Dad's Famous Home Made Meatball Recipe
This is the meatball recipe that you never knew you needed. Once you have these, you won't make them any other way!
Equipment
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Large Frying Pan
- 1 Cookie Scoop optional
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef 80/20 preferred
- 1 lb Sweet Italian Sausage
- 1 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1 Egg
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- 1/2 tsp Basil
- 1 clove Fresh Garlic large clove
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil lite test recommended, plus additional for frying
- 1 Onion Vidalia recommended
- 1/2 Cup Grated Carrot
- 1/2 Cup Minced Celery or use 1/2 tsp Celery Seed
Instructions
- Prepare ingredients by grating the carrot, mincing the celery, chopping the onion, preparing a pan with about 1/8" to 1/4" olive oil in the bottom, and lining a plate with paper towel.
- Add bread crumbs, salt, pepper, oregano, sugar, parsley, and basil to a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add milk and egg to a small bowl and whisk until well combined.
- Pour the milk and egg mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir to combine. Allow this mixture to sit for about 5 minutes.
- Once the mixture has finished sitting, add the ground beef, sausage, onion, carrot, and celery. Mix until well combined, without over mixing. My best suggestion is using your hands to mix this. You can use disposable cloves to keep the mixture from getting your hands too messy.
- Start dividing the mixture into 1" to 1 1/2" sections. I use a cookie scoop for sizing consistency for easier frying, but this is optional. I will say, it does make the process much easier. The meat sticks to the cookie scoop, but I don't remove all of the stuck on mixture until after I am done diving into sections. I suggest using parchment paper, foil, or paper plates to put these on, as there will be a lot of them.
- Once your mixture has been entirely divided, start rolling the sections into round balls. It's easiest to get this part out of the way all at once. That way you can move on to frying these meatballs without having to stop in between batches.
- Heat your prepared frying pan with olive oil on medium heat until the oil sizzles when dropping a couple bread crumbs in. Once the oil is heated, start adding your meatballs in batches. You don't want to over crowd the pan or they won't cook evenly. Allow some space in between each meatball. Cook over medium to medium-low heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side. If your meatballs are browning too quickly, turn the heat down slightly. Note: I usually let the first side go for 5 minutes, flip and let it go for 2-3 minutes, and then finish off the outside edges for 1-2 minutes each to get an even crust all over the meatball.
- Once a batch has finished cooking, place them on a paper towel line plate or cookie sheet to allow the paper towel to absorb any extra oil on the outside of the meatball. Continue repeating the step above in batches until all meatballs are cooked.
- This recipe will make enough meatballs for 2 to 3 regular meals of spaghetti. You can also use these for other meatball recipes. If you wish to save these for later, freeze them prior to cooking, once they have been rolled into balls. You can place them in layers between parchment paper in a freezer safe Ziploc bag. Make sure to fully thaw them prior to frying.