Bobby Flay's Italian Meatball Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to fry or bake Italian meatballs? ›

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

Simplify cooking with Simply Sugo, a quality pre-made sauce

Bobby Flay takes pasta and sauce seriously. His appreciation of Italian cuisine is no secret.

Italian-style meatballs often include additional ingredients such as milk, olive oil, ground pork, fresh parsley, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and sometimes a combination of ground beef, veal, and pork [2].

You can bake meatballs at both 350°F and 400°F. Baking at a higher temperature (400°F) will result in a golden brown outside and juicy inside in a shorter amount of time. A 350° F oven will still result in a juicy center too, it will just take longer to cook all the way through.

Adding raw meatballs to the sauce and gently simmering till cooked yields ultra-tender results, and infuses the sauce with meaty flavor—a slow cooker gives great results.

The biggest challenge with meatballs is achieving the perfect amount of brownness on the outside while ensuring that they're cooked all the way through. And of course, browning them adds a lot of wonderful complex flavor to the meatballs, so you definitely don't want to skip this step.

Good flavor, a little briny." His Italian section has "tons of canned tomatoes — good quality, San Marzano, Italian-style tomatoes" which Flay insisted was a necessity for any good sauce. He also uses a pre-made sauce called Simply Sugo. "It's already made for you and then you can embellish upon it," Flay said.

Shrimp is where the heart is

"I have a dish at Mesa Grill, my first restaurant that I owned and there's still one in Las Vegas here at Caesars Palace," Flay explained when asked about his favorite dish he has ever cooked. "The shrimp and roasted garlic tamale.

Her pastas, which cost $10.50 per box, have all been made by regional producers in Italy and feature eight shapes, including bucatini, paccheri, manfredi lunghi, and spaghetti chitarra. Pasta is one of my favorite foods and I'm always trying (and ranking) new recipes.

Egg and breadcrumbs are common mix-ins to add moisture and tenderness. Another binder option that people swear by is a panade, which is fresh or dry breadcrumbs that have been soaked in milk. “The soaked breadcrumbs help keep the proteins in the meat from shrinking,” as food writer Tara Holland explained in the Kitchn.

What are Sicilian meatballs made of? ›

Spaghetti is typically served as a primo, and meatballs (or polpette) are served as the next course (secondo), on their own or with crusty bread, potatoes or other vegetables. My most memorable polpette experience in Italy was at a small place called Poplette & Co in Turin.

Baking them gives the meatballs a little more flavor without additional oil since you are searing the outside under the broiler in your oven. Just make sure you bake them on a really heavy-duty baking sheet like this one.

Chill your meatballs: refrigerating your meatballs an hour before cooking helps them hold their shape throughout the cooking process. They can chill in the fridge for up to 24 hours before cooking, making meatballs a great make-ahead dish, too.

Overworking ground meat makes it tough and will never lend itself to a tender and light meatball. The best way to combine your ingredients to perfection is by using your fingers, which are much lighter than a hard spoon, and will keep the meatball mix from turning into a paste.

My favorite way to cook these meatballs is on the stovetop.

You can also bake them in the oven, simmer them in sauce (like I do with these turkey meatballs), or use a slow cooker or air fryer. I've shared tips for all these cooking methods in the recipe below.

You can put raw meatballs right into a pot of tomato sauce and let them slowly simmer until they are done. You can also fry them. There's a good argument that frying meatballs is the best way to cook them. Deep frying them creates a nice crust on the outside that is really flavorful and holds in a lot of moisture.

In an oven preheated to 350 degrees F, these meatballs should be fully cooked through and evenly browned in about 30 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the meatball should read at least 165 degrees F.