Sometimes I crave a meatball sub, but I don't want all the bread. So, instead, I put all the fixin's together and bake them into a perfect dinner.
Ingredients:
I pound Ground Beef (or any ground meat you prefer)
2 cups Panko
1 egg
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
Salt & Pepper
1 jar of your favorite Tomato Sauce
1 ball Mozzarella sliced if you can find it
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a bowl, mix together everything except tomato sauce and mozzarella. Don't over-mix. Just mix to combine.
Shape into whatever size meatballs you prefer. Cover them with the tomato sauce, then top each with a slice of mozzarella.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your meatballs.
Serve as is, with a salad or a piece of garlic bread. Yum!
Note:
These freeze really well. Take the leftovers and portion them out for individual dinners. Even better, if you have small glass flat containers, you could bake them in individual servings and immediately freeze them either baked or unbaked.
I've used all types of meats in this recipe. Here's what I noticed:
Beef makes more firm meatballs
Pork makes slightly softer meatballs
Turkey makes soft meatballs
You can certainly use your own tomato sauce here, but I like having a jar or two on hand of prepared sauce so I can quickly throw this together.
I use Panko because it helps keep the meatballs from being too dense.