Party Size Italian Meatballs
Party Size Italian Meatballs
Sounds good! This recipe makes lot of meatballs. This is a make ahead recipe that you can freeze to keep on hand, just thaw, add to a slow cooker with pasta sauce (or sauce of choice) and heat up. You can make the party size as appetizers or larger ones for dinners. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 2 1/2 kilos ground beef, not lean
- 2 cups bread crumbs, OR make from a shortcut
- 4 eggs
- handful fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce, OR make from a shortcut
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, OR make from a shortcut
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
To Serve
- tomato sauce, OR make from a shortcut
Instructions
- I grind meat I purchase so I know the fat content and freshness of the meat. For this recipe I cut it nearly in half for a first test and used pork shoulder which is the perfect amount of fat.
- In a very large bowl, mix all Meatball ingredients together by hand but don't over work it.
- Form into ping pong size balls with your hands as evenly and smooth as possible, for dinner meatballs shape into larger ones. I made dinner size meatballs, this is 12 from just half the meat mixture. Place meatballs on rack of broiler pan or wire rack, evenly apart but not touching.
- You may have as many as 60-70 party size meatballs if just making those.
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F).
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until well browned and fully cooked for the party size meatballs, large dinner size meatballs may take 30 minutes or more.
- If freezing, allow meatballs to cool to room temp, bag in single layers then freeze.
For Serving as Appetizers
- Place the meatballs, just cooked, thawed if frozen, amount is up to you, in your slow cooker, top that with the amount of pasta sauce to cover them and mixed in, and heat on Low setting until good and hot. Serve.
For Serving Dinner Meatballs
- Use as needed for Spaghetti & Meatball type dishes. If using frozen, just thaw out first then use as needed.
Notes
Figure about 500 Baht/2 1/2 kilos of beef. Source it locally and you may get it for less. Figure about 150 Baht for the Parmesan cheese. For 30 servings of party size, this is about 63 cents per serving. Use pork and cost is much less.
Shortcuts: Bread Crumbs, Tomato Sauce, Italian Seasoning.
Variants: 1. Use pork instead of beef or a combination of the two. 2. Use a 4 cheese blend instead of the Parmesan.
Used in Recipe Listed on this Site:
- Meatballs & Gravy I.
- Meatball Dinner, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Meatball Stew II, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Meatball Stew I (Slow Cooker).
- Easy Stuffed Shells, made it, GO-TO recipe.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I made these dinner size on 1 Nov 2017 using 1.2 kilo of ground pork shoulder, a 4 cheese blend since I did not have Parmesan on hand, and cut the recipe in half. Result was 24 dinner size meatballs. These are tender and juicy, well liked by the family, this is a keeper for meatballs.