These meatballs are a delicious and welcome change from many meatball recipes which call for a lot of sugar and sweet sauces. In addition, these meatballs are not fried and come out moist. They burst with the flavors of Italy; tomato, basil and garlic.
Italian Style Meatballs & Spaghetti
Servings
8 Servings
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 1 green pepper
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup basil chopped
- 16 ounces of tomato sauce
- 6 ounces of tomato paste
- 3 cups of water
- ¼ cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup basil chopped
- 1/4 cup of parsley
- 2 cloves crushed and chopped garlic
- 1/4 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 2 pounds ground meat
- 1 package spaghetti
Instructions
- Make sauce. Sauté onion, pepper and garlic with salt and pepper for ten minutes. Add chopped basil and sauté for one minute. Add tomato sauce, paste, water, wine and sugar and salt and pepper to taste, bring to a boil, there will be chunks of vegetables in the sauce if you prefer a smoother sauce, blend the sauce with an immersion blender before adding the meatballs.
- Make meatballs while sauce is simmering. Mix the egg, basil, parsley, garlic, and black pepper, ketchup, and bread crumbs. Add ground meat and roll into balls. Add meatballs to simmering sauce and cook covered for 25-30 minutes on low flame.
- Cook spaghetti al dente according to package directions. Serve with meatballs.
- As seen in the JoyofKosher with Jamie Geller Magazine (Bitayavon Winter 2011) – Subscribe Now
I would skip the wine, the moscato is too sweet. Just use broth.
Thanks
I don’t have any red wine. All i have is moscato. Can I use that instead? Thanks!
If it’s not too sweet it should be fine.
You can use either, but in this recipe we mean a can of plain tomato sauce.
Hi! When you say tomato sauce, do you mean like a can of Hunts tomato sauce, or do you mean a glass jar of pasta sauce?
Rick Johnson
I had the same problems with the poor editing so I looked at several other meatball recipes to ascertain the quantities (we already have the ingredients), this is what works:
Under INGREDIENTS write SAUCE. Between INGREDIENTS SAUCE and PREPARATION write MEATBALLS INGREDIENTS.
In the INGREDIENTS SAUCE column add 1 Tbsp sugar, and 1 24oz can or jar commercial pasta sauce.
Now, under the new MEATBALLS INGREDIENTS column write: 1 large egg beaten, 1/4 cup minced basil, 3/4 cup minced Italian parsley, 2-3 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 cup ketchup or tomato sauce, 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs, 2 lbs 80-85% lean ground beef, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp ground pepper.
Just follow the instructions given, tossing in the 2 extra sauce ingredients. This makes 20 meatballs just a bit larger than a golf ball.
Hint, this recipe works sooo much easier if you do ALL of the prep work ahead of time.
i know its so good
Please proof read and edit the recipe. You say add the sugar – but sugar is not listed in the ingredients. There are other issues as noted by other posters.
Excellent recipe- my kids are very picky and they all ate this dinner!!!!
I made this for one of our Shabbat dinners two weeks ago for the first time…my wife loved it so much she had me make it again on Sunday!!!
where’s the wine used in the italian style spaghetti & meatballs? not in recipe, is it just to sip while waiting for meatballs to cook?
I’d like to give this recipe to someone, but it is very confusing as written. (1) You don’t say how much basil goes in the sauce vs the meatballs (2) you don’t say when to add the wine (yes, I saw it in the comments) (3) garlic is in the ingredients list twice and it’s unclear which measurement is for the meatballs and which is for the sauce and also unclear how to prep the 2nd garlic listing (chopped? minced?) (4) you don’t say how much sugar to add (5) you have pepper twice, are both to taste? Can you give an idea of how much you’d recommend (a few shakes vs 1 tsp)? (6) same measurement comment for salt – please give recommendation (7) is parsley measurement before or after chopping? (8) Please consider dividing the ingredient list into 2 lists: one for the sauce and one for the meatballs. Thank you!
I don’t see any mention of sugar or salt in the recipe itself. What are the measurements?
it is 🙂
Either would work though I prefer fresh 🙂
Delicious and easy!
Or, rather–can I do it with dried?
Are the herbs dried or fresh?
Glad you enjoyed, thanks for sharing
I just tried this recipe. It is desilh. I had fresh tomatos and basil from my garden. I also added some shitake mushrooms. Very light and a great summer pasta. Don’t ya just love making up recipes. By the way, just discovered your blog a couple days ago and enjoy it very much. I am also a “white” person. Everything in my house is white. Soooooooooo soothing and relaxing to me.Linda
Before adding the basil
when do you add the wine?
it doesnt hurt that they happen to be awesome 🙂
I love the fact there is nothing sweet in these meatballs – I love savory foods and the basil in this makes me smile – one of my favorites!