Oven Baked Meatballs

5 from 13 votes

These delicious herb and parmesan flavored meatballs are the perfect easy lunch and dinner. Super tasty and even better served with homemade tomato sauce and pasta.

Course Dinner

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword baked meatball recipe, baked meatballs, meatballs in oven, oven baked meatballs

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings

Calories 217

Author Erren Hart

Ingredients

1 cup bread crumbs
¼ cup milk or water – plus more if needed
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water
2 lb ground beef 80-85% lean
2 large eggs
6 cloves garlic minced
a good handful fresh parsley chopped
1 cup Parmesan cheese fresh grated
Salt to taste I use at least a tablespoon of salt
freshly ground black pepper about 15 turns of the grinder

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C before you begin preparing meatballs. Spray two non-stick baking trays well with non-stick cooking spray.
In a small mixing bowl, mix the baking soda into the water, pour onto the breadcrumbs and mix well. Add the milk and stir together while adding more milk 1 tablespoon at a time to moisten the breadcrumbs fully. Let rest while you prep the rest of the ingredients (or at least 5 minutes).
In a large mixing bowl add the beef, breadcrumb mixture, garlic, parsley, and parmesan cheese, and season with about a teaspoon of salt and freshly grated pepper (if using jarred sauce, it may be salty so season to taste). Add the breadcrumb mixture and mix well with your hands, squeezing the mixture through your fingers until combined. Shape mixture with greased hands into even size meatballs, about 1 ½-inches each.
Place formed meatballs on baking sheets (about 20 per pan) spacing evenly apart. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes flipping the meatballs halfway through cooking time. Cook until they are cooked through and a meat thermometer shows an internal temperature of 160°F/71°C

Notes

Use fresh ingredients. Fresh herbs and aromatics give a much better flavor than dried.
Avoid low-fat ground meat the fat helps to make the meatballs tender and keeps them moist. I recommend at least 80% lean beef.
Be sure to use the eggs. This recipe calls for 2 eggs to bind the meatballs. If you skip the eggs your meatballs could fall apart when cooked in a sauce.
When rolling your meatballs by hand I suggest oiling your hands before so that the mixture doesn’t stick when handling.
If making to serve with sauce, you’ll either need a big batch of Homemade Tomato Sauce, Marinara Sauce, or at least two 24oz jars of store-bought sauce to serve.
When cooking in a tomato sauce, stirring it often stops the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Nutrition