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Since ricotta meatballs have a wonderful texture, they’re sure to be a hit with your family.
Simple Ricotta Meatballs
We all have our own favorite recipe for meatballs, myself included.
However, sometimes we just get tired of the same-old-same-old and want to try something a bit different. That’s what happened to me a few months ago. Since I was on a kick making my own ravioli, I had plenty of ricotta on hand so I figured why not when I saw a recipe that included it in meatballs.
These meatballs are so good that they can stand alone. They don’t need to have pasta and sauce.
Serve Them Traditionally–Or Not
As I said before, these don’t need the usual sauce and pasta. They’re good enough to be the main meat attraction for dinner.
But if you want to serve them the traditional way, that’s really good too. And now for some tips.
Who remembers Catherine Scorcese; Martin Scorcese’s mom? This tip came right from her; a true Italian cooking expert in my opinion. She never browned her meatballs before finishing the cooking in the sauce. She’d form them and toss them right in the sauce to cook. Not only will the sauce be more flavorful, but the meatballs don’t get hard. That’s the way I do these if I’m doing spaghetti and meatballs.
To serve them by themselves, then cook them your usual way. Oven, skillet and air fryer are your option and each one produces good results.
The Onions
Normally, I don’t saute onions before I put them in raw meat for meatballs or burgers. However, here you do saute them and the garlic too.
This really adds wonderful flavor to the meatballs. I didn’t think it would matter much, but I did it anyway. I’m not going to say it was a game changer, but it does give them a wonderful mellow flavor.
The Recipe
Ricotta Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic finely minced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped fine
- 2 tbs Parmesan or Romano cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent. Remove from heat and cool.
- In a large bowl, mix the onion/garlic mixture (including the oil) ground beef, ricotta, parsley, Parmesan/Romano, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
- Shape into meatballs about the size of a walnut.
- If you're making tomato sauce, drop meatballs into simmering sauce and simmer for 1 hour.
- If you're not serving with sauce, in the pan you cooked the onion, brown meatballs on all sides and cook until no pink remains in the center.
