How to Make the Perfect "Polpette di Manzo": A Delicious Italian Beef Meatballs Recipe

Italian Beef Meatballs are very well known around the world, although meatballs worldwide are adapted to products used in local or national cuisines; they can be of different meats or fish or vegetables; they can be accompanied by sauces, spiced and hot, or simply eaten dry. And in some places, they are placed on top of spaghetti with tomato sauce. In my house, meatballs are preferred in two ways: with beef minced meat and tomato sauce or splashed in a brown sauce with plenty of aromatic fresh herbs to taste. Delicious either way!

Italian Beef Meatballs

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Good to know

You can add 5 tbsp of milk to the meat mixture if you like the meatballs quite soft. I personally do not add any as I prefer to taste the consistency of them. Some other recipes add ground saffron. I prefer a simpler taste with none of it.

For what concerns the meat, some recipes mix minced beef to minced pork. You can enjoy this dish on top of spaghetti. Up to you!

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Ingredients 4 servings

1. Beef minced meat, 500 g

2. Eggs, 2

3. Bread crumbs, 200 g

4. Parmesan cheese, grated, 50-70 g

5. Parsley, finely chopped, 2-3 tbs

6. Garlic, chopped, 2 cloves

7. Milk (optional), 5 tbsp

8. Vegetable oil

9. Tomato sauce (see recipe in the Pasta section)

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Let’s jump to the method

1. Get ready all ingredients for the Italian Beef Meatballs

2. In a bowl, add the minced meat, the parsley, the garlic, one of the eggs, 1/3 of the bread crumbs, the parmesan cheese and mix together with your hands to form a compact ball.

3. Now, take some of the meat mixture (1 or 2 tablespoons) and roll it on hands to form a small meatball the size of a ping pong ball or smaller, if you prefer. Continue until the meat mixture is finished.

4. In a plate, place the remainig bread crumbs.

5. Roll each meatball individually on the bread crumbs in the plate, making sure the meatballs are fully covered. For it, you can roll again each meatball with your hands and then press slightly to flat them a bit for a better cooking.

6. Get ready a frying pan with enough vegetable oil to cover half of the meatball, 2-3 minutes cooking time each side should be enough, it depends on the size of the meatballs.

7. Take them off the frying pan and place them on a plate with kitchen paper to absorb the oil left.

8. Put them in the tomato sauce already ready (see the recipe in the Pasta section) and let them cook together for 10 minutes further at low temperature.

9. Serve and buon appetito!

Italian Beef Meatballs