Homemade Baked Meatballs

If you're looking for an easy baked meatball recipe, The Jersey Momma has you covered! I'm here to share my favorite family recipe with you, and tell you about an awesome authentic line of pasta sauces that go great with my meatballs. If you still don't believe me, you can enter to win your own set of these fab La San Marzano sauces yourself! Read on for more!

Disclosure: I was given samples of La San Marzano pasta sauces from La Regina di San Marzano, as well as a gift pack to share with my readers, but this in no way influenced my opinion. Hey, if this sauce was bad I would tell you. I thought it was DELICIOUS!

About La San Marzano Sauces

I know, I know, are you rolling your eyes about trying a jarred pasta sauce? My Italian friends are probably scoffing at me, I'm sure, but look, we don't all have time to make our own sauce (or gravy, as some like to call it). And many of the jarred sauces on the market today are awful. They're filled with sugar, preservatives and just plain fake ingredients.  La San Marzano pasta sauces contain real ingredients- things like peeled tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, pepper, oregano. Nothing unnatural, nothing I couldn't read or didn't recognize! Ya gotta respect that. And get this, they currently have about 15 different varieties available! You can see them all here.  I sampled the marinara, four cheese and arrabbiata.

And here are some words straight from the company about La San Marzano sauces:

La Regina di San Marzano, the makers of premium tomato sauces and canned tomato products, are now available straight from Italy to your kitchen table. La Regina di San Marzano is a family-owned company delivering products made with real San Marzano tomatoes grown and harvested in the foothills of Mt. Vesuvius. 

 In a recent third-party blind taste test against the leading premium prepared pasta sauce brands, La San Marzano® Marinara Sauce beat its competitors for aroma strength, chunkiness as well as flavor and taste. 

What I loved about it: authentic ingredients, robust flavor, tasted homemade. It was not overly watery (sometimes I find 'authentic' jarred sauces are watery or oily. Not the case at all with La San Marzano).

Where to Find: La San Marzano sauces can be found at Kings, Acme, DeCicco, Brooklyn Fare, FoodCellar, Price Chopper and more. You can also buy them through my Amazon affiliate link here.

Jersey Momma tip: yes, it comes in a jar, but honestly, no one needs to know that! Pour that sauce right in a big old pot on your stove (or crock pot on low) and let it simmer for a while. The smell will radiate through your home and everyone will think you made it yourself!

Easy Baked Meatballs Recipe

Now without further delay, here's my favorite family meatball recipe. And don't forget to scroll below and enter to win a gift pack of La San Marzano Pasta Sauces for yourself! Also, I served my meatballs with a long fusilli pasta, but feel free to use any pasta of your choice, or serve the meatballs on rolls with sauce and cheese.

Easy Baked Meatballs

Ingredients:

-2 lbs ground beef, uncooked
-1/2 cup or 1 cup bread crumbs (if you like a drier meatball, add more breadcrumbs)
-1 Tbsp yellow mustard
-2 large eggs
-1/2 cup ketchup
-1 Tbsp italian seasoning
-1 Tbsp dried minced onion (more to taste- I usually just give it a few shakes)
- 1/4 cup of milk
-oregano, basil, salt, pepper to taste
-non stick cooking spray
-disposable broiler pans or oven safe dish for baking

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Spray your broiler pan or dish with non-stick cooking spray

3. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Add oregano, basil, salt and pepper to taste (I usually just give a few shakes of each into my meat mixture). You should be able to form them into ball shapes easily. If the meat is too wet and sticking to your hands or won't form a shape, add more breadcrumbs.

4. Shape meat mixture into golf ball size and place on your broiler pan (tip: I actually use a large cookie scooper for this)

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until cooked through.

Makes about a 12-20 meatballs, depending on how big you form them. These also freeze well!

Enter to Win a La San Marzano Prize Pack!

You can win a La San Marzano Prize Pack that consists of:

-an exclusive San Marzano cooking apron
-one of each of the following 24oz pasta sauces: arrabbiata, marinara, four cheese

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter!

The fine print: U.S. entrants only, 18 and over, please! Contest runs 8/7/18-8/15/18. One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter on 8/15. Winner will be notified via email and MUST respond to notification within 24 hours, or The Jersey Momma has the right to choose a new winner. Entrants must follow directions in the Rafflecopter widget for qualifying entries (I do check, people!). Entrants must be willing to provide an email address (for contact purposes only) and winner must provide a U.S. mailing address to receive their prize. Prize is provided by La Regina di San Marzano but will be mailed by The Jersey Momma.

a Rafflecopter giveaway