Italian Fried Meatballs

Meatballs fried are a family tradition every Sunday morning in our Italian household!
First we always fry or you can bake the meatballs if you like and then they go into the sauce if there are any left! We usually have only a few left if any! They are addicting.

The Story Behind Italian Fried Meatballs in our Italian Family Home

Our story is a simple one. Every Sunday morning, it was tradition to fry meatballs for breakfast. The meatball aroma would wake us up early Sunday morning to this mouth watering delicious sizzling smell of fried ground beef, fresh garlic and herbs. In an Italian American backround, from Rome Italy and Regions of Bari in our family, these were the traditions instilled. One of my favorite traditions indeed.



Mom and grandma would always be getting the sugo ready, frying the meatballs and sausage and adding the meat to the sugo (otherwise known as Italian Traditional Sunday Sauce). It's something us kids would look forward to and just one of the many fantastic childhood Italian memories that we all hold dear.



Some of the methods of cooking were unheard of growing up. No one I knew in our family in the 1960's made these any other way but fried in a stainless steel heavy duty pan or a cast iron skillet. Sometimes an electric fry pan was used. I still have it, that's what is shown used in my video. Those were the methods of cooking we used back then.

Now some of the more innovated options are to bake for healthier reasons using less oil, or very new to the 2000's use an air fryer or convection oven or non stick pans. We have even cooked on a side burner outside using a cast iron skillet on the gas grill. They came out great outside. I personally still prefer a cast iron skilled outdoors or electric fry pan.



I have tried baking these Italian Meatballs several times, eating them just baked, were not the same impact in flavor, however adding them to the sugo, no big difference as they simmered. I also have air fried them. They are great reheated after frying but again not the same impact.




These are just some of the opinions of my own. You can follow your own taste as you try different options. The old fashioned family was it to fry them period. The best crust formed on the outside of a meatball was by using a cast iron skillet. You can chose however you like to make yours.

Italian Fried Meatballs Pin for later

meatballs, hamburg, beef, italian food, fried, baked

Author: Claudia Lamascolo

Italian Meatballs

prep time: 15 minscook time: 25 minstotal time: 40 mins

you can bake or fry them.. we always fried them in oil.

ingredients:

 2lbs ground chuck, ground round hamburger, a mixture of veal, pork and beef hamburger meat or you can use all ground lean turkey 

4 slices of Italian bread run under warm water, and then tightly squeezed out

1/2 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs

1/4 cup grating cheese

1 or 2 cloves finely minced fresh garlic

2 tablespoon fresh minced parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

canola oil or grandma always used vegetable oil around 2 inches deep. If baking line with oil sprayed foil or I prefer parchment paper

ice cream scoop medium sized for perfect round meatballs

instructions:

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix all together. Shape into balls by hand or using a ice cream scoop to form the meatball. Fry in 2 inches of heated oil or bake on a lined oiled sprayed cookie sheet until crispy on both sides turning a few times while cooking. These are hot so be careful eating until cooling a few minutes. These can be added to a rich tomato Traditional Sunday Sauce

calories
70

fat (grams)
6

sat. fat (grams)
2

carbs (grams)
3

protein (grams)
10

Created using The Recipes Generator