Equipment
Ingredients
Panade and Meatballs
- 60 g white bread, crusts removed, torn into pieces
- 80 ml whole milk
- 450 g ground beef 80/20, cold
- 450 g ground pork, cold
- 2 large egg
- 50 g parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 15 g fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 3 garlic, minced
- 10 g kosher salt
- 2 g black pepper, freshly ground
Tomato Sauce
- 30 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely diced
- 4 garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 g crushed red pepper flakes
- 1600 g canned whole peeled san marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 3 g dried oregano
- 5 g kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 10 g fresh basil, torn
Pasta and Serving
- 500 g dried spaghetti
- 30 g parmigiano-reggiano, freshly grated
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 953 kcal
- Protein
- 49 g
- Carbohydrates
- 108 g
- Fat
- 38 g
- Fiber
- 16 g
- Sugar
- 16 g
- Sodium
- 1773 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 11 g
- Trans Fat
- 1 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 7 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 2 g
- Cholesterol
- 25 mg
- Potassium
- 925 mg
- Calcium
- 334 mg
- Iron
- 5.2 mg
- Magnesium
- 180 mg
- Phosphorus
- 580 mg
- Zinc
- 5.0 mg
- Vitamin A
- 154 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 59 mg
- Vitamin E
- 1.8 mg
- Vitamin K
- 181 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.4 mg
- Vitamin B12
- 1.0 mcg
- Thiamin
- 0.45 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.35 mg
- Niacin
- 6.0 mg
- Folate
- 80 mcg
- Water
- 54 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the torn white bread and whole milk. Mash with a fork until it forms a smooth paste (panade) and let sit for 5 minutes to hydrate.
Add the ground beef, ground pork, eggs, grated parmesan, chopped parsley, minced garlic, kosher salt, and black pepper to the bowl with the panade. Using clean hands, gently fold the mixture together until just combined. Do not overmix.
Portion the meat mixture into balls weighing about 45g each (roughly the size of a golf ball) and arrange them evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Wash hands thoroughly after handling raw meat to prevent cross-contamination.
Roast the meatballs in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the exteriors are nicely browned. They do not need to be fully cooked through at this stage.
While the meatballs roast, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the diced yellow onion and cook until softened and translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Stir in the thinly sliced garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Sauté for 1 minute until highly fragrant, being careful not to let the garlic take on any color.
Pour the hand-crushed tomatoes into the Dutch oven, followed by the dried oregano and kosher salt. Stir well to combine and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer.
Carefully transfer the browned meatballs from the baking sheet into the simmering tomato sauce, including any rendered juices from the pan. Cover partially and simmer for 20 minutes until the meatballs reach a safe internal temperature of 74°C/165°F.
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 120ml of the starchy pasta water, then drain the pasta.
Return the drained spaghetti to the pasta pot. Add two generous ladles of the tomato sauce (avoiding the meatballs) and a splash of the reserved pasta water. Toss vigorously over low heat for 1 minute until the sauce clings to the noodles.
Divide the dressed spaghetti among warm bowls. Top each portion with meatballs and a generous spoonful of the remaining sauce. Garnish with torn fresh basil and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Chef's Notes
- Using a panade (bread and milk mixture) is the secret to exceptionally tender meatballs. It prevents the proteins in the meat from shrinking and squeezing out moisture during cooking.
- Oven-roasting the meatballs instead of pan-frying them is not only less messy, but it allows you to easily render out excess fat and develop an even crust without the meatballs falling apart.
- When adding the canned tomatoes, crushing them by hand provides a wonderfully rustic texture. Be sure to rinse out the cans with a small splash of water and add it to the pot so no tomato is left behind.
- Always toss your cooked pasta in a little bit of the sauce before plating. Serving bare pasta topped with a scoop of sauce is a missed opportunity for flavor building and proper textural integration.
Storage
Refrigerator: 4 days — Store pasta and meatballs in sauce separately for best texture.
Freezer: 3 months — Freeze meatballs and sauce only; cook pasta fresh when ready to serve.
Reheating: Reheat sauce and meatballs gently on the stove over medium-low heat until warmed through. Toss with freshly cooked pasta.
Troubleshooting
Meatballs are dense and rubbery
Cause: Overmixing the raw meat mixture or omitting the panade (bread and milk mixture).
Fix: Cannot be fixed texturally once cooked, but slicing them in half and letting them absorb more sauce on the plate can improve the eating experience.
Prevention: Gently toss the ingredients with your fingertips just until combined. Avoid packing the meatballs too tightly when shaping.
Tomato sauce tastes excessively acidic or metallic
Cause: Natural variation in canned tomato acidity or insufficient cooking time.
Fix: Stir in a pinch of sugar or a pat of unsalted butter to round out the acidity before serving.
Prevention: Allow the sauce to simmer for the full stated duration to mellow out the tomatoes.
Cultural Context
While meatballs (polpette) have a long and storied history in Italy, the concept of pairing large beef and pork meatballs with spaghetti in a rich tomato sauce is distinctly Italian-American. This hearty combination was born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among Italian immigrants in the United States, who suddenly had access to an abundance of affordable meat. Today, it stands globally as the ultimate symbol of Italian-American culinary ingenuity and comfort food.
