Meatballs With Any Meat

By Melissa Clark

Updated February 2, 2025

  • Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
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Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
5(5,891)
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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

  • 1 pound ground meat (pork, beef, veal, chicken, turkey or a combination)

  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs

  • 1 egg

  • 1 teaspoon 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)

6 grams carbs; 121 milligrams cholesterol; 511 calories; 25 grams monosaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 44 grams fat; 1 gram trans fat; 358 milligrams sodium; 22 grams protein

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 1 ½-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
5,891 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.

Linda

Easy and delicious. Great to make a batch and freeze the leftovers.

mck

Or bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Perfect for spaghetti sauce

B.Sue

I baked these using lean ground organic beef at 425 deg on parchment paper for 30 mins, with minced onion and garlic, capers, a spicy meat rub made at our excellent local grocery store T&C on Bainbridge Island WA, soaked the panko in milk as suggested by someone below, a dash of Worcestershire and salt and pepper. They were delicious with a sweet potato spinach salad side.

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