Rustic Homemade Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Meatballs are a delicious comfort food, Meatballs are typically made by mixing ground meat with breadcrumbs, eggs, and spices, forming them into balls, and then frying or baking them. In this case I’m serving with a rustic tomato sauce, I mean rustic in the sense that it’s a kinda chunky sauce 🙂

Also in this case I’m making these meatballs with pork and beef, mixing pork and beef in meatballs is a common practice because it adds depth of flavor and moisture to the meatballs. Pork contains more fat than beef, which can help keep the meatballs moist and tender. Let’s check the recipe.

Rustic Homemade Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Servings: 12
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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homemade meatballs with rustic tomato sauce are a hearty and satisfying dish that can be served over pasta, with bread, or even on their own.

Ingredients

Beef – 200gr (Ground)
Pork – 200gr (Ground)
Parsley – To Taste
Onion – 2 Small
Garlic – 6 Cloves
Bacon – 2 Slices
Breadcrumbs – 4 Full Spoons
Egg – 1
Olive Oil – A Pinch
Tomato – 1 Can (400gr)
Parmesan Cheese – A Pinch
Smoked Paprika – A Pinch
Paprika – A Pinch
Oregano – A Pinch
Black Pepper – A Pinch
Salt – A Pinch

Directions

For the meatballs add the minced beef and pork in a bowl, followed by 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 small chopped onion, a pinch of chopped parsley, season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, mix everything.

Now add the egg and the breadcrumbs, start with the measurements I gave, then adjust if the meatball dough is too liquid or falling apart add more breadcrumbs, if it is too stiff add another egg, making meatballs often has to be done by eye to be perfect.

You can make them big or small, the important thing is that they all should be about the same size.
Now sauté in a large frying pan, with 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped garlic cloves, and the chopped bacon, when it is good, take it out of the frying pan, pour a little olive oil and fry the meatballs, you want them browned all over.

Now add the sauté onions, garlic and bacon back into the pan followed by the chopped tomatoes, season with paprika, oregano, pepper, and salt, and let it cook covered for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasoning, serve with pasta or rice and a pinch of grated Parmesan cheese, and you’re done, enjoy!

Notes: After you make the meatballs you can freeze them to use them later, they hold pretty well, it’s not a great idea to freeze the meatballs uncooked, mostly because they will start losing their integrity while freezing.

This recipe for Rustic Homemade Meatballs with Tomato Sauce was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Almôndegas de Mistura Novilho e Porco foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.