The simple trick for juicy meatballs and a sauce that tastes like it’s been simmering for hours

Being Italian-American, my dad loves meatballs. That said, he often makes chicken meatballs for cholesterol reasons, and we can all agree that they are… just GOODbut every once in a while he makes real meatballs with beef and fresh sauce and it’s quite a treat (cholesterol disaster).

He, like many others, knows that the correct way to make meatballs is to let the meatballs and sauce hang together on the stove for hours so that their flavors can blend. The only problem is that it leaves his otherwise perfect meatballs a little dry. Indeed, through the testing required to perfect his popular slow cooker meatball recipe, Kenji discovered that this method of letting the meatballs cook on the stove that so many people swear by isn’t really a good idea. During his development processes, he discovered that simmering meatballs in sauce for more than 45 minutes transformed them from tender and moist to tough and dry.

So on one hand you (and I) (and my dad) want tender meatballs, but on the other hand you want that meatball flavor in your sauce. There’s no way to have it all! RIGHT?! Fake!!!

Kenji’s solution to imparting as much flavor as possible without compromising the quality of the meatballs is to reserve some of the meatball mixture and sauté it in olive oil to create a flavorful base for the tomato sauce; then the meatballs themselves are added just at the end of cooking. This extracts the same flavors you would get from simmering meatballs in tomato sauce, but avoids the risk of overcooked meat. This is a trick Daniel also uses in his Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe to ensure meatball flavor in every bite, which is definitely my kind of dinner. Or at least, it’s more than chicken meatballs, which I write with love and respect for my wonderful father!

How to Use This Trick for the Juiciest Meatballs And Savory sauce

After preparing your meatball mixture, fry just under a quarter of the mixture in olive oil until golden brown, before adding the onion, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and salt, then of course the tomatoes. The sauce can simmer on the stove or in a slow cooker for up to 10 hours, and the remaining meat mixture is made into meatballs and refrigerated until later in the process.

Keep in mind that the longer your sauce cooks, the more it will reduce, so you will get less sauce if you cook it for a long time, but it will be a very flavorful sauce. “In the end, cook it until it tastes nice and round and is delicious to eat. You, whoever eats it! says Serious Eats senior food editor Leah Colins. “The longer you cook it, the more it will thicken and have a more intense flavor, and the tangy, tart tomatoes will start to take on a sweeter flavor as they cook.”

As for your meatballs, you can cook them by browning them on the grill or in a pan then dipping them in the sauce until cooked through, or dipping them raw in the sauce and letting them cook all the way through (although you’ll miss the flavors from the browning). This should take about 10 minutes if you’ve browned the meatballs or about 30 minutes if you haven’t; Either way, don’t leave the meatballs in the sauce for more than about 30 minutes total (provided they’re cooked through) if you want to maintain their tender texture.

Serve with pasta and parmesan, and you get a dish with tender meatballs and a rich, thick sauce with intense meat flavor. One that would impress my father, I might add!

September 2024