Mennonite Girls Can Cook is a collection of recipes which were posted daily for a period of ten years from 2008 to 2018. We have over 3,000 delicious recipes that we invite you to try. The recipes can be accessed in our recipe file by category or you can use the search engine.

Recipe Search

Meatballs with Pasta Sauce


Weeknights can be so busy during the school year, and I know when I was a young mom I was always looking for recipes that could be made ahead or slow cooked in the crock pot. When we have the grand kids coming over after school I like to have supper well under way before they run in the door, and these meatballs are always a hit. All I have to do before supper is boil a pot of pasta and pull out a tray of cut up veggies or a garden salad and supper is served. 
(this will yield approximately 25 meatballs)

  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 pound ground chicken or turkey (you can use 2 pounds of ground beef if you don't want to use poultry)
  • 1 small onion grated
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup bread crumbs
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp oregano

  • 6 cups spaghetti sauce, I like to use Prego brand for this recipe
  • pasta of your choice, enough to serve number of people around the table
  1. Mix the first 10 ingredients together with your hands. 
  2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
  3. Form golf ball size meatballs and place close together on baking sheet.
  4. Bake in 400ºF oven for 15 minutes.
For crock pot method: Pour sauce into crock pot and add cooked meatballs. Cover with lid and turn to low and allow to simmer for 4-6 hours.

For oven method: Pour sauce into a large casserole and add cooked meatballs. Cover and bake in 350ºF oven for 1 hour. 

To freeze: You can freeze the meatballs either raw or cooked. Place either way onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in freezer. Once frozen remove and store in freezer bags. This way you can take out as many as you like.

You can also freeze the baked meatballs in the sauce right in the casserole dish. To serve place frozen casserole in refrigerator the night before. It will be thawed and ready to pop into the oven an hour before supper time. 





10 comments:

  1. My nest is now empty but this idea was a lifesaver many times when my family members were all running to work/school/sports. Whenever someone needed a quick meal it was ready in the freezer. Thank you for prompting happy memories this morning!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing this recipe, It looks very delicious. The next time can you give us some recipe that using pressure cooker :. I bought a new one but lacking the ideas to use it :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your new (new to me anyway, I don't always print recipes) printing format. You can delete anything you don't want prior to printing and its very nice. I seldom want the photo which takes a lot of room on a page, so you can delete it easily. Anything you don't like in the recipe, whoosh! its gone if you don't want it.

    You girls just stay up on everything!

    Jo in MN

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do you think I could double the recipe for the meatballs?

    ReplyDelete
  5. This looks so tastey and so does the salad! I like your idea of mixing the beef and poultry and nothing tastes better than homemade meatballs!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I tried a new thing for our family this week. I made spaghetti squash and meatsauce! Someone gave me a spaghetti squash from their garden. I cut it in half, brushed the cut sides with olive oil and then "baked" it (cut side up) with indirect heat on my bbq for an hour about 400 degrees. I served this new-to-me vegetable in the middle of the table and just raked it with two forks and it resembles spaghetti. I also made regular spaghetti noodles for those that were hesitant about the squash. At least everyone tried the squash. It was so yummy! No carbs! Tons of vitamins!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just Checking, but are you using dry bread crumbs?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I tried to follow your instructions. It consumes a lot of my time, thank you, your article is quite useful for me.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.