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Home » Recipes » Main Course

Garden Herb Meatballs

By: D. Durand Worthey  »  Updated: April 7, 2023  »   View our disclosure policy

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We’re making homemade herb meatballs using lots of fresh herbs from the garden like oregano, basil, and thyme. Get a step-by-step tutorial for making homemade meatballs below.

the best meatballs

Garden Herb Meatballs

We love meatballs! But for our family, not any meatballs will do because good meatballs aren’t supposed to jawbreakers or an introduction to human chew toys. Nobody wants that! Perfect meatballs need a lot of TLC, and it begins with a reliable meatball recipe made with the right ingredients.

easy home meatballs

Freshly ground quality meat, fresh veggies, just-picked herbs, quality seasoning, plus a few farm fresh eggs, and you’re good to go! When making meatballs, I also prefer using Japanese Panko breadcrumbs or homemade breadcrumbs made with good bread. 

how to make meatballs

Our easy homemade meatballs are perfect for a delicious weekend meatball and spaghetti dinner or making yummy meatball sub sandwiches on game day. 

easy weekend dinners

What You Will Need To Make Our Garden Herb Meatballs:

Ground Meat. I love using fresh ground meats when making homemade meatballs. Most grocery stores with a butcher counter should make ground beef for you from the cuts of beef you selected. And if you’re using packaged ground beef, pork, lamb, or veal, that’s okay too!

Sautéed Vegetables. When it comes to meatballs, sautéed vegetables are best because when we sauté our vegetables for meatballs, we doing a couple of things. First, we are softening the vegetables, so they’re not uncooked when we add them to the recipe. Second, sautéeing vegetables makes them taste better. 

Seasoning. When using fresh herbs in cooking, the rule uses double the amount of fresh herbs versus what a recipe calls for when using dried herbs.

Grated Cheese. For this recipe, I used cheese I grated from a block of good Parmesan. If you don’t have Parmesan you can use grated Romano, Grana Padano, or Pecorino. 

Panko Bread Crumbs. When it comes to breadcrumbs, I love using Panko breadcrumbs; in my opinion, there’s nothing like Japanese panko breadcrumbs for meatballs or meatloaf. In a pinch, I also love using homemade breadcrumbs using one or two-day-old quality bread.

French Fried Onions. For this recipe, I am using half a cup of French fried onions to make my panade, just pulse them in a food processor or crush them using your hands. If you don’t have French fried onions on hand, go ahead and use 1 cup of Panko or homemade breadcrumbs. 

Milk. When it comes to milk you can use whatever milk works best for you, I have used whole milk, 2% milk, or unflavored almond milk, and they all worked out. Combine 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of prepared French fried onions, mix the three ingredients together into a bowl, and allow the mixture to sit for 8 – 10 minutes. 

Eggs. The use of eggs in homemade meatballs is similar to using eggs in your favorite meatloaf recipe. The eggs, along with the breadcrumbs, act as a binder to hold the meatballs together. Farm fresh eggs are great, but store-bought eggs work well too.

the best ground beef recipes

Our Garden Herb Meatballs are one reason I haven’t gone the vegetarian or vegan route yet; maybe it’ll happen one day, but not today, satan!

easy Italian dinners

Garden Herb Meatballs

Yields 30-40 Meatballs

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoons extra olive oil + 1/3 cup of olive oil for frying the meatballs
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 1/4 cup carrots coarsely chopped
  • 1/3 cup celery coarsely chopped
  • 3 large cloves of garlic coarsely minced
  • 3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons McCormick Garlic Herb, Black Pepper & Sea Salt all-purpose seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
  • 2 tablespoon fresh sweet basil chopped
  • 1 teaspoon of freshly cracked black peppercorns
  • 1/2 cup arugula or parsley roughly chopped

*This recipe, I used a panade to keep the meatballs from drying out

Panade

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup French fried onion, pulsed in a food processor
  • 1 cup whole milk

Directions:

Combine the ingredients in a medium-size bowl and mix thoroughly, allow the mixture to sit for 8 – 10 minutes. 

easy meatballs

Directions for meatballs:

  1. Place a medium skillet over med-high heat and add two tablespoons of olive oil; when the oil is hot, add the diced yellow onion, coarsely chopped carrots, celery, and minced garlic. Sauté the mixture until the onions are soft, should take about five minutes. Spoon the mixture into a small bowl and set aside. Wipe the skillet clean in preparation for browning the meatballs.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, and grated Parmesan cheese. Mix until the ground meat and grated cheese in evenly mixed.
  3. Add the sautéed onion, carrots, celery, and garlic mix, along with McCormick Garlic Herb, Black Pepper & Sea Salt all-purpose seasoning, fresh oregano, fresh thyme, fresh sweet basil, freshly cracked black peppercorns, and chopped arugula or parsley. Gently fold the ingredients until they are evenly mixed.
  4. Crack three whole eggs into a bowl, along with one additional egg yolk. Using a fork, scramble the eggs, before adding the eggs to the mixture, add the panade, then pour the eggs over the meat mixture, mix until the eggs and panade are evenly mixed throughout, do not overmix the ingredients.
  5. Form the meatballs into 2 tablespoon size balls. However, you can double the size of the meatballs if you prefer larger meatballs but the yield will decrease by half. Remember, when making meatballs, form each meatball gently in the palm of your hand and shape into a ball. Packing the meatballs with a lot of force will result in tough meatballs.
  6. Brown the meatballs in batches. Place the skillet over med-high heat and add the 1/3 cup of olive oil; when the oil is hot, add 8-10 meatballs, using a pair of tongs to move the meatballs around carefully until they are browned evenly. Don’t worry about the meatballs not being cooked all the way through because the meatballs will finish cooking in the tomato sauce.
  7. After all of the meatballs are browned, place them in the tomato sauce and cook in a 400 degree preheated oven for 25 minutes.
  8. Serve meatballs with your favorite pasta or make a meatball sub sandwich. 

how to fry meatballs

How to make meatballs in the oven

If frying isn’t your jam, place the meatballs on a nonstick cooling baking rack then place the rack onto a high-walled baking sheet to catch the dripping and place on the center rack of a 350-degree preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes.

baked meatballs

Now that you have the recipe for our Garden Herb Meatballs, all you have to do now is whip them up for your family. And all always, if you have any questions, feel free to drop us a line in the comments down below. We wish you all the very best.

-The Wortheys

 

Get more dinner ideas below:

Instant Pot Recipe | Curry Meatballs + Spinach Rice

Fettuccine, Winter Pesto & Meatballs

85+ Pasta Dinner Ideas

50+ Easy Dinner Ideas For About $5

Dinner Ideas For The Family + Meals Under $5

 

 

no fuss homemade meatballs

Garden Herb Meatballs

5 from 1 vote
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Servings: 0
Author: D. Durand Worthey
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Ingredients
 

  • * 2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
  • * 1 pound ground pork
  • * 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • * 2 tablespoons extra olive oil + 1/3 cup of olive oil for frying the meatballs
  • * 1 small yellow onion diced
  • * 1/4 cup carrots coarsely chopped
  • * 1/3 cup celery coarsely chopped
  • * 3 large cloves of garlic coarsely minced
  • * 3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
  • * 2 tablespoons McCormick Garlic Herb Black Pepper & Sea Salt all-purpose seasoning
  • * 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
  • * 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
  • * 2 tablespoon fresh sweet basil chopped
  • * 1 teaspoon of freshly cracked black peppercorns
  • * 1/2 cup arugula or parsley roughly chopped
  • * 2 1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs

Instructions

  • Place a medium skillet over med-high heat and add two tablespoons of olive oil; when the oil is hot, add the diced yellow onion, coarsely chopped carrots, celery, and minced garlic. Sauté the mixture until the onions are soft, should take about five minutes. Spoon the mixture into a small bowl and set aside. Wipe the skillet clean in preparation for browning the meatballs.
  • In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, and grated Parmesan cheese. Mix until the ground meat and grated cheese in evenly mixed.
  • Add the sautéed onion, carrots, celery, and garlic mix, along with McCormick Garlic Herb, Black Pepper & Sea Salt all-purpose seasoning, fresh oregano, fresh thyme, fresh sweet basil, freshly cracked black peppercorns, and chopped arugula or parsley. Gently fold the ingredients until they are evenly mixed.
  • Crack three whole eggs into a bowl, along with one additional egg yolk. Using a fork, scramble the eggs, before adding the eggs to the mixture, add the Panko breadcrumbs, then pour the eggs over the meat mixture, mix until the eggs and breadcrumbs are evenly mixed throughout, do not overmix the ingredients.
  • Form make golfball size balls. Remember, when making meatballs, form each meatball gently in the palm of your hand and shape into a ball. Packing the meatballs with a lot of force will result in tough meatballs.
  • Brown the meatballs in batches. Place the skillet over med-high heat and add the 1/3 cup of olive oil; when the oil is hot, add 8-10 meatballs, using a pair of tongs to move the meatballs around carefully until they are browned evenly. Don't worry about the meatballs not being cooked all the way through because the meatballs will finish cooking in the tomato sauce.
  • After all of the meatballs are browned, place them in the tomato sauce and cook in a 400 degree preheated oven for 25 minutes.
  • Serve meatballs with your favorite pasta or make a meatball sub sandwich. 
Tried this recipe?Mention @thiswortheylife or tag #thiswortheylife!
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