Best Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe (2024)

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If you're looking for the Best Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe, you've justfound it! Tomatoes, garlic, and onion are roasted in the oven until super caramelized then blended and poured over tender meatballs. Serve the ridiculously delicious sauce and meatballs over spaghetti, gluten-free spaghetti, or zoodles. Either way, you'll LOVE it!

The title says it all. Seriously. This is the best spaghetti and meatballs recipe ever ever ever. It's also my favorite Throw Back Thursday post to date. I always love remaking old recipes for #tbt but this one totally wins. (btw: if you scroll down about halfway you can have a good laugh at the first pics I took. they're pretty unappetizing.)

Want to take spaghetti and meatballs from a Sunday night kids' dinner to OMG I'll do almost anything to eat this every day of my life? I thought you might. Let me show you how.

Spoiler alert: it's super easy.

Why this is the best spaghetti and meatballs recipe:

The trick is in the tomatoes. Simple, every day, store-bought tomatoes turned into magic by your oven.
That's right, your oven. What makes this spaghetti and meatballs out of this world is the roasted tomato pasta sauce.
Sweet, caramelized, super rich and delicious roasted tomatoes.
It's also super crazy easy to make. Put some tomatoes, onions, and garlic in your oven. When they're dark and delicious, puree them in your blender and your spaghetti sauce is ready to eat.
The hardest thing about making this spaghetti and meatballs recipe is deciding what to serve with it. I usually opt for zoodles (paleo + Whole30 + low-carb!) but regular or gluten-free spaghetti is pretty hard to pass up. Which would you choose?

How do I make the perfect spaghetti and meatballs?

Well since you're asking, let me tell you. First, you need to get the sauce just right. Luckily, that's super easy.

Here's how you're going to make your oven roasted tomato sauce:

Nestle some tomatoes and a head of garlic into a baking dish.
Pour in some olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper over the tomatoes.
Roast roast roast. (this is a great time to pour yourself a glass of wine.)
Take out the garlic and add some chopped onion.
Roast roast roast some more. (another glass of wine?)
Put the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, and all the delicious juices from the pan into your blender and blend until smooth.

That's it! You've just made the best oven roasted tomato sauce ever.

See those deeply caramelized tomatoes up there? That is what you want to see when you pull your tomatoes out of the oven.

And this is what they'll look like after you blend them …

How do you make easy meatballs for spaghetti?

The second part you need to nail when you're making spaghetti and meatballs are … you guessed it, the meatballs. Luckily they are as easy to make as the oven-roasted tomato sauce.

Here's how you're going to make the best spaghetti meatball recipe:

Start with ground beef AND ground pork. Pork is fattier (read: tastier) and makes the meatballs nice and juicy.
Mix the few simple meatball ingredients in a bowl then form them into balls about the size of a golf ball. Put the meatballs in a non-stick frying pan as you make them.
Then turn up the heat and brown the meatballs, turning them a few times so they're pretty all around. It'll take about 15 minutes for them to cook all the way through.

That's it! Three simple and easy steps to the best spaghetti meatball recipe ever.

See how good they look …

Now all you have to do is pour that insanely delicious spaghetti sauce over the meatballs, ladle the spaghetti sauce and meatballs over spaghetti (or zoodles, if you're weird like me and actually prefer them), and dig in.

Easy Pasta Recipes:

Fresh Summer Spaghetti
Drunken Red Wine Spaghetti with Chorizo and Kale
Warm Caprese Pesto Pasta
Spicy Chorizo Bolognese
20 Minute Lemony Smoked Salmon Pasta

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5 stars (32 ratings)

Best Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 2 hours hrs

Ingredients

The Spaghetti Sauce

▢ 3 lbs tomatoes (cut in half)
▢ 1 head of garlic (top cut off)
▢ 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper (more to taste)
▢ ¼ cup olive oil
▢ ½ medium onion (chopped)
▢ ⅓ cup basil leaves

The Meatballs

▢ ¾ lb ground beef
▢ ¾ lb. ground pork
▢ 3 cloves garlic (minced)
▢ ½ medium onion (finely minced)
▢ 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (gluten-free, if needed. Coco aminos for paleo)
▢ 2 tablespoons tomato paste
▢ 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper

To Serve

▢ Spaghetti, gluten-free spaghetti, or zoodles
▢ Optional toppings: parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast, basil leaves

Instructions

Turn your oven on to 400 degrees. Place the tomatoes and garlic in a large baking dish, cut side facing up. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and drizzle with the olive oil. Pop the tomatoes in the oven.
3 lbs tomatoes, 1 head of garlic, 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper, ¼ cup olive oil
After 45 minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven. Take out the garlic and add the onions, nestling themaround the tomatoes. Put the dish back into the oven for 1 hour more.
½ medium onion
While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the meatballs. Place all the meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix well using your hands. Form into 16 meatballs and place them in a large, non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook until well browned on all sides and cooked through (about 15 minutes) then remove the pan from the heat and drain the oil.
¾ lb ground beef, ¾ lb. ground pork, 3 cloves garlic, ½ medium onion, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper
If you're serving this over regular of gluten-free spaghetti, start heating the water and cook the pasta according to the package directions.
Remove the baking dish from the oven and carefullytransfer the tomatoes, onions, and all the juice to a blender. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and add them and the basil to the blender. Blend on high until smooth then pour over over the meatballs.
⅓ cup basil leaves
Serve the meatballs and sauce over spaghetti, gluten-free spaghetti, or zoodles.
Optional toppings: parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast, basil leaves

Notes

Sometimes the sauce can get a little thick. To thin the sauce, add hot water a ¼ cup at a time until it is pourable.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving = ¼ of the sauce and meatballs, Calories: 559kcal (28%), Carbohydrates: 22g (7%), Protein: 37g (74%), Fat: 37g (57%), Saturated Fat: 11g (69%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 20g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 114mg (38%), Sodium: 1433mg (62%), Potassium: 1577mg (45%), Fiber: 5g (21%), Sugar: 12g (13%), Vitamin A: 3075IU (62%), Vitamin C: 55mg (67%), Calcium: 93mg (9%), Iron: 5mg (28%)

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.