I think I’ve hit the September Challenge jackpot with this one, folks. When I had my first bite of these Skillet Meatballs and Marinara I literally moaned and let out a quiet “Oh, hell yeah…”
These super easy skillet meatballs only have four ingredients and they come together in just a few minutes. If you want to be extra fancy, you can add a little grated Parmesan to the meatball mix, or even some frozen spinach (thaw and squeeze out the moisture first). But if you ask me, they’re insanely delicious just the way they are and I’m a big fan of the easy, no-fuss prep.
Use Italian Sausage for Fast, Easy Meatballs
I like to use Italian sausage to make my meatballs because it already comes with all the seasoning inside the meat, so you really don’t have to add anything more. Just a little breadcrumbs and egg to hold the meatballs together, and some diced onion for good measure.
Can You Freeze the Meatballs?
Yes! Meatballs freeze very well. You can either freeze them uncooked, or just after you cook the meatballs in the skillet. I like the idea of freezing after cooking, so you can just toss the frozen meatballs into a pot of sauce to heat through whenever you want.
Take Another Short Cut
If you want to make this recipe even faster and easier, you can definitely just use a jar of store-bought sauce instead of making your own, and probably for about the same price.
Perfect for Meal Prep
This is one of my favorite meal preps. The meatballs and marinara hold up really well in the refrigerator for about 4 days. I like to pack them up with cooked pasta all in one container, but if you’re picky about pasta, you may want to pack the pasta separate so they sauce doesn’t continue to soften the pasta.
Skillet Meatballs and Marinara
Servings 6 (4 meatballs each)Ingredients
MEATBALLS
- 1 lb. Italian sausage (mild, sweet or hot) ($3.23)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs ($0.48)
- 1 large egg ($0.32)
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely diced ($0.19)
MARINARA
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced ($0.18)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes ($2.00)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.03)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 1 tsp brown sugar ($0.02)
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste ($0.06)
PASTA
- 12 oz. pasta (any shape) ($1.00)
Instructions
- To make the meatballs, squeeze the Italian sausage out of the casing and into a large bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, egg, and diced onion. Using your hands, mix the ingredients until combined. Form the mixture into about 24 ping pong ball sized balls.
- Heat a large skillet over medium flame. Add the olive oil and tilt the skillet to coat. Add the meatballs and cook until browned on the outside (a couple minutes on each side). Work in two batches if needed to give the meatballs room to movel around. Once the meatballs are browned, remove them from the skillet to a clean plate.
- Add the second half of the diced onion to the skillet, along with two cloves of minced garlic. Sauté in the leftover oil and fat from the meatballs until soft and transparent. Once soft, add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and tomato paste. Stir until the tomato paste mixes into the crushed tomatoes.
- Add the meatballs back to the skillet and gently stir to coat them in sauce. Place a lid on the skillet and let the meatballs simmer in the sauce for 15 minutes. Cook the pasta while the meatballs simmer.
- Drain the pasta and serve each bowl with pasta, four meatballs, and a scoop of sauce.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Video
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Skillet Meatballs – Step by Step Photos
Italian sausage is great because it has a ton of herbs and spices already mixed in, which means less work for you. I usually buy Johnsonville sausage, but noticed this store brand which was far less expensive. This package is 1.5 pounds, so I portioned off 1/2 lb. and froze it for later. You only need one pound of mild, sweet, or hot Italian sausage for this recipe.
This extra little 1/2 pound of sausage is going to come in handy later on in the month!
Add 1 lb. Italian sausage to a large bowl along with 1 cup breadcrumbs, 1 large egg, and 1/2 of an onion (finely diced).
Use your hands to mix until everything is evenly combined.
Start forming the meat mixture into ping pong sized balls. I wanted at least 24, so I could have six servings of four meatballs. I ended up getting 26 meatballs.
Heat a large skillet over a medium flame. Add 1 Tbsp olive oil, then tilt the skillet to make sure it’s coated in oil. Add the meatballs to the skillet and brown on all sides. This is a fairly quick process. You don’t need to cook them through, just until they are good and brown. They will simmer in the sauce later and finish cooking inside.
I worked in two batches to make sure the meatballs had room to roll around. Once browned, remove the skillet meatballs to a clean plate. (If you want to use a store bought sauce, don’t remove the meatballs, just pour the sauce on top and let them simmer in the sauce for 15 minutes.)
In the same skillet, add the other half of the onion (also diced) and two cloves of minced garlic. Sauté in the leftover oil until softened.
Add one 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp salt, some freshly cracked pepper, and 1 tsp brown sugar. Stir and heat these ingredients until the tomato paste has mixed into the crushed tomatoes.
Add the partially cooked skillet meatballs back to the sauce and stir gently to coat them in sauce.
Place a lid on the skillet and let the meatballs simmer in the sauce for 15 minutes (turn the heat down slightly if needed to let it simmer gently). While the meatballs are simmering, cook the pasta.
To each bowl of pasta, add four meatballs and a scoop of sauce.
I portioned all of Skillet Meatballs and Marinara out ahead of time to make meal time easy. I may freeze a couple portions of this as well (but I have a feeling they’ll all get eaten quickly!).
NOM. My new favorite! <3
These were so unbelievably good. Even with the extra step of forming all the meatballs, I’d still categorize this as an easy weeknight recipe. I used a jar of sauce because I was lazy (ha) and it was still amazing!
This was sooo good! I highly recommend! The meatballs had terrific flavor, I added half ground beef, half sausage and made everything else according to recipe Thank you for sharing!
Now have my own e mail account.
Do you have any recipes for only 2 people or do I just cut the ones to size.
As I told you before am 81 years old.
This is my site and you can email me here. Still looking to start my own blog. Some time soon I will let you know. WW
I’m single and make things in bulk, kind of like Beth does. Get some storage containers (those cheap ones they advertise as throwaways at the grocery store can last for years if you treat them properly). Cook up a recipe, ladle out enough for the meal right now, and then split what you have left into equal portions and freeze or refrigerate if you know you’ll eat them quickly.
I do most of my cooking over the weekend. I take a few containers to work on Monday to eat for lunches, then eat from the others for dinner through the week.
This sounds lovely. Going to give this a go. thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon
I saw this recipe and it made my mouth water. So today, off to the grocery store for some shopping…. and tonight, I curled up on my couch and enjoyed a delicious bowl of pasketti and meatballs! OMG these were so good! The simplicity of using the Italian sausage appealed to me. Now I have a bunch in my freezer – so on those days when I am too lazy to cook- boom- yummy, filling food awaits me.
I am a long time reader of your blog. I don’t make as many of your recipes as I would like, but whenever I do, they are delicious! I just made this one tonight and it is no exception. I’m so looking forward to the leftovers; I packed them up just as you did. Also wanted to give a little shout out and say thank you so much for the time and effort you put into Budget Bytes, it is so so helpful!
Thank you, Jaime! :)
I’ve made the meatballs for dinner last night, and honestly, it was DELICIOUS!!! I stuck to the recipe, but added 1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese just to give the meatballs more flavor, and used Italian breadcrumbs (I was able to make 27 meatballs, and my sister and I were snacking on them). Since I was using jarred spaghetti sauce, I thoroughly cooked the meatballs, and allowed them to simmer for about 10 minutes. I served the meatballs on a bed of angel hair pasta, and garlic bread sticks. This recipe is good on a pizza, and sandwiches!! I’ll make it again, and thank you, Beth!!! :-)
I always add grated parm to my meatballs, too, and we like them with a combination of pork and beef. I make a huge batch of them when good quality ground beef is on sale, and if Italian sausage isn’t reasonably priced at the same time, I pick up ground pork–always under $3 per lb at one of my neighborhood stores. I use about the same proportions of bread crumbs, egg, and onion as Beth, but season the ground pork with crushed fennel seeds, garlic, salt, pepper, and some mixed Italian herbs (I used to add some red pepper flakes, but one of my grandsons won’t eat spicy). You can check the seasonings by frying up a teaspoon of the pork mixture to taste because there’s no way I am going to nibble raw meat. I then bake the meatballs on cookie sheets (the kind with rims–I think they are about 11″x17″), drain on paper towels until cool, and freeze them on clean cookie sheets, pouring them into a large plastic bag once frozen so they don’t stick together. Pour out a few for a meatball sandwich or use more for a spagetti dinner.
My family loved this!
Loved it! Woazers. I added a little more salt to the sauce [usually do with your recipes, no offense] and it was golden. The tip of grated onions was a big hit as well. I used unsalted crushed tomatoes (not sure if thats correct) and seasoned bread crumbs (Again not sure).
I like the idea of Italian sausage for meatballs instead of ground beef/meat mix. My dad always makes meatballs with his homemade tomato sauce for big Sunday pasta meals. I should tell him to try this. He always puts Worcestershire sauce in his meatballs, too. Adds a nice touch of flavor. Sometimes he pan-fries his meatballs, and sometimes he oven-bakes them. We love our meatballs in our family!
Excellent! All my people loved it, and there are plenty of leftovers for lunches this week. I used Cento crushed tomatoes and the sauce came out VERY thick. No problem, just had to thin it out with a little water.
The Shoprite by me has had Cooked Perfect meatballs on sale for 2.49 a bag the past several weeks. The small meatballs are 24/ bag. And then there were $1 off coupons in the paper. I can’t make them for less than that.
Score!
Winner! The only thing I changed was that I used two 15oz cans of tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes and omitted the tomato paste (my pantry is running low on tomato related items, hah!).
It still came out awesome! Very satisfying weeknight meal.
If you don’t mind me asking, what skillet are you using here? I’ve been looking for a similar deep-ish skillet that’s not teflon coated. Thanks!
Sure, I love these pots and pans! They’re made by Oxo Goodgrips. I wrote about my decision making process when buying them, and you can read that here. :)
To say that I’m obsessed with your website is an understatement; I’ve used its recipes almost exclusively since I first found it six months ago, and I’ve been a lurker every since. My schedule is pretty crazy, so I like to make big batches of something and portion it out for a few days/freeze it for later, and your recipes are so wonderful for that.
I’m pretty particular about ingredients in that I don’t care for either white/yellow onions (texture) or bell peppers (taste). However, this looked so tasty-licious I had to give it a try! I used one commenter’s suggestion and grated the onion for the meatballs, and then diced it up very, very fine for the marinara, and holy cow. This dish is fantastic. Thank you for keeping me fed without breaking the bank!