Ricotta Herb Meatballs

For our family Christmas dinner this year my kids requested that I make my famous “Sunday Sauce” (well, famous in my family at least) with meatballs. My pleasure! I wanted to try something a little different with the meatballs this go-around… I recently had ricotta meatballs at a tapas/cheese bar in Jersey City that were absolutely amazing, and I decided to riff off of those. So here you have my recipe for Ricotta Herb Meatballs. I hope you enjoy!

Makes 24-48 meatballs, depending on size.

Ingredients:
1 1/2lb 80/20 Ground Beef
1lb Ground Pork
2tsp Salt
2tsp Ground Black Pepper
2tsp Garlic Powder
1tsp Onion Powder
1/2c Grated Parmesan
1/3c Fresh Basil, chopped
1/3c Fresh Parsley, chopped
1c Unseasoned Panko
1c Ricotta Cheese (I prefer Whole Milk)
1 Large Egg

Heat oven to 400F.

One of the beauties about meatball recipes is the instructions are simplicity itself…

Using your hands, combine all of the ingredients listed above in a large bowl until well mixed. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Roll out the meatballs by hand and place on the baking sheet with a little space between so they don’t stick together when cooking. Bake at 400F for 35 minutes.

My batch came out to 36 1.75-2″ meatballs, I know some people like them larger or smaller so your yield will depend on your preference.

If you plan on serving them immediately allow to rest for 5 minutes at room temperature before doing so… Personally, I recommend simmering them in sauce for 1-2 hours for a more tender and flavorful meatball.

I also made some fantastic Parmesan Egg Bread to accompany the sauce and meatballs, maybe you should to give that a try as well!

Buon Appetito!