Our 34 Best Meatball Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated October 31, 2019
Abby Hocking
From juicy slow-cooker meatballs to tender glazed cocktail meatballs, here are some of our favorite recipes to make year-round.
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Beef-Ricotta Meatballs with Braised Beet Greens

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The secret to these luscious meatballs is using ground beef that has a fairly high fat content and mixing it with fresh ricotta, milk-soaked bread and aromatic seasonings like fennel and lemon zest.

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Slow Cooker Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

FREDRIKA STJÄRNE
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These meatballs are served in a bowl, but they are equally delicious with spaghetti or on a hoagie roll.

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My Grandmother's Meatballs

© John Kernick
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Milk-and-cream-soaked breadcrumbs and an egg are the secrets to these supertender meatballs from Swedish star chef Magnus Nilsson. Serve them as he does, with lingonberry jam and mashed potatoes.

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Sesame-Ginger Chicken Meatballs

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These superquick, juicy little Asian-inspired meatballs from F&W’s Justin Chapple are great wrapped in lettuce cups or served with steamed rice.

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Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

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When Jacques Pépin has leftover cooked meat from a roast or a stew, or even leftover steak, he often chops it and uses it to make these boulettes (“small balls”)—a staple in every French housewife’s cooking repertoire.

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Lamb Meatballs with Cumin, Mint, and Tomato Sauce

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Mint, cumin, and chopped almonds give these delicious meatballs their Middle Eastern flavor.

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Cocktail Meatballs

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According to Southern tradition, the hostess at a ladies’ luncheon should serve little meatballs in a chafing dish or on a platter with toothpicks as a satisfying snack for any men in attendance.

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Chicken and Sun-Dried-Tomato Meatballs

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One serving has just 290 calories and 10.4 grams of total fat.

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Supersize Meatballs in Marinara Sauce

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There’s something to be said for eating one giant meatball atop a simple plate of spaghetti.

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Mushroom Barley Soup with Mini Meatballs

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Grace Parisi replaces long-simmered beef with meatballs made from a quick mix of sirloin, egg, bread crumbs and cheese in this hearty soup.

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Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs

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Spaghetti and meatballs is a crowd-pleasing classic Italian-American dish. The mixture of beef, veal and pork makes the meatballs really flavorful.

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Turkey Meatballs Two Ways

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To spice these kid-friendly meatballs up for grown-ups, Katie Workman adds hot turkey sausage and crushed red pepper.

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Swedish Meatballs

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In Sweden, making meatballs is a very social family affair. The more kids you can round up the better, since a child's palm makes the perfect-size ball. Here, Fredrika Stjärne uses her father’s recipe, with his secret ingredient (celery salt).

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Grilled Middle Eastern Meatballs

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Pass crisp lettuce leaves and tangy yogurt with these cumin-spiced patties and assemble them at the table.

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Joyce's Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs in Lettuce Wraps

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Jennifer Joyce gives chicken meatballs a heavenly sticky glaze by rolling them in sugar before baking.

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Lamb Meatballs with Red Pepper and Chickpea Sauce

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When these meatballs are almost cooked through, Nancy Silverton pushes them to one side of the skillet and adds the chickpeas so everything soaks up the luscious roasted red-pepper sauce.

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Italian Meatballs in Caper-Tomato Sauce

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Milk-soaked bread helps make chef Massimiliano Alajmo’s beef-and-pork meatballs incredibly light; bits of chopped olive make them extra-flavorful. The thick tomato sauce coats the meatballs nicely and doubles as an excellent pasta sauce.

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Norwegian Meatballs

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In her cookbook Scandilicious, Signe Johansen shares her unusual cocoa-sauced meatball recipe.

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Meatball-and-Provolone Subs

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These tender, oversize pork-and-beef meatballs are stuffed into a warm hero roll with melted provolone cheese and topped with Matt Neal’s own chunky tomato sauce. As a shortcut, feel free to substitute six cups of jarred sauce.

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Polpette in Spicy Tomato Sauce

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A die-hard Sopranos fan, chef Ruggero Gadaldi says that the TV show inspires many of his hearty Italian dishes, including these polpette (meatballs).

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Meatball Spiedini

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On the skewer, alternate these super-flavorful meatballs with basil leaves and cherry tomatoes.

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Lamb Meatballs with Mint

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This standout tapa, Albóndigas de Cordero a la Hierbabuena, combines two classics—lamb and mint.

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Asian Meatball Wraps

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Serve the meatball-packed wraps with lots of hot sauce and lime wedges.

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Meatballs with Peas

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Eugenia Bone serves her meatballs with rice instead of pasta to soak up the fantastic marinara sauce.

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Tangy Lemon-Egg Soup with Tiny Meatballs

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With its blend of chicken stock and vitamin-C-rich, this restorative soup (inspired by the classic Greek lemon-egg soup avgolemono) is a good way to fight colds or the flu.

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Olive-Mint Pesto Meatballs with Fettuccine

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Some cooks are surprised when Grace Parisi tells them she mixes pesto into meatballs to add flavor quickly. If you’re pressed for time, good store-bought pesto works too.

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Caesar Salad with Meatballs

Tina Rupp
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This classic Caesar salad is incredibly good with the juicy meatballs David Burke serves in place of the usual croutons.

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Grilled Meatballs with Scallion and Shaved Cheese Salad

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Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson makes his savory meatballs with a mixture of lamb, veal and bacon and, surprisingly, a little ricotta cheese to keep everything moist.

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Turkey-Date Meatballs with Lentils and Yogurt Sauce

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Turkey is not only a soporific but a source of iron, zinc, potassium and B vitamins.

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Chicken-Meatball Yakitori

© Fredrika Stjärne
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Sylvan Mishima Brackett makes these meatballs, known as tsukune, with hand-chopped meat and skin from the best pastured chicken he can get.

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Fried Italian Turkey-and-Cheese Meatballs

© Tara Fisher
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Fried meatballs are a Florentine specialty; this version can be made with any cooked meat, from roast or boiled beef to chicken and pork.

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Pork Meatball Stew with Carrots and Pickled Mustard Greens


Christopher Testani
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Rich pork broth—made with pork butt and smoked ham—brings together this comforting stew from brothers Andrew and Eric Dayton’s restaurant The Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis.

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Albóndigas with Mushrooms


Christopher Testani
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These Spanish-style meatballs are prepared with a quick béchamel, which makes them wonderfully moist and tender. They’re cooked in a deeply flavorful tomato-based sauce made with wine and brandy, then topped with crisp mushrooms.

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