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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.

Meatball Parmesan is 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.

Baked cheese-covered meatballs parmesan with tomato sauce made in the oven. Easy but special enough to serve for a special occasion or dinner guests.

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!

A twist on chicken parmesan in the form of cheese meatballs with tomato sauce made in the oven. Easy but special enough to serve for a special occasion or dinner guests.

 

2.0 from 1 reviews
Baked Meatball Parmesan
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 24 meatballs
 
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.
Ingredients
  • 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
Instructions
  1. Mix all of the above meatball ingredients (not the sauce!) and form your meatballs-not too large. Mine made about 24.
  2. Grease a baking sheet (one that has sides) and bake the meatballs at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
  3. Lower oven to 375.
  4. Pour some sauce in the bottom of your dish(es).
  5. 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.
  6. 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!
  7. Cover with foil and bake for 20 more minutes.
  8. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 mins or until meatballs are cooked through and cheese is browning.
  9. 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

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