Pasta With Meatballs Recipe: A Delicious Family Recipe

Pasta with meatballs is actually an integral part of the Italian regional gastronomic tradition that we have exported abroad with the various waves of immigration.

This popular cuisine of Italy is full of recipes reminiscent of pasta with meatballs.

Below are a few examples:

• In Campania it is called pasta imbottita: short pasta, fried meatballs, smoked provola cheese and meat sauce. All in the oven, crispy and tasty.
• Pasta seduta in Puglia: ziti, meat sauce, fried meatballs blanched in meat sauce and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
• Pasta with meatballs Calabrian style: pecorino silano cheese, veal, eggs, parsley, soaked bread for medium-sized meatballs that cook directly in the sauce to be used as a condiment for fresh pasta.
• Spaghetti alla chitarra with bullets in Abruzzo.

Why Is This Recipe The Best?

To me, this pasta is one of the best recipes out there, and I’m sure if you try it you’ll feel the same way.

It is easy to prepare: If you follow this recipe you will be amazed at the simplicity in the preparation of this delight.

The whole family will love it: Impossible not to enjoy a delicious pasta dish and meatballs.

What Goes In Pasta With Meatballs?

Sauce: This is the base of this recipe.

The procedure is simple, the ingredients are few but they must be of high quality in order to obtain excellent results.

In a saucepan it is first sautéed with a chopped mixture of aromas such as onion and garlic, herbs such as basil and oregano can be added, passata is added and half a glass of water.

The sauce must be stirred often in order to avoid it sticking to the pan and burning.

Meatballs: I always recommend making them at home, but if you really don’t have time to make them you can use frozen ones too.

As for the flavor, let us be guided by our tastes: we can choose beef, veal, pork or use mixed minced meat, in short, you choose what you prefer.

As for the consistency of our meatballs, the percentage of fat in the meat plays a fundamental role; using meat that is too lean will result in hard meatballs.

A small amount of fat in our mince instead allows us to make very soft meatballs!

To make the meatballs fantastically soft we use the trick of stale bread, but you can also use sandwich bread, breadcrumbs or simple breadcrumbs, and a little bit of milk added to the mixture makes the meatballs soft.

As a last thing the eggs, which have the role of binding the dough, for every half kilo of mince I use two eggs.

Pasta: Many for the preparation of this recipe use spaghetti.

I used fusilli for this one, as I had those at home, but you can use any short pasta you prefer.

Recipe Notes & Tips

If you prefer, instead of crumb and milk you can put a little bit of ricotta cheese.

To create a lighter dish, you can cook the meatballs in the oven.

You can replace grated parmesan cheese with pecorino, to give the meatballs a more intense flavor.

To perfectly shape the meatballs, let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour, so that it compacts well (wet your hands a bit);

To make them the same size, however, you can also use an ice cream scoop.

We also make sure that all the patties are the same size so that they all have the same cooking time.

More Pasta Recipe here!