Baked Meatball Parmesan
Cheesy meatballs with tomato sauce baked right in the oven – no mess or frying! Good enough for a fancy dinner to serve for a holiday or to dinner guests.
Happy New Year! What did you do to celebrate? I didn’t do anything crazy, but I did a lot of relaxing during this nice, long weekend. I actually took two whole days where I didn’t even open my laptop and stare at a screen to do any work at all – and that never happens! I think I was feeling a little burnt out between my two computer-based jobs and needed a little break. Now I’m back and refreshed!
I think that you should scrap whatever plans you have for tonight and make this meatball parmesan recipe instead. This dinner is a “put on your stretchy pants first” type of dinner and is by no means low cal, but how about one last indulgence before everyone goes on their New Year’s diets? If you have already started one, then save this one for your next cheat day.
I served this with a side of pasta, some garlic bread and a nice salad. This is one of those meals that’s really easy to make but will impress your family and/or dinner guests for a nice Sunday dinner or even a special occasion (it’s holiday worthy!). Let’s be honest – everyone has heard of chicken parmesan and veal parmesan, but who has ever made meatballs parmesan before? You will be the most popular person to ever live.
The leftovers would make great meatball sandwiches served on really good buns. You can also do that in the first place if you don’t want to go the meatball parmesan and side of pasta route. The sky is the limit with these meatballs. Enjoy!
- 1½ pounds meatloaf meat mix (beef, pork, veal combo) OR use ground beef
- 4 cloves garlic-roughly chopped, not minced
- a handful of chopped parsley
- 1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (not the grated green can cheese)
- 2 eggs
- salt to taste
- Sauce of your choice (approx two 24-oz jars)
- Mozzarella cheese to top it off with
- Mix all of the above meatball ingredients (not the sauce!) and form your meatballs-not too large. Mine made about 24.
- Grease a baking sheet (one that has sides) and bake the meatballs at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Lower oven to 375.
- Pour some sauce in the bottom of your dish(es).
- I used a 2 8x8 glass dishes or you could use one 9×13. Also, you can bake one pan of them and freeze one for later.
- Lay meatballs on top of the sauce. Cover with more sauce and dress the top up with lots of mozzarella! It should be generously covered with cheese!
- Cover with foil and bake for 20 more minutes.
- Remove foil and bake an additional 10 mins or until meatballs are cooked through and cheese is browning.
- For the last 4 minutes I raised the oven temp to 400 to help the browning. Just keep an eye on the cheese to make sure it's browning and not burning.
Recipe source: slightly adapted from hugsandcookiesxoxo.com
Oooh, this definitely looks like a stretchy pants meal. Especially paired with some crusty garlic bread. Bring it on!
I am obsessed with meatball parm in a big, big way. I can’t resist it! And I can’t resist this version. I’m drooling!
This is screaming my name!
What a cheesy fantastic dinner recipe! Totally adding to our dinner menu!
I WISH I had stepped away from my laptop for two days! Ugh. Such a smart idea! As for the meatballs?? Ummmm… WOWWW! All that gooey melted cheese just takes things way over the top!
I also took a couple of days away from the computer and it was glorious! I really need to do that more often. These meatballs look fantastic…the perfect comfort food.
These sound AMAZING! I was planning on meatloaf for dinner tonight, but I have all of the ingredients so I think I’ll make these instead. 🙂 Yum! Oh and we celebrated New Year’s by going to sleep. 😉
Oh my gosh – those cheesy meatballs are PERFECTION!
I’ve really been into meatballs the past few months, so these look extra phenomenal! Everyone in the house would be happy about this meal. 🙂
ohmagawwwwwwwd.
no words.
My family loves meatballs and this looks wonderful!
Holy deliciousness!!
It’s good to take time off. I’m glad you came back refreshed. And now I’m about to totally scrap my dinner plans, throw on my super stretchy pants and make this! I’m a sucker for meatballs and melted cheese.
Oh yes, this looks so deliciously cheesy and comforting. It’s exactly what I need in this cold winter weather!
Heck yes… this is exactly my kind of cold weather comfort food – flavourful, saucy, and covered in cheese. 🙂 I already ate dinner, but I could totally go for a plateful of this yumminess right about now.
Yum, these sound delicious! My guys love meatballs and ask for them anytime I say I’m making pasta. Definitely, trying these 😀
Made this tonight, and doubled the quantities on everything (except the sauce), so that I would have leftovers to take to work. Glad I did, this was really darn good!
I can’t believe you made it already! That’s awesome! So glad you liked it.
I loooove meatballs so this is definitely worth putting on the stretchy pants for!
We had a very low-key new year…hanging at home. My excitement was picking up my teenager from his “happenings”. Ahhhh, getting old. 😉 These meatballs sound amazing – I love “Parmesan” anything in general, so these are going on the menu. And stretchy pants are getting even more use…
Meatballs ate my favorite! i love the idea of baking them with cheese. So gooey and delicious!
Okay…this is what I’m craving right now. It’s snowing and freezing here and my family & I can’t seem to stay full – we’re constantly hungry and this looks like something we could happily polish off with some good bread! Yum!
You’ve totally made my stomach growl with this recipe. All that cheese and then the talk of a meatball sandwich to boot! You’re killing me here. LOL
I’m not going to lie, I’d be digging into that entire dish. Every once in a while I get the meatball parm wrap at a place near me for lunch. I love it!
Yeah, I would eat this whole dish and not even share…haha.
These look sssooo comforting Ashley! This is exactly what I need with our cold weather!
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I love this recipe and your photos. Meatball parm is one of my favourite things in the world.
I could eat this whole thing….I love meatballs. And cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. 🙂
Thank You For Sharing This Recipe . We made this about three weeks ago and I’m sitting here waiting on our second time making this meal . We ate it the first day with garlic toast . My wife made noodles and I mixed it with the left overs and we ate it the next day ( Talk About Good Eating Both Ways ) Again Thank You .
Thank you so much for letting me know!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
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Do you put the meatballs in the dish for the first 20 minutes, or not? Not clear, why would you have to put a empty dish in the oven for 20 minutes.
Sorry – you bake the meatballs first before adding the sauce and cheese. This ensures they are cooked without the sauce and cheese burning later on.
I wish you would have updated your steps because when you say mix all ingredients that includes the tomato sauce. I had to look in the comments to see not to add tomato sauce until meatballs are cooked. Wasted ingredients for no reason.