October 25, 2011: Baked Meatballs Recipe

I’ve recently figured out that there’s an easier way to cook both bacon and meatballs – and that’s by baking them. Cooking these meats on a baking sheet in the oven results in less mess and actually should be healthier because you can drain away all of the grease.

I had a large jar of leftover homemade pizza sauce recently. In order to transform it into spaghetti sauce, I thinned it down with water and added these baked meatballs to give it extra Italian flavor.

Baked Meatballs

1 T. dehydrated minced onion

1 T. Italian seasoning

1 t. garlic salt

1 slice of day old sandwich bread, torn into small chunks (the heel works great)

¼ cup milk

1 egg

1 T. ketchup

1 pound 80% lean ground beef

Combine onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, bread cubes and milk in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Let stand for five minutes to rehydrated ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and mix with thoroughly with your hands.

Shape balls out of the meat mixture (make them small or large, depending on your preference. Mine were medium-sized and I made about 13 of them with this recipe; you'd get about twice as many by making them walnut-sized or half as many by making them the size of tennis balls).

Place on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 20 minutes, or until completely browned. Add to spaghetti sauce during last half hour of simmering.

 Note: You can also use a half pound of ground beef and a half pound of Italian sausage, if desired.