That is our go-to meatballs recipe. It’s fast to make, calls on substances we all the time have readily available and the recipe ensures juicy, tender and flavorful meatballs. The bottom meat you employ is as much as you! This recipe will work with beef, pork, lamb, rooster, turkey or some other floor meat you’ve gotten entry to. Jump to the Juicy Tender Meatballs Recipe
Watch The Video
What’s the Greatest Solution to Cook dinner Meatballs?
We prepare dinner meatballs a wide range of methods in our personal kitchen and don’t actually suppose there may be any finest technique to prepare dinner them. Listed below are the strategies we use probably the most typically:
Stovetop meatballs — For completely golden brown meatballs with an nearly crunchy crust, prepare dinner them in a skillet on the stovetop. Cooking them this manner lets you rotate the meatballs in oil, which makes certain they flip golden brown on the skin, whereas staying juicy and tender on the within.

Baked meatballs — Baking the meatballs within the oven is easy and makes clean-up a breeze. I exploit my silicone baking mat (ours is a Silpat), however you need to use a chunk of parchment paper and even foil to line a baking sheet earlier than lining the meatballs up and baking them.

I prefer to bake them at a excessive temperature (400°F to 425°F) in order that they brown a bit of. At this temperature, the meatballs ought to take about 20 minutes. We use this technique to make these cheese stuffed rooster meatballs!
We use this technique when making our Swedish meatballs and love the golden brown crust it provides. I additionally love utilizing this technique to make the meatballs which might be added to this Italian wedding ceremony soup!
Simmer meatballs in sauce — For probably the most tender, melt-in-your-mouth meatballs, skip the browning and prepare dinner them straight in simmering sauce. We do that when making our tender turkey meatballs. In that recipe, we make a easy tomato basil sauce — just like our marinara sauce. After bringing the sauce to a simmer, we fastidiously drop the meatballs proper into the sauce. Not solely does this technique assure tender meatballs, however the sauce turns into extra savory and flavorful within the course of. When you like the thought of this technique, merely use this meatball recipe and comply with the cooking technique shared on this turkey meatballs recipe.
Extra Meatball Recipes: Attempt our Swedish Meatballs or do that technique for making extremely tender and juicy turkey meatballs. We even have this plant-based meatball recipe (made with lentils and greens).

Extra methods to prepare dinner meatballs!
We use the next cooking strategies much less typically in our personal kitchen, however they’re nonetheless glorious choices. Take into account that completely different fashions of sluggish cookers, stress cookers and air fryers may have an effect on prepare dinner time so test doneness typically.
Sluggish cooker meatballs — You’ll be able to completely use your sluggish cooker to make meatballs. Right here’s the tactic we flip to probably the most typically when utilizing our sluggish cooker. The sauce is cooked first. We throw all the things right into a crock pot and switch it on. The sauce will get higher and higher because it cooks. After a number of hours on HIGH or 6 hours on LOW, it’s prepared for the meatballs. As soon as your sauce is sizzling, the meatballs solely want an hour on HIGH within the sluggish cooker — this manner, they prepare dinner simply till achieved, guaranteeing their juiciness.
Strain cooker (Immediate Pot) meatballs — Add sauce to your stress cooker and produce it to a simmer (we use the SAUTE perform of an Immediate Pot to do that). When the sauce is simmering, gently add the meatballs to the sauce, being cautious to not smoosh them collectively as you stack them on high of one another. Shut the lid and prepare dinner on HIGH for 8 minutes. Enable the cooker to naturally launch for five minutes, after which manually launch the stress till it’s secure to open the lid. If you’re unfamiliar with how your stress cooker works, we extremely suggest studying by way of the handbook that got here with it earlier than working.
Cooking the meatballs in an Air Fryer or utilizing the convection perform of the oven – Warmth the Air Fryer to 375°F and prepare dinner the meatballs till cooked by way of, 12 to fifteen minutes. If baking the meatballs utilizing the convection setting of your oven, use 375°F and prepare dinner till the meatballs are cooked by way of, about quarter-hour.
FAQ: How one can inform when meatballs are cooked? Meatballs are achieved when they’re cooked by way of, the outsides are browned (if baking or pan-frying), and so they register 165°F within the center on an instant-read thermometer.
How do you serve meatballs?
You’ll be able to get pleasure from meatballs a wide range of methods. Listed below are a number of options for you:

Making meatballs forward of time & storing ideas
Meatballs are glorious for making prematurely and hold effectively as soon as made. Right here’s all the things you could learn about making them prematurely, freezing and storing them as soon as made.
In case you have uncooked meatball combination:
- Uncooked meatball combination could be refrigerated in a single day and baked the subsequent day. Comply with our recipe for baking directions.
- Uncooked meatball combination could be frozen as much as three months. Type the meatballs, after which place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze till the meatballs are agency. Switch frozen meatballs to an air-tight, freezer pleasant container and freeze as much as three months. Place your required quantity of frozen meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and bake till calmly browned and cooked by way of, about 20 minutes.
In case you have cooked meatballs:
- Cooked meatballs will final, saved in an hermetic container, within the fridge as much as three days.
- Cooked meatballs could be frozen as much as three months. Retailer them in an hermetic, freezer-friendly container.

How one can Make Tender Juicy Meatballs
- PREP
That is our go-to meatball recipe. It’s fast to make, calls on substances we all the time have readily available and the recipe ensures juicy, tender and flavorful meatballs. The recipe requires one pound of floor meat. The meat you select is as much as you. We love utilizing a mix of floor pork and floor turkey.
Makes about 35 meatballs
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Want
1/2 cup (35 grams) bread crumbs, we choose panko or selfmade bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk, dairy or non-dairy
1 massive egg
1/4 cup (1/2 ounce) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon tremendous sea salt
1/2 teaspoon recent floor black pepper
1 pound floor meat, use beef, pork, rooster, turkey or a mix; we choose a 50-50 mix of pork and turkey
1 to 2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil, for cooking; attempt avocado oil, grape seed oil and vegetable oil
Instructions
- Put together Meatball Combination
- Possibility One: Baked Meatballs
- Possibility Two: Cook dinner Meatballs on Stovetop
Stir breadcrumbs and milk in a big bowl, after which let sit for five minutes. Add the egg, cheese, oregano, salt and the pepper. Stir till effectively blended.
Add the bottom meat and use a fork or your fingers to softly combine all the things till mixed. For probably the most tender meatballs, attempt your finest to not over combine.
Moist your fingers, after which type the combination into small balls (1-inch to 1 ¼-inch balls). You must get about 35 meatballs. A small cookie scoop is helpful for portioning out the meatballs. Uncooked meatballs could be refrigerated in a single day and baked the subsequent day. It’s also possible to freeze the uncooked meatballs and retailer as much as three months. To freeze them, type the meatballs, after which place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze till the meatballs are agency. Switch frozen meatballs to an air-tight, freezer pleasant container and freeze as much as three months.
Warmth the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, foil or a silicone baking mat.
Place shaped meatballs onto the baking sheet, leaving a bit of house in between every meatball.
Evenly spray the highest of the meatballs with cooking spray or brush with oil.
Bake till they’re cooked by way of, the outsides are browned, and so they register 165°F within the center on an instant-read thermometer; about 20 minutes.
Warmth 2 tablespoons of oil within the backside of a large Dutch oven or nonstick pan over medium warmth.
Place the meatballs down into the recent oil and prepare dinner till they’re cooked by way of, the outsides are browned, and so they register 165°F within the center on an instant-read thermometer; about quarter-hour. Relying on the form or dimension of the pot, this may have to be achieved in two batches.
Adam and Joanne’s Ideas
- Cooking ideas for utilizing a sluggish cooker, stress cooker (Immediate Pot), air fryer and convection oven are within the article.
- Dairy-free meatballs: Substitute the milk for unsweetened dairy-free milk and the cheese for two tablespoons of dietary yeast.
- Gluten-free meatballs: Substitute the bread crumbs for crushed gluten-free cereal or crackers
- Vitamin details: The diet details supplied under are estimates. We’ve got used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. We included 8 ounces of turkey and eight ounces of pork for the meatballs.
Vitamin Per Serving: Serving Dimension 5 small meatballs (recipe makes about 35) / Energy 189 / Whole Fats 11g / Saturated Fats 3.8g / Ldl cholesterol 74.4mg / Sodium 396.7mg / Carbohydrate 6.9g / Dietary Fiber 0.4g / Whole Sugars 1.4g / Protein 15g
Extra Meatball Recipes:



