Name: Spaghetti and meatballs
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 350 g Minced meat; 70 g Spaghetti; 250 ml Tomato sauce; 1 Egg; 50 g Cheddar cheese; 1 Onion; 5 g Garlic; 1/5 tsp Dried basil; 30 ml Vegetable oil; Salt to taste; Spices to taste

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Spaghetti and meatballs are considered Italian cuisine, reports say its origin is somewhere else. Spaghetti is served with meatballs to enhance its taste. Meatballs are small fried balls of minced meat tossed in homemade tomato sauce. Both the spaghetti and meatballs are mixed and served together and are very popular among food lovers.

How To Make Spaghetti And Meatballs?

The whole recipe is based on three steps. First, the marination is done. The meat or sausage is marinated with various ingredients. Then the meatballs are made and are fried in olive oil with a flour-based coating in it. Then the homemade gravy or sauce is made to which the meatballs are added and then it is cooked on low flame for 30 minutes

What Tools Do You Need?

Bowl
Frying pan
Spatula

Ingredients Breakdown

The following Ingredients is required for making spaghetti with meatballs:

Minced meat: This is a key ingredient of this recipe used to make the meatballs. You can use readymade minced beef or minced chicken. You can also make minced meat yourself. Try to use fatty meat to make the meatballs juicier.

Spaghetti: Spaghetti is another type of pasta with a different shape made of wheat and water and is a source of vitamins and other nutrients.

Tomato sauce: To make the gravy. It is advised to use homemade tomato sauce. Or you can use store-bought tomato sauce or marinara sauce.

Egg: It gives a certain flavor to the meatballs.

Cheddar cheese: It makes the dish creamy. It also enhances the taste and the quality of the dish.

Grated onion: To make the dish more thick and tasty.

Garlic Cloves: This is to give an aromatic flavor to the dish.

Dried Basil: Add a small amount of dried basil to the meatballs and the spaghetti mixture to enhance the taste.

Vegetable oil: Any vegetable oil can be used. Recommended choices are olive oil or sunflower oil.

Salt: One of the basic items which are needed in most of the dishes.

Black pepper: This produces a nice smell and also makes the dish spicy.

Basil leaves: For the garnishing, you will need some basil leaves.

Bay leaves: Bay leaf is generally an Indian spice and is added in curries for the spiciness and a strong aroma. This is optional.

How To Prepare Spaghetti and Meatballs ?

Step 1. Start boiling Spaghetti according to your preference. Boiling in salted water is recommended.

Step 2. Take a large bowl, and add minced meat, salt, dried basil, pepper, and dry spices of your choice. Using a spatula, mix all these ingredients well.

Step 3. After mixing it well, add 2 finely grated onions, and one egg to the minced meat mixture. Again using a spatula, mix all these ingredients well.

Step 4. Divide the mixture into small pieces of one and a half-inch meatballs. Try to use a round mold or simply use your hands to give a round shape to the meatballs. You can coat it with flour so that it doesn’t break during the frying process.

Step 5. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Once all your meatballs are ready, place these in a frying pan at low heat for 5 minutes. You need to shallow fry these or roast them till all of its sides become golden-brown. Repeat the same process with the rest of the meatballs.

Step 5. After all your meatballs are fried and roasted perfectly, now is the time to make the luscious gravy for these balls. Pour the tomato into the pan, some grated ginger and garlic, sprinkle some salt and black pepper, and the bay leaf. Stir them and cook with cover for the next 15 minutes on low heat.

Step 6. At this time, add boiled spaghetti to the meatballs and gravy in the pan and stir.

Step 7. Stir till the spaghetti is evenly coated with the creamy gravy. Add loads of grated cheddar cheese on the top. Give it a stir, turn off the heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes.

Now your delectable dish is ready to be served., garnish it with some basil leaves.

Helpful Tips

Don’t overcook the meatballs mixture. Try to maintain a semi-solid gravy.
Fry the meatballs at low heat, so that the coating gets solidified.
You can use flour to make the coating of the meatballs during deep fry.

Storage Tips

To store: Yes, surely you can store spaghetti with meatballs in your refrigerator. Just let it cool down before packing it in an air-tight container. Don’t store it for more than one day to maintain its nutrients.

To freeze: To store it for a longer time, you have to freeze the meatballs, and spaghetti in a zip-lock wrap, or in an air-tight container. You can easily freeze it for 4-5 days.

To reheat: You can reheat spaghetti with meatballs but not more than twice. The procedure is quite simple. Put the content in a heatproof dish and cover it with a foil. Reheat approximately for 20-30 minutes.

What Can Be Served With This?

Spaghetti with meatballs is itself a combo that is served together. It tastes heavenly when eaten together and there is not much scope for another addition with this dish. Still, you can add:

Bread: It can be served with spaghetti and meatballs and can be a unique match
Egg noodles: Egg noodles can also be served to have a clear comparison with spaghetti.

Recipe Variations:

Chicken balls and Spaghetti: Spaghetti can also be cooked with chicken balls rather than meatballs to fulfill the needs of chicken lovers
Toss it with some flavored sauces: The gravy can also be cooked with various market-bought flavored sauces rather than homemade sauce making the cooking procedure easy and less time consuming.

Conclusion

Spaghetti with meatballs is an Italian dish but its popularity is worldwide. It is considered a delicious cuisine and with various additions of ingredients in the recipe, it has reached new heights. It can both satisfy our cravings and can be a perfect dinner or a lunch meal too.