Few things make you feel better about the world than a great meatball covered with sauce. I have to admit I made these a mashup of your phenomenal baked turkey meatballs ( of which I am a huge fan) and cooked pancetta and onion into the pork/ beef mixture. Ree swaps out unwieldy strands of spaghetti for rigatoni to capture more sauce in each bite of this Italian-American favorite.
When you are done shaping your meatballs, you will probably have about 40-42 meatballs from this recipe. Made the process that much simpler-and there was zero difference in the flavors of my usual recipe. If you’re going to spoon them over a lovely bowl of pasta then this recipe serves 4. If ahem you’re going to sit cross legged and eat them right out of the pan with a spoon and then drink the gravy like soup… it serves 2.
I served them over spaghetti this time, but I am seriously thinking about doing a meatball sub next time! I made two sets of meatballs this week, one a slow-braised pork recipe and another, more spring-like version with the sour notes of sumac and the warmth of ground coriander.
I’ve been making Luisa’s (I make seven pounds and freeze off in batches for two meatball nights, they plunk into sauce quite nicely, Marcella’s obvi). But even if spaghetti or meatball sandwiches aren’t your thing, I have shared other ways you can use these Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach right after the recipe.
I loved how easy it was, as the frying (as Deb mentions) is usually such a messy production You miss the crispy crust and flavor with this recipe but it’s worth it. The texture of the meatballs was great. Start your own meatball medley, or expand your traditional repertoire with these great recipes for the meat lovers and vegetarians in your life.