Meatballs With Any Meat

By Melissa Clark

Updated Feb. 3, 2025

Meatballs With Any Meat
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
5(5,378)
Comments
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Making great meatballs is all about memorizing a basic ratio that you can adjust to suit your taste. Start with a pound of ground meat — any kind will work, even fish if you want to take it in that direction. Add ½ cup bread crumbs for lightness, a teaspoon of salt, and an egg to bind it together. That’s all you need. Pepper and other spices, chopped herbs and minced allium (garlic, onion, scallions or shallot) can be added to taste. Then broil or fry as you like.

Why You Should Trust This Recipe

Melissa Clark, a food writer for more than 25 years, creates her fresh takes on classic recipes by trying at least half a dozen different approaches. A professional recipe tester then makes her recipe a minimum of three times (and sometimes more than 12) to ensure it’ll come out perfectly for all home cooks. For these meatballs, Melissa tinkered with ratios of seasonings to breadcrumbs to ensure the formula works with any type of ground meat.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1pound ground meat (pork, beef, veal, chicken, turkey or a combination)
  • ½cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1egg
  • 1teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
  • Black pepper and/or ground cumin, curry powder, chile flakes, garam masala, etc., to taste
  • Minced garlic, onion, scallions or shallot
  • Chopped parsley, basil or cilantro
  • Olive oil, for frying (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

511 calories; 44 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 25 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 22 grams protein; 358 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a large bowl, gently combine all ingredients. Roll into 1½-inch balls. Transfer to a baking sheet.

  2. Step 2

    Broil until golden and firm, 7 to 10 minutes. Or fry in oil until deeply browned all over. Sprinkle with more salt before serving.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
5,378 user ratings
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Comments

Deb

I have adapted the Alton Brown way of baking them. Roll in fine bread crumbs, place in greased muffin tin. Forms a nice crust keeping plump and moist.

Rob galiardo

Ok here are some secrets to great meatballs. One, add 1 tablespoon of ricotta cheese per pound of meat. Two, mix ground veal, pork, and beef. And lastly, do not bake, fry, sauté or broil. Roll up the meatballs and allow to cook in a simmering sauce. These meat balls will be melt in your mouth soft and I guarantee the best meatballs you've ever eaten.. The author is correct on ratio.. One egg and half cup breadcrumbs per pound of meat. and 1/4 cups grated Romano. Enjoy!

Peter

Saturate the panko (or other) breadcrumbs in milk to avoid having them dry out the meatballs, build depth, and also help bind.

Autumn Kaye

Made these with some sweet Italian pork sausage and some spicy Italian turkey sausage. Both in link form, so I had to remove the casings. Also both were about a week past their prime. Did not have an egg, but I decided to live dangerously and go without it. I considered using Greek yogurt, but I only had vanilla flavored. Otherwise, I followed all the directions. And guess what—they turned out great. Held their shape, nice flavor, and not dry. Further proof that Melissa Clark is the high priestess of flexible recipes.

PKP

I doubled the recipe and made these with 2 lbs of ground lamb. I added about 4 ounces of cubed feta that needed to be eaten and a bunch of chopped fresh mint. I fried them (though they would have worked on a sheet pan, too) so some of the fat would render out. They were fabulous. I served them with a red lentil and coconut curry. So really: any meat!

Maine Cook

Question: Panko crumbs are wonderful, but my husband is gluten-sensitive. Has anyone tried these with gluten-free bread crumbs, either packaged or crumbled gluten-free bread?

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