Easy homemade garlic meatballs freeze well and come in handy when you need that quick decision on what to have for dinner. This recipe was made with ground beef but I encourage you to make a batch with half ground beef and half ground pork.

Variations

You can spice it up by adding some chili flakes. Or make it cheesy with a little parmesan, too much parmesan will dry out the meatballs so start light. Serve with the Homemade Marinara.

I am sure you have those food memories that stick with you. When you recall them you immediate react with a reaction of excitement and bliss. I have many of these nestled in the corners of my brain.

Crazy Unique Food Experiences

There is one in particular of a hole in the wall Italian restaurant that seriously seated only 8 people max. It was in a college town and the owners were excentric to say the least.

You rarely saw them but when you did it seemed like they were putting on a show of sorts, or was it that they had some shady dealings going on out the back door, I never found out.

The restaurant was dimly lit and had a “shrine” to Elvis off to the side of the dining room. They would run a special on Fridays to get the students from the college to dine in or take it back to the dorms.

A bucket of spaghetti, it was served in a bucket like the old bucket of chicken you would get minus the fast food logo.

The Elvis Bucket of Spaghetti & Meatballs

It had 3 huge meatballs that had so much garlic in them that there was no mistake what you had eaten. You had a choice of regular sauce or spicy. We always got the spicy, man it was hot! You had to get the side of garlic bread too.

I have never tried to match the memory of those garlic meatballs that came in the spicy sauce served in a fried chicken bucket. Looking back gives me have a chuckle.

Sadly that restaurant closed not long after I moved from that town but I always remember the garlic meatballs in the spicy sauce, the dimly lit dining room and the “shrine” to Elvis in the corner.

Enjoy!

Easy Garlic Meatballs

4.50 from 2 votes

Print Recipe

Course: Dinner, Entree, Lunch, Main

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: Comfort Food, Easy, Freeze, Garlic, Make Ahead, Meatballs, spaghetti, Spaghetti and Meatballs

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Chef Tony Zentgraf

This recipe makes approximately 20 golf ball sized meatballs.

Serve with the Homemade Marinara!

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• ▢ 1 ½ lb Ground Beef (can use half ground pork and half ground beef)
• ▢ 12 ea Garlic Cloves
• ▢ ½ cup Italian Bread Crumbs
• ▢ 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• ▢ 2 ½ tsp Black Pepper

Instructions

Mixing the Ingredients

• Chop the garlic into approximately ¼" size
• In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix to combine.
• Mix until evenly distributed and combined. Do not overmix.

  Overmixing ground meats will make them tough when cooked.

  (Meatballs and meatloaf will become tough when over mixed)

Portioning the Meatballs and Cooking.

• Heat a saute pan with 2 Tbl of cooking oil over medium high heat.
• Portion the meatballs to approximately 1 ½ – 2" in diameter balls. You can use a portion scoop to portion them.
• Cook the meatballs in the saute pan until they are browned.
  
• If adding them to the Homemade Marinara immediately you do not have to cook all the way through.

  Add them to the sauce and complete the cooking process in the sauce.

  They will add to the flavor of the sauce and take on the flavor of the sauce.
• If cooking for a later use or to freeze, cook the meatballs thoroughly to 155°
• Meatballs freeze well and can be thawed in the refrigerator overnight or put directly in a sauce to thaw.

  Keep some Homemade Marinara in the freezer to use when you need a no hassle meal.

  Use on pasta dishes, meatball sandwich or slice them for a meatball lasagna! Enjoy!