled them), I followed the recipe. Would not put Italian sausage in these as it made meal taste like Italian sausage balls….also Romano cheese is overpowering here.
What I appreciate about this recipe is that the submitter knows that no matter how individual Italian cooks make their meatballs, there are always just a few, simple, ingredients. These were considerably breadier than I prefer but that might be a discrepancy between the submitter’s interpretation of “half a loaf” of Italian bread and mine. No matter. That’s something easily adjusted and a matter of personal taste anyway. Even if I thought them a little bready, that did not discount the fact they were incredibly aromatic and flavorful. I’m sure both the chicken broth and the small amount of Italian sausage are responsible for that. Still, if it is easier for a cook giving this a whirl to just use all beef or a pre-packaged “meatloaf” mix of beef, pork and veal, the meatballs would be equally as good.
Thanks Bon, for another winning recipe! The finest compliment I can receive is from my husband’s drooling mouth! I baked the meatballs rather than frying and as the aroma was wafting through the house, he kept murmuring how good they smelled. Then, when out of the oven, he kept circling the baking pan. I told him to have one and he said no, that he wanted to wait until tomorrow’s dinner. What control! Well, I didn’t wait. Popped one in my mouth to devour a little bit of heaven in one bite! Thank you again, my friend!
As or the flavor, absolutely fantastic! I was worried because I thought I should add some herbs, resisted doing it and glad I did. Everybody loved them! As for cooking, I browned them in butter with olive oils and finished them in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes. Great leftovers on a sandwich with marinara sauce.
The amount of egg varys by the size of the egg. I also add more cheese 1/2 lb is the usual amount. For the original my recipe go to my recipe box it is right next to this recipe.
Very good. Flavorful and the perfect texture. Will make again.
The best meatballs ever…sorry Momma… he did learn from the best! I prefer the fried meatballs not in the sauce with plenty of sauce on top with my pasta. I have been wanting to review Bon Appetit for the longest time. I am his favorite fan…