🍝 The BEST Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe, this is a family favorite comfort food that never goes out of style. Made with homemade beef and pork baked meatballs, homemade marinara sauce, and perfectly cooked al dente spaghetti, this Italian classic is sure to get rave reviews! Not only do they taste FABULOUS, but both homemade meatballs and homemade marinara are FASTER and EASIER than you may think!
Best Ever Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe
I love fun variations like my taco spaghetti and spaghetti pasta salad, but I can’t think of a more classic dinner recipe that everyone loves and never goes out of style. For this scratch spaghetti and meatball recipe, I heavily borrowed from my Cheesy Meatballs with Gnocchi recipe, so make sure to check that one out, too!
- Making homemade meatballs for spaghetti is a surprisingly easy recipe, because you dump all the ingredients into one bowl, mix, and form your little meatballs before baking them. I baked the meatballs, but I also provide two other cooking methods below.
- Homemade marinara sauce is also a snap to make, and really, you’re just simmering canned tomatoes with onions, garlic, herbs, and spices for a bit.
- You’ll have a gourmet-tasting meal ready to eat in under an hour, and leftovers store and reheat well, too!
Meatballs came out better than expected. They were delicious and moist. I would highly recommend this recipe.
Beck
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make this classic spaghetti and meatballs recipe, you’ll need the following common ingredients:
Meatballs:
- Ground beef: When selecting the fat percentage of your ground beef, I recommend not going too low-fat because fat will help the meatballs hold together. 80/20 ground beef is what I use
- Ground pork sausage: You can use spicy sausage or Italian sausage if you like heat and want to amp up the flavor of the meatballs. Normally, I just use a regular basic pork sausage, though
- Onion and garlic
- Bread crumbs
- Eggs
- Parmesan cheese
- Herbs and spices: For flavorful meatballs, I use dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper
- Milk: Whole milk will create the most tender meatballs
- Olive oil
Marinara sauce:
- Olive oil
- Onion and garlic
- Tomatoes: Tomato paste, canned whole tomatoes, and canned crushed tomatoes. I like to use Italian or San Marzano tomatoes for both the whole peeled tomatoes and the crushed tomatoes.
- Herbs and spices: Fresh basil, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper
- Granulated sugar: This balances some of the acidity of the tomatoes
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Prepare the meatballs: Combine all the ingredients for the meatball mixture in one bowl. Be careful not to overmix. Use a wooden spoon or a (gloved) hand to just barely combine the ingredients, similar to how I would combine my Cracker Barrel meatloaf mix. This locks in moisture and ensures the meatballs are tender and juicy! Then, use a small cookie scoop to form evenly sized meatballs, placing them on a cookie sheet. Bake until fully cooked. Note: Some of that glorious Parmesan cheese will seep out during the baking process. This is totally normal!
- Make the tomato sauce: While your meatballs bake, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Add the tomato paste. Then, stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer.
- Boil the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the pasta just to al dente according to the package instructions.
- Combine: Toss the drained pasta with the warm spaghetti sauce and meatballs.
- Serve: Garnish with plenty of fresh herbs and/or Parmesan cheese or Parmigiano-Reggiano. Enjoy warm as is or with cheesy garlic bread, a house salad, a kale Caesar salad, or Parmesan balsamic roasted broccoli!
Additional Ways to Cook Meatballs
Note: As written, this recipe makes about 40 smaller meatballs if you use a small scoop. However, you can make the meatballs larger. They will take longer to bake depending on how big you make them.
I baked these meatballs, but you absolutely can cook your homemade meatballs in a couple of other ways, including:
- Using an air fryer: Air fry the meatballs at 425F for 10 to 12 minutes. The temp and time are the same as if you were baking them, but air fry them instead. When air-fried, you get nicely browned meatballs. The texture on the outside is a bit crispy, and the interior is nice and juicy.
- On the stovetop: Cook them in a skillet on the stove with a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat as I did in my Cheesy Gnocchi and Meatballs recipe. Take care not to overcrowd them and brown them in batches.
Make-Ahead Freezer Instructions
I recommend making a double batch of the meatballs and using half for spaghetti and meatballs. Then, the other half will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Pull them out as needed, thaw in the refrigerator, and gently reheat either in the microwave if you’re like me or brown them up with a bit of oil in a skillet.
The same can be said for marinara sauce from scratch, in that it freezes and keeps well. Make sure you freeze it in freezer-safe containers for up to 4 months.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
Homemade Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork sausage
- ½ cup white or yellow onion, diced small
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 large eggs, lightly whisked
- ½ cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Marinara Sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small white or yellow onion, diced small
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 28 ounces canned whole peeled tomatoes, San Marzano recommended
- 28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes, San Marzano recommended
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
Spaghetti and Assembly
- 1 ½ to 2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
- Fresh basil or parsley, finely minced; optional for garnishing
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional for garnishing
Instructions
Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 425F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- To a large bowl, add all the ingredients, and using a wooden spoon or a gloved hand, mix together all ingredients. Don't overmix.
- Using a small 1-tablespoon cookie scoop, form the meatballs. If desired, add a bit of oil to your hands and then roll the meatballs into nice round balls, although straight off the cookie scoop is fine too.* (See Notes)
- As you form the meatballs place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- After you've formed all the meatballs, bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until done.
- Set cooked meatballs aside. Tip – While the meatballs are cooking, start on the marinara sauce.
Marinara Sauce
- To a large skillet or saucepan, add the oil, onion, garlic, and saute over medium heat for 3 minutes, stir nearly constantly.
- Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
- Add all remaining ingredients** (See Notes) and simmer for about 20 minutes. Stir intermittently with a wooden spoon and break up the larger tomato chunks. Tip – While the sauce simmers, make sure to start boiling your spaghetti.
Spaghetti and Assembly
- While the sauce simmers, in a separate large pot, cook the spaghetti according to package directions; drain and set aside.
- Toss the cooked spaghetti with the marinara sauce, add the meatballs, and serve either family-style or plated.
- Optionally garnish with fresh basil or parsley, and optional freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
- Meatball recipe is exactly the same as these Cheesy Meatballs with Gnocchi. The marinara sauce is very similar to the red sauce in my Cheesy Meatballs with Gnocchi recipe and is adapted from it.
Notes
– Fridge: Both meatballs and marinara sauce will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. As a bonus, red sauces tend to taste better as time passes because the flavors marry and harmonize. If possible, I recommend storing the meatballs, pasta, and sauce in separate containers to prevent anything from becoming soggy. But if you have leftovers that have already been mixed together, that’s just fine too!
– Freezer: Meatballs and sauce should be frozen separately for best results. I do not recommend freezing the cooked spaghetti. When ready to eat, thaw the meatballs and sauce overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stovetop over medium heat.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Meatballs came out better than expected. They were delicious and moist. I would highly recommend this recipe. Next time I make these I will add ground sausage.
Meatballs came out better than expected. They were delicious and moist. I would highly recommend this recipe. Next time I make these I will add ground sausage.
great
I can’t have pork products. Could I use all ground beef? I did not see this question in the FAQs.
Yes all beef is fine.
great