Oven BAKED Italian Meatballs

Baked Italian meatballs! They are perfect on their own as the star of the meal, or in a sub sandwich, or with spaghetti! We have these on a bi-weekly basis! Also I make 2 lbs because having these as leftovers on Thursdays is 👌🏼! If you make them, let me know! Check my Instagram highlights for video!

Makes 17 large meatballs.

Ingredients

• Olive oil (a few tblsps)

• 2lbs of ground beef 90% lean, 10% fat

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 tsp of salt

• 1/2 tsp of pepper

• 1/2 - 1tbslp of parsley minced

• 1/2- 1 tblsp of basil minced

• 1/2 tblsp of balsamic vinegar

• 1/2 tblsp of Worcestershire sauce

• 1/4 of an onion

• 1/4 of a red bell pepper, minced

• 1/4 of a green bell pepper, minced

• 4 cloves of Garlic, minced

• 2/3 cup of plain panko

• 1 1/2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese

• 3/4 jar of favorite marinara

Directions
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Coat evenly with a light drizzle of olive oil (2-3 tblsp). Preheat oven to 380 degrees.

Mince veggies (onion, garlic, bell peppers). I just stick large chunks in my food processor. In a medium size sauté pan, add 1 tblsp of olive oil. Bring it up to high so olive oil is sliding around the pan like water, add the minced onion, garlic, and peppers. Turn heat down to low and warm up the veggies until oil is absorbed. Turn heat off and let veggies cool.

Then in a large mixing bowl, add your ground beef, salt, pepper, eggs, vinegar, 1/4 cup of marinara, parsley, basil, Worcestershire sauce and mix it up. I wear disposable gloves and use hands. Once mixed, add the cooled veggies. Mix it up. Lastly add the Parmesan and panko. Mix it up and you are ready to form your meatballs. For this part I just pretend I’m in kindergarten again playing with play-doh and trying to make a round ball. Size of each is little bigger than a golf ball. As you form each ball, place on your foil lined baking sheet. When all balls are done, stick them in the oven for 25 minutes.

While they bake, in a deep oven safe dish, line the bottom with 1 cup of marinara sauce, after the 25 minutes is up, flip and place the meatballs in the dish on top of the marinara. Drizzle another cup on top and place dish in oven 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle w/cheese. Enjoy! 🤗