Great-Grandma’s Italian Meatballs
My great-grandmother started this easy meatball recipe with our family. We use ground beef and turkey for these meatballs, and the flavor’s so good, you won’t miss the extra calories. —Audrey Colantino, Winchester, Massachusetts
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano and parsley flakes
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
- Optional: Hot cooked pasta and pasta sauce
Reviews
This is pretty much the same recipe I have used for years except I use finely crushed saltine crackers instead of bread crumbs. Makes a lighter, more tender meatball. I'll never go back to breadcrumbs!
I made as directed, but I browned them in my cast iron pan, then transferred to the oven, then I used the browned bits in my pan as a bases for making gravy that went over the meatballs and pasta!
I made these exactly as written, except substituted 1 lb ground pork for the turkey, only because it needed to be used. They were delicious! I will definitely make these again, with the turkey, and maybe even try all beef.
I made them with 1 1/2 pounds of ground sirloin and 1 1/2 of ground chuck and three eggs. It came out delicious. These were the best meatballs we ever had. Everyone loved them.
Homemade meatballs are great! No turkey, I use Italian sausage instead, torn bread slices not dry crumbs and more cheese. YUM!
Delicious! However, I did not add the turkey.
This is by far the best recipe me and my sister have ever had. The turkey is not needed and you can substitute it our for more BEEF. The olive oil really adds to the flavor of the onions and makes them caramelized. We enjoyed this recipe and so did everyone I highly recommend it and to just substitute out the ground turkey.
Don’t call this your grandmas recipe. Turkey? Turkey.
Made these meatballs to go in homemade spaghetti sauce for little meatball sandwiches. The meatballs were good, though next time I will increase the spices to amp up the flavor a little.
I seriously doubt great-grandma used olive oil or ground turkey. When recipes such as this group are called "grandma's," then I expect them to be the original recipe used by "grandma," and not made over ones.