classic spaghetti and meatballs

It’s FRIIIIIIIIIDAY!

Happy Friday, y’all!

It’s Friday the 13th. Spooooky. Not really. Anyway, I know of two birthdays today. One is my lovely mother whom I love very much. I’m biased but she’s the best mother in the world and I’m so thankful for her and everything she’s ever ever done for me. I appreciate all the late night talks, the shopping trips, the support, the cooking lessons..I could go on and on. Did I lose you yet? Anyway, happy birthday, Mom! I love you so much! Second, happy birthday to Aggie from Aggie’s Kitchen! Hop on over to her blog or twitter and give her a warm wish. I love her blog and all her recipes! She’s such a sweet girl. I hope you have a wonderful day, Aggie and I wish I could drink some bubbly with you! :)

Okay, birthday shoutouts, done. Now, what do you want for dinner? Well, since it’s Friday and some of us might be too lazy to whip up something intricate, I decided to do a ‘back to basics’ recipe. Classic spaghetti and meatballs. Who doesn’t love the childhood memories that this brings? Now this isn’t with canned sauce or frozen meatballs. This is with homemade sauce AND homemade meatballs. Uh, yeah. Now, I’d say this whole dish would be homemade if I made the pasta noodles myself. I wish I could say I did, but alas, I don’t have the KitchenAid pasta attachment yet (hint: I have a bday at the end of the month if someone reading this is a family member *cough*, juuuust kidding!) so I went for the box.

The pasta sauce is super easy to make. I’m sure you’ve all already read the entry. The meatballs are super easy to make too. I made mine “healthy” by using ground turkey! Personally, I kind of like it better than regular ground beef meatballs. Ground turkey to me comes out more moist and tender than ground beef. Maybe that’s just me. I made so many BAWLS that I had to freeze a bag of them. Hey, that just means we can have more balls later, right?

Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs

Print

Save    

Yield: 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey

1/2 onion, finely diced

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1/4 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

For the spaghetti:

3 cups dried spaghetti pasta

1 jar marinara sauce

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Instructions:

1. Line a large plate with wax paper or parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the meatballs, then using your hands, combine everything together until just combined.
3. Take a tbsp. amount of meat (or larger if you like larger balls) and shape the meat into a ball and place it on the prepared plate.
4. Once you’re done, wash your hands with soap and bring a pot of water to boil. Season the water with salt and add in your pasta.
5. While your pasta is cooking, cook the meatballs. In a large skillet, add some olive oil to high heat and sear the meatballs until there’s a nice browned crust then turn the heat down to low and cook the meatballs until they’re cooked through. Add in the marinara sauce and let simmer with the meatballs until pasta is done.
6. When pasta is done, drain well and add it to the skillet. Stir to coat the pasta sauce on the pasta and let simmer for 5 minutes more.
7. Serve hot and with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Julie’s notes: You can certainly make the meatballs with any kind of meat you want. I just chose turkey for a healthy alternative, but you’re most welcome to use ground beef, ground chicken, ground pork, or any other ground meat you want to use.