If you’re like me, you love making (and eating) meatballs because you know that homemade meatballs are super easy to make with infinite variety. But some times you need ideas for what to serve with meatballs instead of pasta.
So read on for tons of suggestions for side dishes for meatballs! Or use the table of contents to jump down to your favorite type of meatballs for dinner.
When you hear “meatballs for dinner,” you probably think of these babies. Italian meatballs are braised in tomato sauce for tender and juicy meatballs that are packed with flavor. They make the perfect spaghetti and meatball dinner.
What to serve with Italian meatballs? Try simple vegetables and other sides for meatballs like steamed green beans or roasted broccoli. Or one of the Italian-inspired salads and salad dressings below will always go well.
Sautéed Broccoli Rabe (Rapini) with Garlic and Oil
This easy recipe for sautéed broccoli rabe (rapini) with garlic and oil is a classic Italian side dish that takes just 5 simple ingredients and 15 minutes to prepare.
This peach and burrata Caprese salad is made with ripe peaches, tomatoes, and basil and some creamy burrata. It's the perfect example to illustrate that food doesn't have to be fussy to be both beautiful and delicious.
This watermelon panzanella combines sourdough croutons and fresh watermelon into a fresh summer salad. It's the perfect side to bring to a potluck or take on a summer picnic.
Don’t forget bread or a dinner roll to sop up all that yummy marinara sauce. My semolina bread recipe is inspired by the Italian Pane Siciliano. Make it as a free-standing, rustic bread loaf for a crusty bread to serve with your Italian meatballs.
Semolina Bread Recipe
This semolina bread recipe makes a soft and nutty-flavored bread loaf with semolina flour that's perfect for your favorite sandwich. Or make it as a free-standing, rustic semolina loaf and serve it aside your favorite soup and salad.
This Garlic Bread Baguette is the answer to all your garlic bread prayers. A whole head of roasted garlic turns your baguette into a garlic bread with a sweet and mellow but unmistakably garlic flavor.
If we’re drinking, go Italian. You’d probably find a medium-bodied red table wine or an Aperol Negroni or Negroni spritz in my hand.
Sides for BBQ meatballs
People swoon over these BBQ chicken meatballs, braised here in homemade barbecue sauce. Make the BBQ sauce ahead of time or use your favorite store-bought bottle, and you’ve got dinner in 30 minutes.
Serve your BBQ meatballs over mashed potatoes or my cavatappi mac and cheese. One reader even had the great idea to use them in a meatball sub. These meatballs are comfort food that will forever be a family favorite in your household as it is in mine. So check out some of the fabulous side dishes for meatballs below.
Cavatappi Mac and Cheese
This cavatappi mac and cheese recipe uses the broiler for a heavenly, gooey homemade mac and cheese with a crispy browned top. You'll never make macaroni and cheese any other way ever again.
These Apple Pie Baked Beans take baked beans to a whole new level. Yes, you read that right – this apple baked bean recipe is what happens when two classic American comfort foods get together and make a delicious baby.
These mashed purple sweet potatoes make an easy side dish. Just make roasted purple sweet potatoes and mash with a banana into a sweet potato puree. Serve your purple mashed sweet potatoes with roast chicken or pork or as an unusual Thanksgiving side dish.
This Purple Cabbage Slaw recipe makes a crunchy purple cabbage and carrot salad that will be your go-to mayo-free coleslaw for all your hot weather barbecues. It's in its happy place piled high atop a pulled chicken or pulled pork sandwich or served as a tangy side dish alongside all the burgers and hot dogs you can eat.
Calling all carrot lovers! This raw carrot salad with honey lime vinaigrette is easy to make and versatile carrot side dish that adds vibrant orange color and a touch of crunch to your plate. Serve it with a simple meat or pasta dish, include it as one of the components of a grain bowl, or serve it as a side dish for Thanksgiving dinner. Make it ahead, and it will keep for days.
Center these meatballs in a bowl meal with Middle Eastern sides for meatballs like a cucumber tomato salad, hummus, feta, and olives. Serve with rice or couscous. And a creamy lemon tahini dressing or sour cream sumac sauce would go well here.
Mediterranean Lamb Bowl
This Mediterranean bowl with spiced lamb meatballs is a bowl dinner with a variety of tastes and textures inspired by Mediterranean flavors.
This Pumpkin Couscous Salad is a Mediterranean-inspired pasta salad made with Israeli couscous, roasted pumpkin, dried apricot, pine nuts, and feta. It's an easy, colorful, and slightly sweet side dish to bring to a potluck or to accompany your next Mediterranean meal.
This is the traditional authentic Greek salad known as peasant salad – horiatiki – made with ripe tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, olives, extra virgin olive oil, and feta cheese.
Spoon this creamy lemon herb tahini sauce over your favorite Mediterranean meal. Whether dinner is lamb meatballs with pine nuts and raisins and a side of pita, or you've discovered the joy that is fawaffle, this sauce is a quick and easy flavor-matched accompaniment.
What are we drinking? Big flavors call for big reds, and I love a Syrah (Shiraz) to go well with the lamb meatballs. Or try either one of these with the Cinnamon Toast from Shake, Strain, Done.
These Maple Balsamic Brussels Sprouts are an easy side dish you can make in 30 minutes. Serve them tonight with perfectly cooked pan-roasted chicken breasts and some homemade cranberry sauce, or make them part of your favorite grain bowls.
This 4-ingredient potato and leek soup recipe is perfect for a weeknight. It's silky smooth and richer than you'd expect with just 4 ingredients. Add garnishes or try out some of the suggested variations.
This recipe makes traditional, creamy risotto with fresh chanterelles and is finished with Parmesan. It looks and tastes luxurious but it's so easy to make in just 45 minutes.
This Rocket and Pear Salad is made with rocket or arugula, crisp pears, crunchy toasted walnuts, and shaved Parmesan. It's a simple salad you can put together in 15 minutes. Serve your rocket pear salad as a Fall salad aside simple roasts. It's the perfect salad for Thanksgiving dinner!
This Feta Kale Salad with Cranberries and Pecans is an easy cool-weather salad that you can make and vary over and over as a side salad for your Thanksgiving turkey or any roast meat. Or add hard-boiled eggs or a can of beans, and you have a main course kale salad.
What are we drinking? For wines, pick a crisp white wine, like a Pinot Grigio or a dry Riesling. Or go with a perfect brandy Manhattan if you’re in a cocktail kind of mood.
What to serve with Asian pork meatballs
These shrimp and pork meatballs bring back memories of Sunday dim sum with my family, a large cavernous dining room, and carts of goodies being wheeled between tables. For sides for pork meatballs, check out these recipes:
Baked Rice
Get perfectly fluffy rice every time with this easy recipe.
This purple daikon radish recipe only takes about 10 minutes from prep to table! The toasted black sesame seedsadd a nutty flavor that perfectly compliments this daikon variety's natural sweetness.
What are we drinking? Asian flavors are often a challenge to pair with wines, but you will never go wrong with a glass of bubbly or a French 75.
Meatball side dish FAQs
Are there any specific tools for making meatballs?
I love my medium cookie scoop for most meatballs to get them all about the same size.
What can I make with leftover meatballs?
If you have leftovers after your meatball dinner, grab a tortilla and make a meatball wrap for lunch. Or make a batch of pizza dough and use your leftover meatballs to inspire all sorts of pizza recipes your next pizza night!
Can I freeze meatballs?
Yes, meatballs freeze perfectly. Freeze braised meatballs in their sauce in a Tupperware type container or use a freezer bag for baked meatballs.
Bored with the recipes you’ve been cooking and baking lately? Get inspiration here:
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