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This easy Italian Meatballs recipe is a crowd-pleasing and gluten-free dinner that the whole gang will love! A plate of extra juicy, melt-in-your-mouth meatballs cooked in zesty marinara sauce and tossed with spaghetti is the ultimate year-round comfort food.
Table of Contents
- Tender and Juicy Gluten-Free Italian Meatballs
- How Are Italian Meatballs Different?
- What You’ll Need
- How to Make Italian Meatballs From Scratch
- Can I Make These Meatballs in Advance?
- Tips for Success
- Make It a Meal
- Storing and Reheating Leftovers
- How to Freeze Homemade Meatballs
- Things You’ll Need
- Get the Recipe
Tender and Juicy Gluten-Free Italian Meatballs
Spaghetti and meatballs are the perfect comfort food. One plateful really checks all the boxes: filling, heavy on protein, with a daily dose of veggies in the flavorful tomato sauce. Especially during the winter months, you’ll find a pot of these Italian meatballs simmering on my stovetop almost weekly!
These savory meatballs are so tasty. Plus, the recipe makes a whole big batch. I always have enough to feed the table AND send takeaways home with family or friends, and even then I’ll have some meatballs leftover to freeze! Needless to say, you can halve the recipe if you want, but who ever said no to a freezer full of juicy homemade meatballs?
Not this family. And I’m sure once you’ve made just one batch of gluten-free Italian sausage meatballs, your gang will feel the same. Be sure to check out further down in the post where I share my tips for storing and reheating your meatballs – you’re going to need it!
How Are Italian Meatballs Different?
Traditional Italian meatballs, or “polpettes”, are usually quite a bit smaller than the ones I’m sharing here. In different parts of Italy, they’re made with pork, chicken, fish, or vegetables, and not always cooked in sauce. In many ways, they’re more like croquettes.
Some polpettes recipes are similar to Italian-American meatballs like these ones, though they’re usually made with breadcrumbs. For the sake of keeping this recipe gluten-free, I’ve taken a few creative liberties with my homemade version. We’ll call these “Italian-inspired,” and they’re just as delicious!
What You’ll Need
Below is a short list of what you’ll need to make the best homemade Italian meatballs! Be sure to check the recipe card for the full ingredient amounts.
- Ground Meat: This Italian meatballs recipe calls for lean ground beef, along with a blend of both sweet and hot Italian pork sausage, removed from its casings. If your family is like mine and can’t eat a lot of pork, feel free to use turkey sausage to make turkey meatballs instead.
- Garlic: I minced up 4 cloves of fresh garlic, however, you can use more or less to taste.
- Eggs: Since these gluten-free meatballs don’t include breadcrumbs, eggs bind the ingredients together and help the meatballs hold their shape.
- Seasoning: You’ll need your favorite Italian seasoning blend, along with salt and pepper. I like to toss a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes into the mix for a bit of kick, but feel free to omit it if spice isn’t your thing.
- Marinara Sauce: This recipe makes a lot of meatballs! As a result, you’ll need about two jars of marinara sauce if you’re going the store-bought route. If you have the time, however, I highly recommend making your own Homemade Marinara Sauce. It’s easy, and the freshness is 100% worth it.
How to Make Italian Meatballs From Scratch
This is the easiest recipe for Italian meatballs. Here’s how to prepare the meat mixture quickly from scratch, and how to cook meatballs in sauce on the stovetop:
- Combine the Ingredients: Add the ground meat along with the rest of the meatball ingredients to a large bowl. Give everything a quick mix, making sure the seasonings are evenly distributed.
- Shape: Once combined, shape portions of the meat mixture into round balls. I like my meatballs on the larger side, so I usually average about a ¼ cup of mixture per meatball. Next, you’ll place the shaped meatballs onto a baking sheet to chill in the fridge.
- Add to the Sauce: After about 30 minutes, heat the marinara sauce in a big Dutch oven on the stovetop. When it’s simmering, take your meatballs out of the fridge and add them to the sauce. Don’t stir right away – wait until the meatballs begin to float to the surface, about 10 minutes or so.
- Cook: Now, give the meatballs a stir and continue to simmer for another half hour. Stir them again every so often. If you notice any fat sitting on top of the sauce, you can skim it off using a spoon. Once your Italian-style meatballs are cooked through, it’s time to serve! See the section further on for our favorite ways to serve homemade meatballs.
Can I Make These Meatballs in Advance?
I actually love making these Italian meatballs in the days leading up to holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. With all the other cooking going on, they’re perfect to make ahead for easy dinners:
- To Refrigerate: The raw meatballs can be prepped the day before and refrigerated overnight.
- To Freeze: You can also freeze them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and then transfer the meatballs to a freezer bag, to keep frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw the uncooked meatballs in the fridge, then cook in the sauce and serve as usual.
Tips for Success
Here are some bonus tips when making gluten-free Italian meatballs:
- How to tell when meatballs are done: When the meatballs are near the end of their cooking time, use a thermometer to check the internal temperature. The meatballs are ready when the temperature reaches 160ºF.
- What keeps meatballs from falling apart? The egg is what binds the ingredients in this gluten-free recipe, and keeps the meatballs from crumbling as they cook. Don’t skip it!
- For tender meatballs, avoid overmixing the meat. I find the easiest way to thoroughly combine the meatball ingredients is to use my hands. It’s worth getting a little messy for meatballs that are juicy and tender, and not dense and tough!
Make It a Meal
These saucy meatballs are perfect for dishing up over gluten-free spaghetti for classic spaghetti and meatballs, topped with freshly grated parmesan. We love ours with a healthy side of Lemon Parmesan Roasted Broccoli or braised spinach or kale.
These meatballs are also delicious to serve over Gluten Free Hot Dog Rolls or a Gluten Free French Baguette, topped with melted provolone for easy homemade Italian meatball subs.
Whichever way you serve them, meatballs and marinara sauce make a great family-friendly meal with one or more easy sides:
- Gluten-Free Garlic Breadsticks
- Perfect Oven-Roasted Asparagus
- Air Fryer Roasted Carrots
- Caprese Zoodles Salad
- Ratatouille
- Italian Herb Oven Fries
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
Store any leftover meatballs and marinara sauce airtight in a container, or covered in foil or plastic wrap. Both the meatballs and the sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3-5 days.
I prefer to reheat the meatballs with a bit of sauce on the stovetop. Alternatively, you can warm meatballs in the microwave at 50% power, until heated through.
How to Freeze Homemade Meatballs
The cooked Italian meatballs can be frozen along with the marinara sauce for up to 2-3 months. To do so, wait until the meatballs have cooled, then transfer them with the sauce to an airtight container or freezer bag. Thaw the meatballs in the fridge, then reheat as directed.
Things You’ll Need
- LARGE MIXING BOWL: This makes a lot of meatballs, so you’ll want a good-sized bowl to be able to combine all of the ingredients.
- LARGE COOKIE SCOOP: Not just for cookies and cupcakes, this is so handy for scooping out evenly-sized meatballs.
- BAKING SHEETS: It’s yet another time that I use my trusty Nordicware sheet pans for lots of space and easy cleanup.
- DUTCH OVEN: A heady-bottomed pot is essential for a dish you want to simmer for a while so it doesn’t burn on the bottom, and the enameled surface is easy to clean.
Gluten-Free Italian Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 1/4 pounds sweet Italian turkey or pork sausage, removed from casings
- 1 1/4 pound hot Italian turkey or pork sausage, removed from casings
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 4 cups marinara sauce (two 24-26 oz jars)
- 1 pound gluten free spaghetti, cooked according to package directions for serving, if desired
- grated Parmesan cheese for serving, if desired
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, sweet Italian sausage, hot Italian sausage, garlic, eggs, Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Mix briefly but thoroughly to distribute the seasonings.
- Using about 1/4 cup of the mixture for each, shape into about 30 large meatballs and place them on a baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- In a very large Dutch oven, bring the sauce to a simmer.
- Add the meatballs to the sauce and do not stir until the meatballs float to the surface, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir well and simmer the meatballs in the sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, and skimming off any fat that rises to the surface. The meatballs are done when they reach an internal temperature of 160°F.
- Serve over hot pasta sprinkled with grated parmesan.
Notes
- Nutritional information is just for the meatballs and does not include optional spaghetti and parmesan cheese.
- Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse, Emeril’s Potluck, William Morrow Publishers, New York, 2004
Did you make this?
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Would these work in a crock pot? If so how would you do it?
I do think it would work, but haven’t tried it. You’d probably need to cook it for a good 6 hours to make sure the meatballs cook through.
Okay, so I totally didn’t notice the 30 CLOVES OF GARLIC the first time around. Swoon!
Looks so delicious! How did you make the page look like more Parmesan Cheese was being added? So clever! Nettie
Thanks. I saw the idea on another blog, and was just playing around with the pictures I was taking and with Photoshop. I just layered each photo, then there is an option to save for the web with animation. It was fun!
Your meatballs turned out wonderfully. I love the photos. I really loved this dish. I was sort of unsure about not browning them first but man they turned out fab!
Thanks! I was nervous about that too. I was very close to throwing them in the oven to partially cook them, but was hoping the turkey sausage I used would keep the grease to a minimum. My tummy doesn’t handle greasy things. Luckily it worked out great, and not too greasy.
Oh my goodness!!! These meatballs look Ah-MAZING! You did a great job of making me drool over these pictures!
Thanks 🙂 Had a great recipe to start with, so it was easy to make them look delicious!
30 cloves of garlic?! You’re my kitchen hero. And I LOVED the poem – it’d be such a kick to speak in rhyme for a day. My mouth dropped open in awe and hunger when I laid eyes upon your stunning photos. I need to make me a batch of these meatballs ASAP! Happy New Year!
I’ll tell you a secret – I smashed and peeled the 30 cloves, but then I used my Pampered Chef copper thingy. Thanks so much – the meatballs are fabulous. Give them a try!
My favorite potluck dish is usually some kind of baked good, depending on the season. My favorite Emeril dish is chili. @dbcurrie on twitter cookistry at gmail dot com on email
Mmm, anything baked it always good. Haven’t made his chili. I’ll have to check it out. And congrats on winning the cookbook!
I like to bring appetizers to a potluck or a big batch of potato soup. My favorite emeril recipe is his late night pasta.
@HezziD
hezzidsbooksandcooks@gmail.com
I’ll have to look up that pasta recipe!
Yummmm!!! I am Italian (yes, with a Polish last name, hehe), and homemade noodles are a staple on Christmas. These are meat balls I must try. I loved your poem and your pictures are out of this world! So glad your little guy enjoyed them.
Well, hubby and I are Polish, with his Italian last name (he is only a tiny bit Italian, but happened the name carried through). That is awesome you make homemade noodles for Christmas. Thanks for the sweet compliments!
You are too cute with that poem. Love your presentation and the fact that it was Bug approved makes this a must try for me.
Thanks! Just sort of popped into my head. He was definitely a fan! He ate a whole meatball, and they are BIG.
So happy to have this recipe! Can’t wait to try Emeril’s meatballs.
That are so good – a great recipe to have on hand.
I loved your rhyme – so fun! And these meatballs look so comforting and irresistible to me…I think I’m just going to have to make them! Happy New Year to you and your family 😀
Haha, thanks! They are really good. I am looking forward to the sandwiches I’ll make with the leftovers because I think they will be great with some melted mozzarella.
I can’t tell you how much I’m craving Italian food right now! Great idea to sub turkey for pork sausage.
I am actually looking forward to the leftovers 🙂 We use turkey sausage for pork almost all the time!
Wow! These sound like some-a spicy-a meat-a-balls! Great photos!
I am cracking up because my grandpa used to say that ALL the time (we are Polish, so we didn’t even eat meatballs too often). I had his voice in my head the entire time I was making, eating, and photographing these!
I sat here for far too long looking at the time-action photo with the cheese on the spaghetti.
Happy New Year!
Haha, I saw someone else do this recently, and my curiosity made me want to figure out how to do it! Happy New Year to you and your family, Jen!
Yummm! This recipe looks like a classic, but with a kicked up punch! I can see how it would be a crowd pleaser for sure!
It is absolutely a classic – it may now be my go-to meatballs!
Oh what a cute start to this post! It is a big recipe. Now I know what to make for one of my big family dinner celebrations.
Thanks, I was just goofing around a little 🙂 It does make a ton, but you know how it is with recipes like this – once you get going, you may as well just crank them all out, and save any leftovers for another time.
Love your presentation & picture of the approval! Looks fantastic!
Thanks! They were wonderful. Looking forward to sandwiches from the leftovers.
Your rendition of Emeril’s Meatballs and Gravy would undoubtedly make the whole crew happy!
Nice job on the poetry, too, Cindy. Very charming =) Please write more.
@NinjaBaking
Haha, thanks. Don’t know what came over me 🙂
I almost chose this recipe to make because it is certainly calling my name. The fact that it was cutie pie approved makes it even more desirable for my family. Looks delicious Brianne!
Definitely a kid friendly recipe! And you can feed A LOT of kids!