These will be the most tender meatballs you've ever had! It's thanks to the technique of soaking bread in milk before being added to the meatball mixture. Made with ground beef, eggs, raisins, pine nuts, parsley, parmigiano reggiano and garlic, these meatballs are fried then simmered in a simple tomato sauce. It's guaranteed to be your new favorite meatball recipe!
I've been eating these meatballs since I was 6 years old. My zia Leonina made them all of the time when I would visit her in Italy in our Italian kitchen. To me, they were what meatballs should be - tender, soft, covered in sauce, and extremely flavorful.
Raisins and Pine Nuts -yes!
When zia made her meatballs, they always had raisins and pine nuts in them. To me, that was normal. I loved the subtle sweetness that the raisins gave.
It wasn't until I tried other meatballs that I realized that adding raisins and pine nuts wasn't the norm. Raisins and pine nuts are common ingredients to add to savory Italian dishes, for example like in this escarole side dish with raisins and pine nuts.
If that's something that doesn't appeal to you, you can definitely leave them out and this will still be an excellent meatball. But I do suggest that you try them at least once. They truly are something special.
I love taking the sauce that the meatballs were cooking in, and making pasta with it as a first course. As a second course, I serve the meatballs. Fun fact: meatballs and pasta aren't traditionally served together in Italian cuisine. Along with the meatballs, I serve side dishes of roasted potatoes and carciofi alla romana. And Sunday dinner is sorted!
How to make them
Top tips
- I use regular ground beef in this recipe - I find it contributes to the tenderness of the meatballs. But you can use lean ground beef, and they will still come out great!
- I find frying the meatballs first makes them more flavorful, as opposed to dropping them raw directly into the sauce
- The secret to getting the most tender meatballs is to soak the bread in milk, then squeeze out the milk and add the bread to the meatball mixture. This is a classic Italian technique for meatballs.
- You can use the extra tomato sauce and make pasta with it. You can even double just the sauce recipe if you need more pasta sauce.
Storing and reheating
You can store the meatballs cooked in their sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat: Place in an oven safe baking dish and place in the oven until warmed through.
You can also freeze the meatballs after you've fried them. Lay them flat in a ziploc bag and place in the freezer. I recommend freezing them without the sauce. When ready to use, remove from the freezer, thaw in the fridge, and drop them in a tomato sauce to warm through.
Recipe
Italian Meatballs with Raisins and Pine Nuts
Ingredients
For the meeatballs
- 500 grams regular ground beef
- ¼ cup raisins
- 2 tablespoon pine nuts
- 2 cups bread preferably one day old, cubed
- 1 cup milk
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon parsley minced
- 2 tablespoon parmigiano reggiano grated
- salt and pepper to taste
- To fry: ½ cup olive oil
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 3 cups passata
- 1 clove garlic
- 6 leaves fresh basil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the raisins in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes. This will rehydrate them.
- Place the bread in a small bowl and cover it in the milk. Set aside.
Make the sauce
- Turn the stove on to medium heat. In a large pan with high sides, add the olive oil and heat up until shimmering.
- Add the full, peeled garlic clove. When the garlic clove is fragrant, after a few minutes, add the passata.
- Wash out the passata jar or measuring cup with water, and add about 1 cup of that water to the passata.
- Throw in the basil and let the sauce cook until slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the garlic clove and season with salt and pepper.
- If sauce is done cooking before you’re done making and frying the meatballs, turn the temperature down to low to keep warm.
Make the meatballs
- Drain the raisins from the water. Squeeze the milk out of bread. This bread will be used for the meatballs. Discard the milk, or use for another purpose.
- Add all the meatball ingredients to a large bowl. With your hands, mix all the ingredients together until fully mixed in.
- Form the mixture into meatballs, about 2-3 inches in diameter.
- When all the meatballs are formed, in a large pan over medium heat, heat up the olive oil.
- Add the meatballs to the pan, and fry. Fry them on all sides, using tongs to turn them. They will need to be almost fully cooked, but slightly undercooked is ok, as they will finish cooking in the sauce.
- Once the meatballs are fried, add them to the pan with the sauce. Cook the meatballs in the sauce for about 10-15 minutes, or until fully cooked through.
- You can use any extra tomato sauce for pasta if you’d like!
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