This Meatball Parmesan is a hearty, rich and delicious. Perfect for cozy winter weeknights! It features juicy meatballs smothered in a delicious marinara sauce and topped with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. A simple dish that is beautiful and oh so tasty!
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Meatball Parmesan Casserole
This hearty Meatball Parmesan bake marries up homemade meatballs, marinara, and Italian cheeses in one skillet or pan.
Meatball Parmesan is perfect for an easy weeknight meal and so versatile… use it on subs, pasta, and more!
How To Make Meatball Parmesan – Step By Step
You can jump to the recipe card for full ingredients & instructions!
- Mix together the meatball ingredients.
- Place the sauce in a skillet and add the meatballs
- Pour sauce over the meatballs and sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake until hot and bubbly.
- Top each meatball with a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese and more cheese.
- Cook until melty and bubbly.
- Serve and enjoy!
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What Other Types of Meat Can I Use?
Ground chuck or pork are great for meatballs because they always turn out so juicy from the higher fat content. You can use any type of ground meat that you like.
Keep in mind that meat with a lower fat content like turkey, chicken, or lean ground beef will yield dryer meatballs. You can mix a lean type of meat with something fattier like lamb, regular ground beef, or pork.
How To Store Leftover Meatballs
This Meatball Parmesan recipe will last 3 – 4 days in the fridge if stored in an airtight container. To freeze just place the cooked meatballs on a baking sheet and freeze separately to begin with.
Transfer them to a freezer bag or otherwise airtight container and place back in the cold and they’ll keep for up to 3 months.
How To Serve Meatball Parmesan
This Meatball Parmesan can be served in a variety of ways on a variety of dishes, feel free to get creative with them!
- Over pasta.
- Spooned over fluffy mashed potatoes.
- It pairs perfectly with my creamy polenta.
- Stuffed into sandwiches, think meatball sub but better than you ever imagined it could be.
- Transform these bad boys into little sliders.
Tips!
- Any ground meat would work. Ground beef would work great as well. You can also combine meats like ground pork and ground beef together.
- You can fry the meatballs. Heat about a tbsp of oil in a skillet then add the meatballs and fry until golden all around, should take about 7 to 10 minutes.
- For easier prep, make meatballs ahead of time and keep refrigerated until ready to use.
- In a pinch, you could substitute your favorite frozen meatball, partially thawed, and cook as directed, starting with the sauce step.
Check Out These Other Delicious Meatball Recipes
- Chicken Cordon Bleu Meatballs (with Dijon Sauce)
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs Recipe
- Mozzarella Stuffed Italian Meatballs
- Peruvian Chicken Meatballs with Green Sauce (Drop Meatballs)
If you make this recipe be sure to upload a photo in the comment section below or leave a rating. Enjoy! You can also jump to recipe.
Meatball Parmesan
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Ingredients
- ½ cup dry breadcrumbs or 4 slices stale white bread
- 2 tablespoons milk or cream or buttermilk
- 3 large eggs lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese divided in thirds
- 1½ teaspoon dried parsley
- 1½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1½ pounds ground chuck or a blend of ground pork, ground sirloin, and ground chuck
- 2 cups marinara sauce store-bought or homemade
- ½ pound fresh mozzarella cheese cut into 2-inch pieces
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the breadcrumbs (if using bread slices, cut off the crust and tear bread into bite-size pieces) and milk in a large mixing bowl and stir until breadcrumbs are completely coated. Set aside for 5 minutes or until liquid is almost absorbed.½ cup dry breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons milk
- Add eggs, salt, pepper, ⅓ of the Parmesan, parsley, basil, and oregano to the breadcrumbs/milk mixture and stir well.3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1½ teaspoon dried parsley, 1½ teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Add ground meat and mix, gently, just until incorporated and form into 2½-inch balls.1½ pounds ground chuck
- Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until brown & cooked through. If more color on the outside of the meatballs is desired, set the oven to broil and broil the meatballs 2-3 minutes or until a darker brown.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F
- While the meatballs cook, prepare the sauce (if making homemade).2 cups marinara sauce
- Brush a 12-inch skillet with canola oil or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place 1-cup sauce in the prepared skillet and sprinkle with ⅓ of the grated Parmesan. Set the meatballs in the skillet, leaving a little space between the meatballs. Pour the remaining sauce over the meatballs and sprinkle with another third of the grated Parmesan.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is hot and bubbly. Top each meatball with a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese and the remaining ⅓ of Parmesan. Cook just until the cheese is melted and starting to lightly brown.½ pound fresh mozzarella cheese
- Allow the Meatball Parmesan to cool 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Serve with a toasty Italian baguette and a side salad.
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
Nutrition Information
DELICIOUS – I made this tonight using 2 pounds of Ground Venison. (Sorry if this offends anyone.) So I added about 25% more of all ingredients since the recipe called for 1.5 pounds. I’d say you can add about anything you might add to your hamburger patty meat. I only had about 2-3/4 cups of Marinara and i could’ve used more. Don’t skimp on your cheese. I even added some fresh shredded Amish Pepper Jack on top of everything else. I also added 3 clove of minced garlic. Next time I will add some minced onions. The Parmesan callout caught me off-guard as well. I put all of it in the meat as well. I just added more below the meatballs and on top of them. You can never have to much cheese. My wife calculated 3 meatballs was only 12 Weight Watcher points.
Thanks so much for sharing what worked for you, Steve! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I have made this a couple times and we really loved it!I do agree that the recipe was confusing about the parmesan.It says “1/2 cup, divided” in the ingredient list.It says to add parmesan to the meatballs,and then tells you 3 more times to add 1/3 of the parmesan.The first time I made it,I forgot that it said “divided”,and aded the entire 1/2 cup to the meatballs.They were still delicious!Fixed that the next time.Will definitely be making again. Thank you!
Hi Linda, so sorry to hear the recipe was a bit confusing! We’ve taken another look at it and made some adjustments to the wording to help!
I made these tonight and they were wonderful! I added some ricotta to the meatballs and they were delicious. Great recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Coming from an Italian, please add garlic to this recipe. Your directions are confusing when talking about parmesan. Please rewrite recipe. I used ground Italian sausage and that helped. Cooking time is a bit long
Hi, which part about the parm was confusing? I’d love to help!
I would really like to know how much garlic you put in and would it go in the meatball mixture or the sauce? I just can’t think of how much I want to add to this
We’re so sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this recipe, Paul!
I just made this for my guys and I couldn’t even get a pic because they were into it so fast. So good! I used ground 85/15 sirloin and a roll of sage sausage, but followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Turned out fabulous! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I used frozen Italian meatballs and crushed some croutons up on top. It was delish!
Very yummy, although I used more parmesan than called for and added a teaspoon of garlic powder..
This page directions are hard to follow. Ingredients isn’t specific on how múch parmesan cheese goes into meatballs. Page is extremely hard to copy and paste. Finding directions is difficult. Too much information it’s confusing. Hopefully I figure out the recipe. Thank you
Hi Kelly! The instructions in the post are not as specific as those in the recipe card. They’re just to give you an idea of how the recipe works. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, you can view and print the full recipe card! Hope this helps!
Fantastic