Discover this delicious recipe for meatballs with Parmesan cheese in tomato sauce. Juicy meatballs with sage and a hint of Parmesan cheese served in a delightful, flavorful tomato sauce.
Serve with spaghetti and a salad for a real Italian feast dinner. Come and enjoy this delicious Italian classic with this great meatball recipe. Comfort food that the whole family loves.
Delicious Meatball Parmesan with Sage in Tomato Sauce - Recipe
Homemade meatballs and Italian food. Both make my mouth water. This dish combines the two: flavorful meatballs in a rich sauce. This could be a match made in heaven. And it indeed becomes a delicious meal. Full of flavor, a delicious sauce for pasta. Very easy to make and delicious to eat.
Season the ground beef with sage, parsley, and Parmesan cheese. Then you fry them briefly and stew them with a homemade tomato sauce (which is super easy to prepare and has a lot of flavor). While stewing, the house fills with the delicious smell of this Italian meal. When the spaghetti and salad were ready, I called everyone to the table. There was no need to call them a second time. We enjoyed this delicious and easy meal together. And the pot was completely empty afterward. This recipe has been approved by the kids (and adults).
This recipe is inspired by a recipe from the book: Meatballs - Salomée Vidal & Jérémie Kanza (Dutch version).
What do you need for Easy Parmesan Meatballs?
To prepare this Meatball Parmesan with Sage, you require the following ingredients. You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:
Ingredients Tomato sauce
- Tomato cubes: For the tasty tomato sauce. Use canned tomatoes because they have the optimal taste. You could use sieved tomatoes (or passata).
- Tomato paste: To deepen the taste. But make sure you use it properly. To give it its delicious rich, and slightly sweet taste, you need to fry it for at least 2 minutes.
- Thyme: Use fresh thyme to give a lot of flavor to this casserole. You can also replace the thyme with rosemary.
- Bay leaf: The bay leaf resembles thyme and oregano but with a warm undertone.
- Basil: A soft green herb with a spicy taste, a sweet aroma, and a little pepper.
- Sugar: A little sugar will enhance the sauce's flavor and make it less acidic.
Ingredients tender Meatballs
- Bread: Provides extra binding and firmness in the minced meat.
- Onion: Has a bit of a sweet, slightly spicy taste.
- Sage: The taste of sage is warm, spicy, and slightly bitter. Only add what the recipe says; otherwise, the sage may dominate.
- Parsley: For a fresh taste.
- Eggs: For binding the ground beef, the egg ensures it remains moist.
- Milk: The milk makes the meatball moist and creamy inside
- Butter: To fry the meatballs.
- Ground beef: Here, lean ground beef is used because it has a lot of flavor and fits perfectly in this simple dish. But you can also opt for another type of ground meat: a mixture of 50 % ground pork, 50 % ground beef, minced chicken, ground turkey, or minced lamb.
- Parmesan cheese: A delicious salty cheese from Italian cuisine, which melts wonderfully and gives the meatballs a delightful taste.
How to prepare Meatballs Parmigiana
You can find an easy printable recipe with a detailed description at the bottom of this blog.
- Soak the bread in the milk until soft. Fruit the oil in the frying pan, and fry the sage for about 30 seconds. Place the bread, onion, and sage in a large bowl and add the chopped parsley, ground beef, eggs, and grated Parmesan cheese. Knead until mixed.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat and add the tomato paste. Bake it for 2 minutes until it smells sweet instead of sour. Pour the tomato cubes and add the parsley, fresh basil, and sugar. Stir well and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes and season with salt and pepper.
- Then roll the meat mixture into balls. If you like small Italian meatballs, make them 1 inch (2 cm) thick; for larger balls, you can use 2 inches (4 cm). Melt some butter in a pan and fry the balls in a single layer until they are golden brown on all sides.
- Pour the pasta sauce over the meatballs. Put the lid on the pan and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve with spaghetti, garlic bread, and a delicious salad. Garnish with basil leaves and additional Parmesan cheese.
Tips, Substitutions, and Variations
- Also tasty: add Italian seasoning herbs such as oregano, finely chopped rosemary, and thyme to the meatballs.
- More flavor? Add fresh garlic or a teaspoon of garlic powder to the ground beef.
- Tomato sauce: Make the tomato sauce richer in flavor by adding 50 ml of red wine.
- Party? Make small meatballs and heat them just before serving. Sprinkle with grated cheese and finely chopped basil. These perfect appetizers are served with skewers.
Did you make this delicious recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram! I love to see what your creation looks like and regularly share the most beautiful photos of you! Did you like this recipe? Then leave a rating on the recipe card! Your feedback helps other home cooks and me enormously.
Need more inspiration?
- You can find video recipes on my YouTube channel.
- And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest, so you can easily find them again next time!
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Ingredients
Tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 oz. tomato paste
- 14 oz. diced tomatoes
- 1 dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 10 fresh basil, leaves
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Salt and black pepper
Meatballs
- 2 oz. bread, stale without crust
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion, large, finely chopped
- ¼ oz. fresh sage, thinly sliced
- ½ oz. Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
- 1 ⅓ oz. ground beef
- 2 eggs, size M
- 1½ cups Parmesan cheese, grated
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
Tomato sauce
- Heat some oil in the pan and add the tomato paste.1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 oz. tomato paste
- Bake for 2-3 minutes, and then add the diced tomatoes.14 oz. diced tomatoes
- Mix the spices and sugar through the sauce and turn the heat down.1 dried thyme, 1 bay leaf, 10 fresh basil, 1 tablespoon sugar
- Let the sauce simmer for 20 minutes, and then season to taste with salt and pepper.Salt and black pepper
Meatball Parmesan
- Soak the bread in the milk.2 oz. bread, ½ cup milk
- Put some oil in the pan and fry the onion until translucent. Add the sage and stir-fry for one minute until it's soft.1 tablespoon butter, 1 onion, ¼ oz. fresh sage
- Put into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the parsley, bread, ground beef, eggs, and Parmesan to the onion mixture and knead well.½ oz. Fresh Parsley, 1 ⅓ oz. ground beef, 2 eggs, 1½ cups Parmesan cheese
- Then roll small balls (about 2 inches (4 cm) thick) from the meat.
- In a large saucepan, pour some oil and fry the raw meatballs until brown.
- Reduce heat to low and pour the tomato sauce over the meat.
- Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Serve with pasta.
Notes
- Add Italian spices such as oregano, finely chopped rosemary, and thyme to the meatballs.
- More flavor? Add fresh garlic or a teaspoon of garlic powder to the ground beef.
- Tomato sauce: Make the tomato sauce richer in flavor by adding 50 ml of red wine.
- Party? Make small meatballs and heat them just before serving. Sprinkle with grated cheese and finely chopped basil. Add skewers.
Quickly cool the meatballs with sauce.
- Refrigerator: Store leftover meatballs with Parmesan cheese in tomato sauce in an airtight container in the fridge. This keeps them good for up to three days.
- Freezer: Store in a freezer box or freezer bag. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months. This will serve as a delicious freezer meal. Let the frozen meatballs thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
- Reheat: Warm the sage meatballs with tomato sauce in the microwave. Or add two tablespoons of water and heat the meatballs with sauce over medium heat on the stove, stirring constantly.
Nutrition
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