Mini meatballs in tomato sauce is perfect for serving with spaghetti. This is a comforting pasta dish any Nonna would be proud of 😊. There's around 12 meatballs per serving; pretty much one meatball per forkful. Isn’t this the ratio of meatballs to spaghetti we should aspire to?
The meditative ‘task’ of rolling bitesize meatballs is well worth the bit of extra time. Consider it therapy. You could even get your kids to help.
There’s minimal chopping involved in making the mini meatballs or the tomato sauce. Just some parsley leaves. We simmer seasoned and herbed passata, enriched with a little milk. We cook the meatballs straight in the sauce with no browning required first. This means they stay delightfully tender as they gently ‘poach’ in the sauce. As the sauce and meatballs cook together, each enhances the flavour of the other. The sauce thickens as it reduces and will become lava-esque. This will pop and splatter and make a bit of a mess of your stovetop, but that’s how you know when it’s ready 😊
Two components:
Sauce – passata with a touch of butter and olive oil, oregano and seasoning. The sauce simmers while you make the meatball mix and roll the balls. This will take about 25 minutes tops. We stir a little milk through the sauce to enrich it before dropping in the balls.
Meatballs - these contain minced (ground) meat, seasoning, oregano, parsley and parmesan. This is bound with some semolina and an egg for the perfect light and tender texture. We pinch off and roll about a teaspoon’s worth of mix for each meatball.
This recipe from is inspired by Nigella Lawson’s ‘Nigella Bites’ book; ‘Pasta with Meatballs’. It’s been a firm favourite in our house for a long time. The book naturally opens at that recipe, which is the nice round number of 100. Over time I’ve made a few adjustments. Nigella suggests breadcrumbs OR semolina. I’ve stuck with semolina for consistency. I leave out the garlic in both the sauce and the balls, and the onion in the sauce. I add a touch more sugar to my sauce.
🥘 Ingredients
Pork and/or beef mince - don’t use meat that’s too lean for this. Fat is flavour! Go for the ground meat with at least 10% fat. Some butchers call this ‘spaghetti mince’ ie. meat with less fat removed before mincing.
Semolina – coarsely milled wheat which looks like a fine couscous. It swells up in the meatballs as they cook, to lighten the texture and help bind the ingredients together.
Use semolina as an alternative to breadcrumbs
When a recipe calls for breadcrumbs, I always have so many questions. What type of bread? Fresh bread or stale/dry? How finely processed should the crumbs be?
I like the steady availability and consistency of using semolina. My meatball mix always has the same consistency – not too wet or dry, not ‘bready’. This is why I stick with semolina here and not breadcrumbs.
Egg – serves to lighten the mix and bind it together.
Parsley, Oregano & Lemon Zest – add freshness and fragrance.
Parmesan – a small amount adds salty, umami flavour and Italian vibes. If you have it, a parmesan rind dropped into the sauce and discarded (or eaten!) at the end adds a subtle flavour.
Passata – raw peeled tomatoes pulverised and sieved to remove the seeds. It's sold in glass bottles and is available in most supermarkets. This helps to create a smooth, rich sauce.
🔪 Instructions
You need a wide shallow pan, about 30cm diameter. We need the meatballs to cook in a single layer, immersed in the sauce.
We start by making the tomato sauce, which comes together very easily. The main ingredient is a jar of passata. We add half a jar of water – so that the sauce can simmer and develop flavour without getting too thick. This is also a great way to get every drop of passata out of the jar. 😊 The sauce simmers gently while we get on with making the meatballs.
When making the meatball mix, we add the meat last. This way we can combine the ingredients well without overworking the mince. We want to avoid over handling the meat both when making the mix and forming the balls to keep it tender. It’s easy to see when the flecks of parsley (and thus all the other ingredients) are evenly mixed in.
You don’t actually use a teaspoon to make the meatballs, but this is the kind of size you’re aiming for. This weighs 10-15g. The ones in these pictures are at the bigger end of this scale. You will get more meatballs if you make them smaller 🤯 I pinch a little with my fingers and roll gently between my palms. You can weigh the first few to get into your groove, then go by look and feel for the rest. This is great meditative time – you don’t need to concentrate too much 😉. Most repetitive jobs like this are quicker if you do all the same job in one go. Rather than pinch and roll each meatball one at a time, try portioning them out, then going back over and rolling them.
Once we've made all the meatballs, we stir milk through the sauce before dropping them in one at a time. It might seem like you’re running out of space. Don’t stir them straight away (they might break apart). You can shimmy the pan a little to let them fall into place so that they are all immersed in the sauce.
We simmer the meatballs in the sauce for around 35 minutes, until the balls are cooked all the way through. Cut one in half to make sure it is not pink in the middle). Stir a little of the sauce (without the balls) through cooked and drained spaghetti. Top each portion with more sauce and a generous pile of meatballs. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese (which I forgot to do in the photo) 🙄
Too much sauce?
Don’t throw it away! Freeze it. You can reheat (even straight from frozen) while pasta is cooking for a simple weeknight meal. Stir through cooked and drained pasta and top with grated cheese. You can always throw in some greens towards the end of the pasta cooking time for a complete meal. Peas or shredded kale will work well. Or stir through baby spinach after draining the pasta and let it wilt.
Like minced meat and pasta? Check out my Bolognese and Lasagne recipes.
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- large shallow pan with a lid, about 30cm diameter. We want to be able to cook the meatballs in a single layer.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 15 g butter
- Tablespoon olive oil
- 700 ml passata
- teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ Tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- (optional) parmesan rind (note)
- 100 ml whole milk
Meatballs
- 30 g parmesan
- big handful parsley leaves about 15g
- 1 lemon
- teaspoon dried oregano
- 35g semolina (3 tablespoons)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 egg
- 250 g ground pork/pork mince
- 250 g ground beef/beef mince
To Serve
- finely chopped parsley
- finely grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
Sauce
- Preheat Pan – over medium heat. Add the butter and oil and melt together.15 g butterTablespoon olive oil
- Passata – tip in the whole jar of passata. Then half fill the emptied jar with water (you’ll find it easier to see the halfway point if you remove the label). Put the lid on (tightly!) and shake it up. Pour the tomato-ey water into the pan. Add oregano, sugar, salt, pepper and parmesan rind (if you have). Stir and bring to a gentle simmer (keeping the lid off) while you make your meatballs.700 ml passatateaspoon dried oregano½ Tablespoon sugar½ teaspoon saltfreshly ground black pepper(optional) parmesan rind (note)
Make Meatballs
- Dry Ingredients – add to a large bowl as you go. Finely grate the parmesan and finely chop the parsley leaves. Zest the lemon, using the smallest holes of a box grater or a zester like microplane. Add oregano, semolina, salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Rub together between your hands to combine well and release the oils in the lemon zest.30 g parmesanteaspoon dried oregano35g semolinabig handful parsley leaves1 lemon¼ teaspoon saltfreshly ground black pepper
- Egg – lightly whisk the egg in a small bowl. Add this to the dry ingredients and stir through.1 egg
- Mince – add the pork and beef mince. Combine with your hands until everything is well-incorporated.250 g ground pork/pork mince250 g ground beef/beef mince
- Form Balls - pinch about teaspoon’s worth (10-15g) of meatball mix. Weigh the first few, then portion them by sight/feel. You’ll end up with about 45 'bits' of mince. Go back and lightly roll each between your palms. Transfer to a plate in a single layer.
Cook Meatballs
- Milk – just before you add your meatballs to the sauce, stir in the milk.100 ml whole milk
- Drop in Balls – one by one, drop the meatballs into the sauce with a light touch. Once all are in, give the pan a few gentle shimmies to ensure the balls are distributed in a single layer. They need to be immersed in the sauce. We don't want to stir them while they're raw and very soft.
- Simmer – bring everything to a boil, then adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 35 minutes. Stir a few times with a flexible spatula with care. We need to make sure the meatballs are evenly cooked, and make sure the sauce is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Shimmy the pan after stirring to ensure the meatballs are nestled back in the sauce. Cut a meatball in half to make sure they are not undercooked or pink in the middle.
- Serve - topped with some parsley and parmesan.finely grated parmesan cheesefinely chopped parsley
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