Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

Step-by-step preparation

Take 500 grams of minced meat and add 1 half of a finely chopped onion to it. Some housewives grind the onion using a blender. The onion turns out to be a mush, but it remains just as tasty. If you prefer this method of processing onions, then add a little plain water to it.
Next, add salt and ground black pepper to the minced meat to taste. Mix everything well. The minced meat is ready, now you can start preparing the vegetables.
Take 1 more onion and cut it into half rings.
Next, take 1 carrot and grate it on a coarse grater; you can also cut the carrots with a knife into thin strips.
We only need 2 cloves of garlic; you can simply crush it with a knife or use a garlic press.
Place the frying pan on the stove and heat it up. Pour some sunflower oil and throw crushed garlic into it. Mix it with oil and literally after 15 seconds, without removing the garlic from the pan, add the previously chopped onion in half rings.
After another 30 seconds, add the grated carrots and mix everything thoroughly. Fry for two minutes.
While the carrots are frying, take 500 grams of fresh tomatoes and grate them. They should turn out to be a paste. After two minutes, add grated tomatoes to the pan with the carrots.
Salt, sugar to taste and add half a glass of water.
We make small meatballs from the minced meat and place them on top of the vegetables in the frying pan. Pour another half a glass of water on top so that the meatballs are half in it, close the lid and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add 500 grams of pasta and cover with a lid, turning it over periodically, since it is not all covered with water. While the pasta is cooking, add another glass of water and stir occasionally with a spatula. Cooking time takes on average 5-10 minutes, it all depends on the pasta you choose.
When the pasta is ready, grate 10-15 grams of Parmesan cheese on top and chop some herbs. The pasta is ready, bon appetit!

Spaghetti with meatballs

The most delicious “ketchups” and spaghetti sauces are homemade ones. Of course, the most delicious are made from fresh tomatoes, but for some reason I wanted to make them from canned ones. Use tomatoes in their own tomato juice for this recipe and you can't go wrong. Yesterday I was lucky enough to try a recipe for spaghetti with meatballs in the fresh air, where the appetite is many times higher and the taste of the dishes is much more pleasant when you enjoy it without haste. And also when you slightly train your endurance with a photo shoot before finishing off the food.

The number of meatballs from 700 grams of minced meat will probably fill a whole baking sheet. And for such a quantity of meatballs, you will need to cook 500 grams of spaghetti, or rather the entire average package. Think for yourself, if you are going to triple the feast for the whole world, then use this amount of food, but if for several servings, then take less meat, I still have some left, I threw it in the freezer. Everything is standard for the sauce. Because there is no such thing as too much sauce.

Ingredients:

700 grams (pork + beef) minced meat (take a little more beef than pork);
4 cloves of garlic (for sauce - 2 and for cutlets - 2);
large onion;
100 ml. milk;
1 baby bun or large piece of loaf;
a few branches of parsley for decoration;
4 tablespoons olive oil (for sauce - 2 and for cutlets - 2);
butter for greasing the baking sheet;
liter jar of canned tomatoes in tomato juice;
1 red sweet pepper;
pepper, salt.

Preparation:

Prepare the minced meat, pass the washed meat through a meat grinder two or three times. If the meat grinder is electric, this will not be difficult. The more you skip, the more tender the meatballs will be. We pass the meat without bread and without onions.
Break the bread into crumbs, soak in milk (for 15 minutes). Cut the onion into small cubes, throw it into a frying pan with slightly heated olive oil (2 tablespoons), saute for 5 minutes, then add chopped (in any way convenient for you) garlic and fry for another minute.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix the minced meat with bread crumbs, fried onions and garlic, pepper and salt. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grease with butter and wet your hands in cold water and form small balls. Place them on parchment.

When cooking, the meatballs release the juice and oil from frying the onions and garlic, but if you don’t grease the parchment with butter, they stick a little to the paper. Send for 20 minutes. pan into the oven.
At this time, prepare the sauce. Cut the bell peppers into very small cubes.

Heat the remaining (2 tablespoons) olive oil, add finely chopped garlic and pepper.

Fry for a few minutes over moderate heat. Next, take the tomatoes (pour the juice from the jar into a cup) and squeeze the pulp directly over the frying pan. We throw away the skin and try not to let it get into the sauce. We do this with all the tomatoes from the jar.

Add a little juice from the tomato, about 150 ml. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the prepared meatballs, mix gently so that they are covered with the sauce, simmer for another 20 minutes with the lid closed. If the sauce boils down, add more tomato juice and reduce the heat, the high heating temperature may be the reason for this.
Boil the pasta. Chop the parsley.
First place the spaghetti on a plate, arrange the meatballs beautifully on top of them, pour over the sauce and garnish with aromatic parsley.

Video recipe

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Meatball sauces recipes

So, let's look at all the options for dressing homemade meatballs. We will prepare the sauce for them according to two classic recipes, and then offer you a third alternative.

If you like hearty, tomato-based, spicy gravies and dressings, then choose the first option - tomato sauce for meatballs. It is lean and can become an indispensable dressing for cutlets, fish, meat, pasta and even simple buckwheat porridge. You can add garlic and chili pepper to your taste, and feel free to get creative with seasonings and spices.

Sour cream dressing should be prepared if you want something less banal than just tomato sauce. Do you want to pleasantly surprise your family at dinner? This is a great way! You can simmer meatballs in sour cream dressing, you can add cheese, pour over and bake the finished meat balls in the oven for about five minutes, or you can just pour the gravy over them when serving.

Now let's move on to the actual recipes. Get to work!

Meatballs in tomato sauce

How to make tomato sauce for meatballs

Nothing could be easier! This tomato sauce is whipped up using whatever ingredients you have in the refrigerator. And meatballs cooked with this dressing will decorate any dinner table. You'll like it!

The calorie content of this sauce is 97 kcal.

The required ingredients are:

Tomatoes – 4 pcs. quite large;
Red onion (Crimean) – 1 large head;
Sweet pepper – 1 pc.;
Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp;
Sugar – 1 tsp;
Salt – 0.5 tsp;
Spicy ketchup – 1 tbsp;
Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar – 1 tbsp;
Herbs, spices - to taste.

How to prepare tomato dressing for meatballs? Step-by-step instruction:

Chop the red onion finely and carefully.
Cut the tomatoes into halves and grate them on a coarse grater so that the peel remains in your hands. We won't need it.
Pour two tablespoons of oil into a saucepan and fry the red onion. Three minutes on high heat is enough.
While the onion is frying, chop the pepper into small cubes and throw in, let it brown a little too.
Pour in the tomato puree, reduce the heat, add salt and simmer, stirring with a spatula. The mixture should begin to simmer slowly.
Add sugar, hot ketchup, vinegar or lemon juice, and all the spices and herbs you like. You can chop your favorite greens finely, but not too much so as not to interrupt the vegetable flavor.
If the mixture seems runny to you, add a spoonful of tomato paste and a little flour.

Use the prepared gravy fresh and hot. Drizzle over meatballs and bake, simmer or eat straight away. Yummy!

Meatballs in tomato sauce

Sour cream sauce for meatballs

To make a truly delicious and sophisticated white sauce, you don’t need to be an experienced cook. It's actually very simple! With this gravy you can serve meatballs and cutlets with any side dish, it will be both beautiful to look at and incredibly tasty.

Prepare all the necessary ingredients for the sauce:

Butter – 150 gr.;
White or yellow onion – 1 pc.;
Mustard – 1 tsp;
Sour cream – 200 gr.;
Flour – 1 tsp;
Garlic – 4 cloves;
Provençal or other herbs – 1 tsp;
Salt, black pepper - to your taste.

Sour cream sauce recipe:

Take the butter and place it in a frying pan and let it melt slowly.
Chop the onion into smaller pieces and fry in oil. Let it turn golden brown.
Add flour and mustard, stir well, and then pour in sour cream. Now let the sauce simmer slowly.
Add garlic pulp (pass the garlic through a press). Add salt, herbs and pepper, and simmer the sauce, stirring over low heat.

Meatballs with creamy tomato sauce

Ingredients:

homemade minced meat – 500 gr.;
white loaf – 70 gr.;
milk – 50 ml;
breadcrumbs – 100 gr.;
onion – 1 onion;
garlic – 1 clove;
vegetable oil – 3 tbsp;
butter – 50 gr.;
flour – 2 tbsp;
broth (meat or vegetable) – 400 ml;
tomato paste – 2 tbsp;
cream 20% - 100 ml;
fresh herbs - a bunch;
salt, pepper - to taste.

Meatballs with creamy tomato sauce: step-by-step recipe

Cooking method

Soak the loaf in milk. Wait until the liquid is completely absorbed into the bread and knead with your hands. Add the soaked loaf to the minced meat.
Finely chop the onion or grind in a blender. If you cook the minced meat yourself, then grind the onion through a meat grinder along with the meat. Squeeze the garlic through a garlic press. Add vegetables to minced meat.
Mix the minced meat with your hands, add salt and pepper, you can add your favorite spices or dried herbs. Beat until the minced meat is homogeneous and airy. To beat off the minced meat, you need to take the entire meat mass and sharply throw it back into the bowl. Do this 5-7 times.
Roll the minced meat into small meatballs the size of a walnut. Carefully roll each meatball in breadcrumbs. Fry the meatballs over medium heat until golden brown. It is better to fry in portions so that the meat balls do not touch each other during frying. This way they will retain the juiciness inside. After frying, place the meatballs in a bowl and make the gravy.
It is better to cook the gravy in a deep bowl; a medium-sized saucepan will do. For the gravy, melt the butter, add flour and fry until a characteristic nutty smell appears. The main thing is not to overcook, otherwise bitterness will appear in the taste. Then gradually add the broth in small portions and mix thoroughly with a whisk so that the flour does not roll into lumps and the gravy is homogeneous. Salt and pepper to taste. Determine the amount of broth and cooking time yourself depending on the desired consistency.
At the last stage, pour cream into the gravy and add tomato paste. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil. After boiling, add the meatballs and simmer over low heat for another 15-20 minutes. Meatballs in gravy are ready.

Meatballs go well with all types of pasta, mashed potatoes, and any cereal side dish. This is a universal dish that will reveal itself in a new way every time with different side dishes.

Swedish meatballs with sauce “a la Ikea”

At home, preparing an original sauce for meatballs like in IKEA is not difficult at all. We offer several recipes, following which, meatballs in sauce will turn out as tasty as in restaurants in Stockholm.

To prepare this much-loved dish, you will need two groups of ingredients:

For the meat balls:

minced beef and pork - 250 grams each;
sweet butter - 2 tablespoons;
cream 10-15% - 100 ml;
Yukon (or available) potatoes, boiled and chilled - 2 pcs.;
water - half a glass;
breadcrumbs - a quarter cup;
onion (chopped) - 1 head;
chicken eggs - 1 pc.;
white pepper, a mixture of peppers, salt - optional.

For the sauce:

beef broth - 200 ml;
butter - 1 tablespoon;
cream 20% - ½ cup;
soy sauce - ¼ teaspoon. spoons;
premium flour - 1 table. spoon;
salt, white pepper - to taste.

At the first stage, prepare the meatballs:

Sauté the onion in melted sweet butter until golden.
Mash pre-boiled and cooled potatoes.
Combine all the ingredients from the list, grinding them to a paste.
Taste and season with spices (if necessary).
Form meat balls, roll them in flour, fry over low heat until cooked.

The second stage is preparing the sauce:

Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour, fry until golden.
First pour the beef broth into the saucepan, then the cream and simmer until the sauce is as thick as desired.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Traditionally, this dish is placed on a large dish with boiled potatoes, and a bowl of lingonberry jam is placed on it.

Cooking according to the recipe:

To form the meatballs
, place the ground beef, sausage, oats, Parmesan, parsley, oregano, milk, egg and a little salt and black pepper in a bowl and mix well with your hands. Form the meat mixture into approximately 48 (2.5 cm) meatballs and place on a baking sheet.
To fry the meatballs
, heat a little olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or large skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs and cook in three batches, turning, until browned, 4 to 5 minutes per batch. Place fried meatballs on paper towels to remove excess fat. Set the meatballs aside.
To make the sauce
, heat a little olive oil in a separate skillet or saucepan. Add the garlic and onion and cook for a few minutes until they become translucent. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, hot water, parsley, sugar and a little salt and black pepper. Then add the meatballs and stir. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Add the basil and then set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. Drain and set pasta aside to cool. To assemble
, spoon some of the cooled sauce into the bottom of a 22x32cm baking dish and spread evenly. Top with half the pasta, half the sauce and meatballs, and then half the mozzarella cubes. Repeat layers again and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.
If serving immediately
, bake in a preheated oven at 175°C until the cheese is golden, 20-25 minutes.
Let cool slightly and serve. If making ahead
, cover the assembled casserole and refrigerate. When ready to serve, bake straight from the refrigerator in a preheated 375°F oven until the cheese is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve.

Categories:

recipe / Main courses / Casseroles / Pasta / Eggs and dairy products / Meatballs / American cuisine / Ree Drummond