Anne Burrell’s Excellent Meatballs Recipe

Anne Burrell’s meatballs and marinara recipe puts the traditions of Italy into your hands and gives you the secret to unlock the best meal you’ve ever had.

Serves: 7-8 Time: 1 hr 30 min Cookbook: Secrets of a Restaurant Chef

For me, spaghetti and meatballs are the stuff of legend. I have many fond memories of trips to The Old Spaghetti Factory with my family where I was transported to Italian food heaven as a kid. I’d tuck into a plate of spaghetti with their signature giant meatball and I’d hear angels sing. There was nothing like it.

As an adult, no homemade spaghetti and meatball recipe quite came close to evoking that misty-eyed, I’m-not-crying-you-are feel I had as a kid when sitting down to a plate of Italian goodness. Until now.

Anne Burrell’s perfect meatballs and marinara sauce have literally set the bar for me when it comes to this slice of Italian cuisine. Her recipe combines the absolute best ingredients to make the most deliciously savory combination you’ll ever find on your plate.

Coming from the one and only Chef Anne Burrell, Food Network star, host of Worst Cooks in America, and student of the culinary traditions of Italy, we are beyond excited to present this phenomenal recipe for meatballs and marinara sauce aka Anne’s excellent meatballs.

Jump Ahead:

• ❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• 🍝 Ingredients Needed to Make Anne Burrell’s Meatballs and Marinara
• 🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
• 🥄 How to Make Anne Burrell’s Meatballs and Marinara
• ♾️ Variations on Anne Burrell’s Meatballs
• ❓ Anne Burrell’s Meatballs and Marinara: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Simple: Okay, we know what you’re thinking. How can making meatballs and marinara from scratch be simple? But it really is! There might be a bit of squishing and getting messy, but aside from that, there’s really nothing to it. The marinara simmers away and makes itself amazing while the meatballs cook into happy bites of deliciousness and voila! This goodness is served.

Delicious: The meatballs and marinara sauce both are the most amazing we’ve ever had. The meatballs are intensely flavorful and rich while the marinara sauce pairs perfectly with a slightly smoky, savory flavor that is next to none.

Crowd-Favorite: Serve this at a get-together and no one will go away hungry. Bring it to a potluck and you won’t have to take home any leftovers. These will fly off the table and everyone will ask you for the recipe.

Ingredients Needed to Make Anne Burrell’s Meatballs and Marinara

You’ll need two sets of ingredients for this meal – one set for the meatballs and another for the marinara.

First, the meatballs.

• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: Extra virgin olive oil will always give you the best flavor.
• Onion: Go one large onion, yellow or white.
• Salt: Kosher or sea salt work great here.
• Garlic: Fresh garlic cloves or already-minced garlic is perfect.
• Crushed Red Pepper: This brings out the flavors like nothing else. If you like spicy meatballs, add a bit more than what the recipe calls for.
• Ground Beef: You want 80/20 beef or beef chuck for this recipe. This meat/fat ratio is ideal for meatballs.
• Ground Pork: Ground pork provides a depth of flavor that combines perfectly with beef.
• Large Eggs: Go with large eggs. If you have medium eggs, you might find that you need to add a third.
• Grated Parmigiano: This cheese will set your meatballs apart like none other. Get the real thing – you won’t regret it.
• Fresh Italian Parsley: This herb adds a bright and refreshing zing to the meatball mixture.
• Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs will help bind all the meatball ingredients together.

Note: The original recipe also calls for veal. Veal, however, is not widely available at the grocery store, and adding it doesn’t make that much of a difference in the overall recipe. Therefore, we went with a 50/50 blend of beef and pork.

And now, the marinara.

• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: This will help bring out all the flavors in the sauce.
• Pancetta or Country Ham: We use country ham whenever we can’t locate pancetta and find that it’s a perfect substitute. We used it for this recipe and it turned out great.
• Spanish Onions: Spanish onions are sweeter than white onions. If you can’t find Spanish onions, white onions will still work well.
• Kosher Salt: This is a coarser grain salt and is perfect for this recipe.
• Garlic: Fresh cloves or pre-minced garlic packed in water is perfect.
• Crushed Tomatoes: Cans of crushed tomatoes work incredibly well for this recipe. After they simmer down the flavor of your marinara will be out of this world.

Equipment Needed In the Kitchen

12-Inch Skillet

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Mixing Bowls

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Stock Pot

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Rimmed Sheet Pan

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• Large Sauté Pan: You’ll sauteé onions and brown meatballs. A 12-inch pan or larger is what you want.
• Mixing Bowl: You’ll need a large mixing bowl to combine the meat mixture and mix up the meatballs.
• Large Stock Pot: This is for the sauce. A large, 6 to 7-quart pot is perfect.
• Rimmed Sheet Pan: A large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment is what you want.

How to Make Anne Burrell’s Meatballs and Marinara

If you’ve never had homemade meatballs, you’re definitely missing out. And the marinara sauce? To die for. This recipe takes some time but it’s sooo worth it!

Start the marinara sauce

Since the marinara sauce will take several hours to cook and simmer and thicken, start with the sauce.

First, chop the pancetta or country ham and onions, and mince the garlic.

Next, take out a large sauce pot and add olive oil to the bottom. Turn heat to medium-high heat. Add the pancetta or country ham pieces and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.

Then add the onions and cook for 6 to 7 minutes. Stir until onions are coated with ham fat and oil. Continue cooking until the onions are translucent.

Finally, add the garlic and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly.

Last but not least, add your cans of crushed tomatoes and give everything a good stir. Fill one of the cans with water and add that to the pot, too.

Set to simmer for 2-3 hours. Stir the pot every 15-20 minutes, and taste as you go. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

While the sauce simmers away in the background, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get making meatballs! There will be a lot of squishing, washing your hands, squishing again, and washing your hands again but it’s worth it. Very worth it.

Note: This gives you a big pot of marinara sauce. There will be enough for dipping, for spaghetti sauce, for meatball sandwich eating, and more.

Meatball prep part 1: onions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Dice the onion small and mince the garlic. Then, in a large saute pan, add olive oil and onions. Turn heat to medium high. Add salt and pepper to taste and cook 5 to 7 minutes until onions are translucent and very soft. Then add the garlic and crushed red pepper. Saute for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set it aside to cool.

Meatball prep part 2: meat

In a large bowl combine the meats, eggs, Parmigiano, chopped parsley, and bread crumbs. Dive in there and squish that mixture until it’s fully combined.

Add the cooked onion mixture and work them into the meat mixture with your hands. Season generously with salt and mix again. Add water and mix again. You want the mixture wet.

To test for seasoning, make a mini hamburger size patty and cook it. Taste and adjust. If the flavor is flat, add a bit more salt. The mini patty should be absolutely delish.

Make the meatballs

Once you’ve got your meat mixture tasting just right, it’s time to roll your meatballs. You can make these as large or small as you want them, however, we suggest making them about the size of a golf ball or ping-pong ball. This size is perfect for serving them as an appetizer on their own or atop a pile of spaghetti.

Once you’ve made all your meatballs, brown them in a large saute pan with olive oil on medium heat until they’re brown on all sides.

After they’ve browned, place them on a baking sheet. Pop them into your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Use an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness. The internal temp should be 165 F when fully cooked.

Put it together

Once the meatballs are finished and the sauce is ready to go, it’s time to plate these babies! Serve them with cocktail skewers and a side of marinara sauce, place them on your favorite type of spaghetti, or load them and the sauce into meatball sandwiches. However you serve this incredible combination, you might never go back to regular meatballs and marinara ever again!

Variations on Anne Burrell’s Meatballs and Marinara

These meatballs are aaaah-mazing just as they are, but if you want to have some fun and play around, here are a few of our favorite variations.

Hot and Spicy Meatballs:  Add 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes and 2 deseeded, minced jalapeno peppers to the meatball mixture. Follow the rest of the recipe as written

Even Cheesier Meatballs: Use a microplane or cheese grater to finely grate your favorite cheese over the meatballs as soon as they come out of the oven.

Chicken Meatballs: Use ground chicken instead of beef and pork. It tastes amazing and it makes for a great variation on the traditional meatball.

Anne Burrell’s Meatballs and Marinara: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Looking for More Italian Recipes?

We’ll add more Italian recipes in addition to this excellent meatballs recipe as time goes on. For now check out:

Marcella Hazan’s Italian Lentil Soup! It’s the perfect solution for cold fall days and chilly winter nights.

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