Meatball Parmesan Makes Easy Italian for a Crowd
Easy Meatball Parmesan makes serving up a meal for a group easy and delicious. No group? No Problem: the leftovers are spectacular.
This is a cost effective way to make a pound and a half of ground meat serve eight people easily. This recipe also comes together in under an hour, both of which make it ideal for entertaining.
I’d start with Sausage Stuffed Peppers or Baked Bruschetta and a large green salad tossed with Italian dressing. Add some garlic bread and some spumoni ice cream, and you have an awesome meal perfect for entertaining or a special occasion.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: this dish is spectacular because of the cheese.
If you’re in a real hurry, use pre-made frozen meatballs and a decent pasta sauce. Thaw the meatballs before adding them here – they won’t cook long and ice in the middle would really ruin the effect of the cheese.
While the oven is preheating, make the meatballs. Whisk together all the other ingredients then mix in the meat gently.
I use a #40 ice cream scoop (affiliate link) which is the same size I use for cookies to portion out the meat before rolling them into balls.
While the meatballs are baking, cook the spaghetti and prepare the sauce. Toss the spaghetti with a tablespoon of butter and about two cups of sauce. Spread out into a regular casserole dish before nestling the meatballs in.
Sprinkle with Parmesan, slices of provolone and finish up with mozzarella.
Yippee! Bake until the cheese is melted and browned slightly on top.
Wait a few minutes (if you can) before dishing it up – it’s hot.
And so cheesy.
Add some sauce!
Meatball Parmesan
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1-1/2 pounds Ground Beef (80/20)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/3 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup Milk
Casserole
- 1 pound Box of Dry Spaghetti
- 1/2 recipe Pasta Sauce or favorite jarred sauce
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
- 6 - 8 ounces Provolone Cheese, sliced
- 8 ounces Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- Red Pepper Flakes to taste
Instructions
Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees for convection or 450 for regular.
- Combine all meatball ingredients except meat in bowl and whisk well to combine. Add meat and mix until liquid mixture is just incorporated.
- Form meat into small balls; I used an #40 ice cream scoop that measures about 1-1/2 tablespoons of the mixture at a time. Place on baking sheet.
- Bake meatballs until cooked through, about 15 minutes for the size described here.
Casserole
- While meatballs are cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook spaghetti until it is still a little underdone.
- While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the pasta sauce (see link below) or warm up a jar of your favorite sauce.
- Drain spaghetti well and return to cooking pot with a tablespoon of butter. Add about two cups of sauce to spaghetti and mix well.
- Spray standard rectangular casserole dish with cooking spray. Place coated spaghetti in casserole dish and spread evenly all the way to the sides.
- Place cooked meatballs on top of the spaghetti uniformly. Sprinkle on grated Parmesan cheese, then cover with provolone cheese and finish with mozzarella cheese, all spread evenly across entire casserole.
- Place casserole dish on baking sheet (to avoid spillage in the oven) and bake until cheese is melted and browned gently on top, about 15 minutes.
- Serve casserole with additional sauce to coat as desired.
You only need half of this pasta sauce recipe, so either make the entire batch and freeze half, or use 1 can of tomato sauce and halve all the other ingredients. (That’s what I did.) Cooking it while the meatballs are cooking is plenty of time – more cooking time is better, but not absolutely necessary.
Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tblsp Olive Oil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped coarsely
- 2 26.5 ounce cans Tomato sauce
- 1 tsp Dried Basil
- 1 tbsp Honey
- to taste Red Pepper Flakes
Instructions
- Warm oil over medium - medium high heat in dutch oven until hot. Turn down heat to medium, add garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Stir in basil and red pepper flakes to pot, then immediately add tomato sauce. Rinse cans with about 1/4 cup of water (each) and add to pot.
- Add honey and mix. Bring to an easy simmer and allow to gently cook for 30 - 45 minutes or until cooked down a bit and the garlic has no bite remaining.
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