Homemade Italian Meatballs

5 from 9 votes

These Classic Italian-Style Meatballs are juicy and melt-in-your-mouth tender!

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: homemade meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs

Servings: meatballs

Calories: 96kcal

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside.

Roughly tear the bread into large pieces, then add to food processor.
Add garlic, milk, asiago cheese, Parmesan cheese, parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, basil, and eggs. Pulse a few times until well combined and a paste-like consistency forms. If the mixture is still dry, add a bit more milk.
*** if you don't want to use a food processor or don't have one, rip the bread into much smaller pieces, about the size of 2 peas. Add to a bowl, then add the milk and stir. Let sit for a few minutes, then mash with a fork. Stir in the other ingredients.

To a large mixing bowl, add ground beef, pork and veal. Add panade mixture to the bowl and mix together with your hands until just combined.
Use a small cookie scoop (I use the 1.5 tbsp size) to scoop out evenly sized meatballs, then use your hands to roll into round balls. Add meatballs to prepared baking sheet.

Use immediately, with spaghetti and marinara sauce, or with marinara sauce on sandwich rolls, or cool completely and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Recipe makes approximately 30-32 meatballs (when using a 1.5 Tbsp cookie scoop - other sizes or eyeballing it will result in a different total number of meatballs).
Calorie count listed is an estimate for 1 meatball, with no sauce or pasta, just the meatball.
If you'd prefer not to use ground veal (which I completely understand), use an extra 1/4 lb of both the beef and pork to substitute (that's a total amount used of 3/4 lb ground beef, and 3/4 lb ground pork).
Pro tip for rolling the meatballs: Use the cookie scoop, and use disposable gloves (such as latex or nitrile) to finish rolling them into ball shapes. You can also skip the gloves and just get your hands slightly wet (and this will help prevent the meat from sticking to your hands).

Heat enough olive oil to thoroughly coat the bottom of a large skillet, and heat over MED HIGH heat.
Add meatballs, in batches so you don't overcrowd the skillet, and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side.
Remove meatballs to a plate, and repeat with remaining batches of meatballs.
Drain oil, then add marinara sauce to the skillet. Nestle the meatballs into the sauce and simmer on LOW for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked through.