Braised Meatballs in a Hearty Marinara Sauce

5 from 1 vote

A classic recipe for spaghetti and meatballs using Italian meatballs that are braised in a marinara sauce.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1

Total Time1 30

Course: Pasta

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Calories: 771kcal

Make the tomato sauce. In a large pan with a lid, saute the onion in the olive oil over medium low heat for 5 to 7 minutes until soft.
1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ medium onion
Add the garlic, salt, thyme, black pepper and red pepper flakes, and saute for one minute.
1 to 2 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, 1 pinch red pepper flakes, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Add the tomatoes and wine and raise the temperature until it starts to bubble vigorously. Reduce the temp to a slow simmer and partially cover. Cook on low, stirring intermittently to break up the tomatoes, while you make the meatballs. Before adding the meatballs, add the sugar and parsley and then salt and pepper to taste.
1 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, 2 tablespoons vermouth, white or red wine, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 2 teaspoon parsley

To make the meatballs, combine the panko and milk or buttermilk in a large bowl and let soak for 10 minutes.
¼ cup milk or buttermilk, ½ cup panko
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and gently mix with your hands.
½ ounce parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 2 tablespoon pine nuts,, 1 egg, 1 pound ground beef, 1 clove garlic
Using a large scoop (about ¼ cup), form meatballs into large rounds and place on a plate or clean cutting board while you form all the meatballs. This should make 10 to 12 large meatballs.
Place the meatballs gently into the tomato sauce, cover the pan, and keep at a slow simmer for 30 minutes. Once or twice, gently turn the meatballs so they are covered in sauce, and scrape the pan bottom. The meatballs should have an internal temperature of >165°F when done.
Counting backwards from the end of the 30 minutes, cook your spaghetti or other pasta per directions. That is, if your spaghetti is supposed to take 12 minutes to cook, have the pasta water boiling so that you can put the spaghetti in the pot after the meatballs have been cooking for 18 minutes.
1 pound spaghetti or other long pasta

Don't forget to start heating the pasta water. My cooktop takes forever so I turn it on high when I start making the sauce. Once it boils, I keep it at a simmer until it's time to cook the pasta.
It also helps to toast the pine nuts at the start of cooking so they cool down before chopping. You can toast nuts in the oven or on the stove top. If I have the oven on already, I check them at 5 minutes. If I'm starting with a cold oven, I check them at 10 minutes. Toasted nuts should smell nutty and not burnt.
This rrecipe will make 18 to 20 meatballs using a medium sized cookie scoop. Cook for only about 20 minutes.
If your sauce is thinner than you prefer, you can thicken this marinara sauce by partially uncovering the pan as it cooks.
One additional thing to give pasta more flavor and to prevent it from sticking is to boil it only to al dente and then finish it off with some of the tomato sauce.