Pasta
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tender beef-and-pork meatballs, kept soft with a milk-soaked bread paste, Parmesan and a hint of nutmeg, browned and then simmered gently in a simple garlic and tomato sauce until they are soaked through with flavour, and served over spaghetti.
- Serves 6
- Hands-on 40 min
- Simmer 25 min
- Freezes
- Italian-American
Method
Put the bread (50 g) in a large bowl with the milk (90 ml) and mash with a fork to a smooth paste. Leave for 5 minutes.
Add the beef (600 g), pork (200 g), Parmesan (40 g), egg (1 egg), garlic (1 clove), parsley (a little), nutmeg (pinch), salt (1 tsp) and plenty of black pepper. Mix with your hands until evenly combined, but do not knead or squeeze: overworked meatballs are dense.
With wet hands, roll the mixture lightly into about 24 balls the size of a walnut in its shell (about 35 g each). Put them on a tray and chill for 15–30 minutes if you have time; they hold their shape better.
Heat the oil (3 tbsp) in a large, deep frying pan or sauté pan over a medium-high heat and brown the meatballs in two batches, turning them, for about 6–8 minutes each batch, until well coloured all over. Lift out onto a plate. (Or roast them on an oiled tray at 220°C (fan 200°C, gas 7) for 15–20 minutes.)
Pour off most of the fat, leaving the browned bits. Add the oil (2 tbsp) and onion (1 onion) and cook gently for 8–10 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic (2 cloves) for 1 minute, then the tomato purée (1 tbsp) for another minute.
Add the tomatoes (800 g), oregano (1 tsp), a little salt and the sugar (pinch) if the tomatoes are sharp. Rinse each tin with a splash of water into the pan, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
Return the meatballs and their juices to the sauce, cover and simmer very gently for 20–25 minutes, turning them once, until cooked through and tender.
Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti (500 g) in well-salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, toss with a few ladles of the sauce, then divide between warm bowls and top with the meatballs and more sauce, torn basil (to garnish) and Parmesan (30 g).
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
See also
Chef’s notes
- The milk-soaked bread (a panade) is what keeps meatballs soft: it holds on to moisture and stops the meat proteins from tightening up.
- All beef works too: use 800 g beef mince and add an extra 20 g of Parmesan for richness.
- A shortcut from BBC Good Food: replace the pork mince with the meat squeezed from 4 good pork sausages.
- The meatballs and sauce freeze well together for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat gently until piping hot.
How this recipe was developed
We compared meatballs from Marcella Hazan, Christopher Kimball’s America’s Test Kitchen and Jamie Oliver with BBC Good Food’s spaghetti and meatballs.
- Milk-soaked bread. Marcella Hazan mashes crustless white bread with milk into her meatballs; America’s Test Kitchen does the same (with buttermilk) and found it the key to tender meatballs.
- Beef with some pork. The test kitchen settled on about three parts beef chuck to one part pork; Jamie Oliver and BBC Good Food also mix beef with pork.
- Parmesan and nutmeg. Hazan seasons with Parmesan, parsley and the smallest grating of nutmeg; we kept all three.
- Brown, then simmer. Hazan browns her meatballs and then simmers them in tomatoes for 20–25 minutes; BBC Good Food’s version (Sarah Cook, 4.8/5 from 311 ratings) roasts them instead, which we give as an option.
- Handle lightly. The test kitchen warns that compacting the mixture makes meatballs hard; Jamie Oliver adds Dijon and herbs, which we left out to keep the flavour classic.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- Marcella Hazan: Marcella Hazan's Meatballs and Tomatoes (PBS American Masters)
- America's Test Kitchen (Christopher Kimball era): Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs (2011)
- Jamie Oliver: Meatballs & pasta
- BBC Good Food (Sarah Cook): Spaghetti & meatballs (4.8/5, 311 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.