Ah, Spaghetti and Meatballs! A childhood-favourite that always reminds me of that scene in Lady and the Tramp. If you don´t know what I´m talking about (Where have you been?!) check it out here:
Spaghetti and Meatballs – A Crowd-Pleaser
Who doesn´t like spaghetti and meatballs? I think Spaghetti and Meatballs is a pretty solid crowd-pleasing dinner: pasta, tomato sauce and fun meatballs – you cannot really go wrong with that.
This is a great weeknight dinner that is quick and easy to prepare. All you need is a little time to make the meatballs, apart from that everything is very quick and easy.
Preparing the Meatballs in Advance
Ideally, you would prepare the meatballs a bit in advance and leave them in the fridge for an hour (or more) to firm up a little before frying. You could even do it in the morning and just leave them in the fridge until you need them in the evening. Another option would be to freeze them and have meatballs ready to go from the freezer. You may want to defrost them a little before using them, and bear in mind that if they are still slightly frozen they may need longer to cook.
If, however, you don´t have time to prepare the meatballs in advance, you can just crack on once you´ve rolled them. This won´t change the flavour of the dish at all, it may only mean that the meatballs don´t hold their shape as well once frying.
Doubling Up the Recipe
The recipe below makes enough Spaghetti and Meatballs to serve two people. Of course, this recipe can easily be doubled, tripled etc. to feed the number of people you are cooking for. You may also want to make more meatballs whilst you are at it and freeze them in order to have them ready for the next time you make this dish (see above).
If you are wanting to meal-prep, just make some more of the meatballs and sauce and store any leftovers in a Tupperware in the fridge for 1 or 2 days. It´s best to cook some fresh pasta on the day you are eating the leftover sauce. It´s great though, to use the cooking water to loosen up the sauce again. Reheat the sauce in a frying pan, and add some more of the pasta cooking water if it is too thick!
Some Recipe Additions
Like all good pasta recipes, this Spaghetti and Meatballs pasta is great served with some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top! I also like to add a little fresh basil.
If you want, you could serve some garlic bread alongside this dish. Either make your own or use shop-bought. The one I used in the pictures was a frozen one from Lidl – would NOT recommend… It was dry and had hardly any garlic butter in it. So buy a different one…
If you would like to “spice up” the tomato sauce a bit, you can add some extra chopped veggies such as peppers or courgette, and add a fiery kick by adding in some sliced chilli or dried chilli flakes. Add a smokey note to the dish by seasoning the sauce with a teaspoon of smoked paprika!
More Pasta Recipes
If you love pasta, why not check out some of my other pasta recipes?
- Easy Student Lasagne Recipe
- Pasta Verde (5-Ingredient Pasta Dish)
- Spaghetti with Sundried Tomato Pesto and Feta Cheese
- Penne Tricolore
- Creamy Hummus Linguine
- Pasta and Cheese Sauce with Crispy Bacon
Spaghetti and Meatballs in a Tomato Sauce
Recipe
Ingredients (serves 2):
FOR THE MEATBALLS:
- 250g pork mince
- 1 slice of stale or toasted bread
- Dried thyme (or other dried herbs)
- Chilli flakes (optional)
- Salt and pepper, to season
FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 300ml tomato passata
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- Salt and pepper, to season
- any additional spices/add-ins you like (see above)
TO SERVE:
- 150g Spaghetti
- Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)
- Basil leaves (optional)
Method:
- Start by preparing the meatballs. First, grate your stale slice of bread to make breadcrumbs. If you don´t have a stale slice of bread, you can also toast it and leave it to cool, then it should be crisp/crumbly enough to grate.
- In a bowl, combine the mincemeat, breadcrumbs, dried thyme, chilli flakes and mix together with your hand until well combined, then season generously with salt and pepper. To check the seasoning, fry a tiny bit of meat in a frying pan and taste it. Then you can add more of the spices accordingly.
- Roll the mix into 10-12 meatballs and set on a plate. Ideally, cover the meatballs and leave to chill in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up.
- Once ready to cook, bring a pot of water to the boil to cook the pasta. Salt the water generously, then cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions until al dente (10-12 mins). Once cooked, drain through a colander but reserve some of the cooking water for the sauce.
- In the meantime, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan. Once hot, add in the meatballs and fry until the outside is brown and starts to crisp up (They don´t have to be cooked through completely yet as they will continue to cook in the sauce). Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside whilst you
- Turn down the heat, and add the finely chopped onion and garlic to the frying pan and cook in the fat from the meatballs until starting to soften. Then add in the passata, alongside one or two ladles of the reserved pasta cooking water.
- Bring the tomato sauce to a gentle simmer, season with salt and pepper and return the meatballs to the pan. Cover and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes, adding a little more pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
- Serve the tomato and meatballs sauce with the spaghetti. To finish, grate some parmesan cheese on top and finish with some chopped basil leaves. Enjoy!
