Bobby Flay's Italian Meatball Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between Italian style meatballs and regular meatballs? ›

Italian-style meatballs often include additional ingredients such as milk, olive oil, ground pork, fresh parsley, red pepper flakes, Italian herb seasoning, and sometimes a combination of ground beef, veal, and pork [2].

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

In an oven preheated to 350 degrees F, these meatballs should be fully cooked through and evenly browned in about 30 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the meatball should read at least 165 degrees F.

If you want to take inspiration from Flay's love for Italian cooking but don't have the time to try out his chunky tomato sauce recipe, he personally recommends Mutti's Simply Sugo sauce.

Italian meatballs are made with 1/2 pork and 1/2 beef meat, bread, eggs, seasoned cheese, garlic, onion, parsley, salt, pepper, sometimes milk to make them soft.

Adding raw meatballs to the sauce and gently simmering till cooked yields ultra-tender results, and infuses the sauce with meaty flavor—a slow cooker gives great results.

If you lightly coat your hands with olive oil or cooking spray before rolling the meatballs, they will form better and crack less. Bake meatballs on parchment paper. It makes for even cooking and easy cleanup, not to mention juicy meatballs!

This is especially important when working with pork, turkey and chicken, which are very wet when ground. Refrigerating gives the fat in the meat time to solidify, which helps maintain the shape. Chill your meatballs for anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on their size.

Overworking ground meat makes it tough and will never lend itself to a tender and light meatball. The best way to combine your ingredients to perfection is by using your fingers, which are much lighter than a hard spoon, and will keep the meatball mix from turning into a paste.

What is Bobby Flay's favorite ingredient? ›

One of Bobby Flay's favorite ingredients to spice up any dish with a little bit of fishy flavors is canned anchovies. He puts it in almost everything, especially seafood dishes.

About GreenPan Premiere

The GreenPan Premiere collection is the brand's most advanced nonstick cookware to date, and to relaunch this line the brand teamed up with chef Bobby Flay. "GreenPan Premiere has become my favorite nonstick cookware hands down," says Flay.

They ended up going from eating meat once a week to eating meat every day! And meat was consumed in much larger quantities. So, the small moist polpettes made with 50% bread and 50% meat that they enjoyed in Italy changed to larger denser meatballs made with mostly beef.

Usually if meatballs are dense or heavy then it is because the meatball mixture has been handled too much and the minced (ground) meat has become compacted. It may help to use beef with a slightly higher fat content, as the extra fat will provide a little extra moisture.

Called polpettes, Italian meatballs are often served sauceless and are much smaller than the meatballs you're probably used to. Traditional Italian meatballs typically contain equal portions of meat and soaked bread, and other additions such as egg and vegetables.

Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs and cook for around 5-7 minutes—or until the meatballs are cooked and only slightly pink on the inside. Pour the marinara sauce on top, mix and wait for the sauce to simmer and completely warmed through.