Traditional polpette with marinara sauce are the quintessential Italian meal. These rustic, homemade meatballs are loaded with traditional ingredients-earthy oregano, fresh parsley, garlic, salty Parmesan cheese and are smothered in fresh marinara sauce-served just as they would in any Italian home!
Who doesn’t enjoy a rustic meal in a traditional Italian restaurant, where you can enjoy a fresh plate of pasta, garlic bread, and perhaps some polpette with marinara sauce? Why not bring the experience of dining at an Italian restaurant to your home by preparing these delicious, rustic polpette for the family?
Contrary to popular belief, the Italian method of preparing (and consuming) polpette is somewhat different than the traditional North American way, that is, they are served on a bed of marinara sauce…and not on a bed of pasta!
Ingredients
(Yields 24 golf ball-sized meatballs)
500g lean ground beef
500g lean ground pork
2 large eggs
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 small red onion, finely minced
2 tbs. dried oregano
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup milk
1 – 1 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (seasoned or unseasoned)
*Day old bread, soaked in the milk works best in the recipe and lends to super-juicy polpette however, breadcrumbs work just fine!
Preparation
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs then add the milk, garlic, onion and spices, and whisk until combined.
Add the ground pork and beef and gently combine the mixture with your hands. Once combined, add the breadcrumbs and mix again until combined. Do not over-mix as this will result in tough rather than tender meatballs.
Cook for 35-40 minutes (turning at the halfway point) until browned. Remove immediately from the oven to avoid overcooking them.
Serve on a bed on fresh marinara sauce, garnished with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Since this makes such a large batch, you can set an uncooked portion aside and freeze in a zip-lock bag for a quick go-to weeknight meal.
Do you use a jar sauce or homemade? If homemade, do you have a recipe? Or which brand/variety of sauce do you use? Thank you! They look delicious!
Thanks JoAnn! I always make my own sauce! I don’t have an exact recipe but it’s pretty simple. Get the best whole canned tomatoes you can find and cook them for 45 – 60min. I add salt, and a pinch of sugar, plus some olive oil at the end for flavour. You can add garlic (I add them whole then remove) or a few pieces of onion for flavour (remove before serving or eat them!).
We love meatballs at our house. I’m going to give this recipe a try. Thanks!
I love rustic Italian cooking and these look fantastic. (I can almost smell them from here!)
That’s great to hear…that means my recipes are as appealing as I want them to be 😉
Yum! These look very tasty — I’ll have to give them a try.
Oh yum! I’m italian and this is exactly how we ate them when I was little! I’ve gotta try making them, they look amazing!
Good to have recognition that they are authentic!
This is so amazing right now! That’s the hungry stomach talking. I bookmarked this to try sometime, looks so freaking good.
Thanks! Hope you do make it in the future 😉
I make a similar dish with a lot veggies..
Veggie meatballs? I keep experimenting with them but haven’t created the perfect recipe just yet!
These sound really great and I love that they aren’t served over pasta. I’m going to make a big batch and freeze to have them available to serve whenever.
This is how we always eat them…never on pasta! It’s just a ‘no-no’ according to my husband, lol!
How delish! These look like the meatballs my mom used to make for me as a kid and must be super filling. My two boys would love these loaded with tons of cheese on top. Beautiful pictures, I’m hungry just looking at them!
They are very filling. If I’m in a bind for dinner I’ll just cook up a few of these, add some sauce and dinner is served! No need for pasta or a side dish!
Yumm! This looks so good! I can’t wait to try out your recipe! I like that you made them all together, makes the clean up much easier!
These look so delicious! Very similar to the way that I make meatballs! Thank you so much for sharing your version of this recipe. I always love to compare and learn new techniques.
Me too! Do you have the recipe posted on your Blog?
You know, I haven’t posted that one yet! I should soon!
I’ve always used 1/3 each of beef, veal and pork- do you like the veal-less version better? I’ve always just used my grandma’s recipe lol but never thought to take one of them out? Definitely agree with the day old soaked bread 🙂
I don’t necessarily like them better without veal. I have made them with veal as well…these were the ingredients I had on hand, lol! And yes, the bread makes ALL the difference!
The meatballs look so delicious, yummy and round tasty so does the sauce.
I’ve never used pork when I make my meatballs. I would certainly need to try it one day. Your dish looks mighty tasty!
Those look great! I have never used ground pork before. Sounds great to go in the meatballs!
They taste best when you use a variety of ground meats!
This looks super YUMMY! I love Italian food so I’ll definitely be trying this recipe soon. Thanks for sharing <3
Thank you! You can make a huge batch and freeze some to cook for a later date!
Oh wow, these look absolutely delicious! I would love these for dinner right now. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I’ve never heard of this before. My husband loves dishes like this and I think he would really enjoy this one.
Wow these look delicious! We love meatballs at my place so I’m always on the look out for new recipes for them and sauces
These are most definitely the ultimate in comfort food, my fave!
My comfort foods as of late have been mostly vegan dishes, lol! However, my family loves these!! A simple marinara sauce is so easy to make to-just brown garlic in olive oil, add canned tomatoes, salt and pepper, fresh basil, a pinch of sugar, and simmer until thickened!
sounds like some yummy comfort food!
Yes, it is! Actually, I prepare this for my family…I don’t eat a lot of meat so I prefer making a vegan version with lentils for me! Thanks for stopping by!
Oh lisa – this is soo good! Forgive my question if i am totally butchering your amazing recipe! Can I make it with turkey meat? xxx
Of course you can!!! For a while I wasn’t eating read meat but I was eating chicken and turkey so I would just substitute with that! Have you seen the recipe on the Blog for Veal & Rapini Meatballs? Turkey would be a great substitution in that one too!