Classic homemade meatballs

What are meatballs made from?

To make meatballs, finely chopped or minced meat such as beef will be seasoned and sometimes flavoured with ingredients like chopped onions, herbs and spices then will be shaped into small balls before cooking. Typically, meatballs will be somewhere between the size of a large cherry and a golf ball. Recipes such as Swedish meatballs and Italian-inspired meatballs are often made with a mixture of both beef and pork, but meatballs can be made with any red meat, game, poultry or a mixture.

Meatballs pop up in a wide range of different cuisines, and that’s no surprise as they’re simple to serve, easy to eat and a good way of making a relatively small amount of meat go that bit further.

How to stop meatballs from falling apart

Making them with just meat and seasoning alone can result in the meatball becoming dry or falling apart during cooking. For this reason, many recipes will include a binding ingredient like egg, and a filler like breadcrumbs. You only need a small amount of egg – it’s there only to help the cooked meatball retain its shape, and shouldn't detract from the meat's flavour or texture.

Filler ingredients like breadcrumbs or flour are important too because they stop the meatballs becoming dry. The breadcrumbs absorb the juices from the meat as it cooks, trapping them within the meatball. Again quantity is important here; too much and your meatball will be more like stuffing or a dumpling.

What to serve with meatballs

A popular Italian-American classic, spaghetti and meatballs is comprised of meatballs drenched in a tomato sauce served with spaghetti and topped with finely grated parmesan cheese. Or, this meatball traybake combines them with crispy chunks of garlic bread and a melty cheese topping for a comforting family-friendly dinner.

As well as classic Italian tomato sauce based dishes, these are some other delicious ways to serve meatballs:

• Gravy-based dishes such as our Swedish-style meatballs or meatball stroganoff
• Curries - try our Red Thai meatball curry or fragrant lamb kofta curry
• Legume-based dishes - make this hearty meatball black bean chilli or Spanish meatball & butter bean stew for flavourful midweek meals.
• For something different: bake them with French fries to make the perfect party sharing platter with our meatball marinara fries

In most cases, it’s better to cook the meatballs separately first before adding them to your chosen sauce at the last stage. This ensures that the meatball is cooked properly, provides deep caramelised flavour to the outside of the meat and stops them breaking up in the sauce.