I came up with this Easy Meatballs & Rustic Red Sauce after one of those days. You know what kind of days I’m talking about. It was one of those long days where I had been busy as a bee all day and remembered to do all the important things, except make a dinner plan. Our homeschool day was just wrapping up and dinner was closing in. I realized I needed to come up with a dinner plan, and fast!
I went to the freezer and saw some meatballs. I thought about spaghetti and meatballs, tomatoes sounded really good but I didn’t want a heavy red sauce, I wanted something lighter.
I started thinking about sauces and remembered a sauce I had tasted in a restaurant a really long time ago. Around 26 years ago to be exact. Isn’t it funny how the memory works?
I was a teen somewhere around age 14. My step dad was a carpenter and had just been paid for a big job, so he took our family out to a nice dinner. We had this tradition where when we went out to a restaurant (other than McDonalds) we would usually each share a bite of what we ordered with each other.
I still remember that night, when we were all sharing. Mom & my step dadwent first, and I remember her asking him, “How do you always do that!?” He just smiled.
We could never figure out how he did it, but somehow my step dad always had a knack for picking the best thing on the menu! That night it was something along the lines of a beef bourguignon, or a french Bordelaise maybe? I’m not entirely sure, it was a very long time ago! Even so the memory of how good the sauce was never completely left my memory.
That’s what sounded good with the meatballs to me after the long homeschool day though. How could I make a quick, kid friendly version of that fabulous sauce I had stuck in my memory from all those years ago? I went to the pantry and started glancing through what I had. Hmmm. San Marzano style tomatoes? Oh yeah. Beef stock? Absolutely! Corkscrew pasta? Yup.
I mixed everything (but the pasta of course) together with spices in a pot and set it to simmer. Let’s just say, I didn’t have to bribe even my picky child to eat that night. It made a big double recipe size pot of food too, and so there were leftovers. Usually my family isn’t crazy about leftovers, but for two days they were all over this. When it was gone my four year old kept asking for more.
Easy Meatballs & Rustic Red Sauce is becoming a regular in our home now, and I’m stepping things up and sometimes I even make the meatballs from scratch. You can do that if you are wanting to watch what you eat more closely (which we started being even more careful with what we eat after I was diagnosed with Hashimotos), or you can just keep it simple and buy the premade ones.
You could easily make a gluten free version of this recipe. I’ve included a gluten free meatball recipe below for those of you wanting to step things up and keep away from unwanted ingredients and gluten in your meatballs.
If you are making the gluten free version just use gluten free pasta, or rice, or veggie noodles.
You’ll want Better Than Bouillon Premium Roasted Beef Base for this, or else your preferred beef bouillon of choice.
So funny story. My daughter helped me film this cooking video, and while I had the Kitchen Aid full of meat mixing it started eating the plant that I had hanging too low from the ceiling.
There I was, professionally adding the bouillon when I see the Kitchen Aid chomping away on the plant. I was in such a frenzy to make it stop that I got bouillon on my face. My daughter told me not to worry, and that it was funny.
After I edited that part out my daughter was watching this video and tells me, “You should have left that part in and went with it.” I realized she was right. I should have. Sooo….in the future we will leave the bloopers.
BTW, I left the “random house plant” out of the recipe below.
Ingredients
- 1 Package of chicken & beef meatballs
- 1 quart beef broth or consomme
- 1 can whole tomatoes, san marzillo style
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon (beef)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 lbs corkscrew pasta
- Parmesan cheese for garnishing
Instructions
- Simmer all ingredients except for the pasta and cheese together for the amount of time directed on the meatball package. As it is finishing cook the pasta as directed and serve with parmesan cheese!
Gluten Free Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 cup quick oats (GF)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 clove diced garlic
Instructions
- I like to use my Kitchen Aid to mix everything up, and then I use a large 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to make the meatballs.
- Once finished I broil them for around 7 minutes, then I turn them over and broil another 7 minutes until they reach about 155. After this I finish them off in the sauce for an additional hour so they can soak in the juices and the flavors can infuse. Always check to make sure they are cooked through before serving!
- TIP! If you combine the ingredients and let them sit in the fridge a few hours before assembling into meatballs and cooking they are better!
Here is the cookie dough scoop I like to use to make the meatballs.
This post contains affiliate links and if you use them I receive a small commission that helps cover the blog’s expenses.