These meatball recipes cover homemade beef, chicken and turkey mixtures, gravy dinners, sweet-savory glazes and pasta meals. Some begin with raw ground meat, while others use fully cooked meatballs for heating or serving. Choose the preparation you want, then follow the complete recipe for the meat’s starting state, portion size and cooking method.
- Beef Meatball Recipes with Classic Seasonings and Gravy
- Chicken and Turkey Meatball Recipes
- Glazed Meatballs for Serving
- Meatballs in Sandwiches, Pasta and Soup
Read the first ingredient before planning the equipment. Frozen fully cooked meatballs, chilled cooked meatballs and freshly shaped raw mixtures need different handling and heating stages. Some slow cooker meatball recipes use the cooker mainly for hot holding after oven reheating; others cook the raw meatballs in sauce. Rice, noodles or bread may be separate unless included in the full dish.
Beef Meatball Recipes with Classic Seasonings and Gravy
Choose baked Parmesan meatballs, creamy Swedish-style gravy, onion gravy or rice-filled porcupine meatballs. Their size, binder and sauce methods differ, so use the individual directions.
1. Classic Homemade Beef Meatballs
Milk-soaked bread, eggs, Parmesan and herbs bind larger beef meatballs that bake on a rimmed sheet. The recipe makes fourteen large pieces. Choose this for a plain baked base, with sauce and accompaniments selected separately.
2. Swedish Meatballs with Creamy Dijon Gravy
Small beef meatballs with allspice and nutmeg cook in a skillet before a flour-thickened broth-and-cream gravy is made. Dijon and Worcestershire finish the sauce. Rice or noodles remain separate from this formula.
3. Salisbury Steak Meatballs
Coarse mustard, ketchup and seasonings flavor the beef mixture, with browned meatballs finishing in an onion gravy. The initial browning is followed by a simmer. This uses a different sauce from the cream-based Swedish version.
4. Porcupine Meatballs
Dry white rice is mixed directly into beef meatballs, which simmer under a lid in a condensed-tomato-soup sauce. Both the centers and the rice need to finish. Use dry rice as listed rather than substituting cooked grains.
Chicken and Turkey Meatball Recipes
These meatball recipes use poultry in baked, skillet and slow cooker methods. Some contain cheese or have a separate sauce; one begins with skillet browning before a long tomato-sauce cook.
5. Baked Chicken Meatballs with Herb Butter
Ground chicken, breadcrumbs and Parmesan form small baked meatballs. A separate lemon-garlic butter with fresh herbs dresses the cooked pieces. The sauce is prepared while the meatballs bake, with sides left to your choice.
6. Chicken Meatballs with Creamy Tomato Sauce
Chicken meatballs are fully cooked in skillet loads before a cream, Parmesan and sun-dried tomato sauce is made. The cooked pieces return to the thickened sauce. Fresh basil finishes the dinner portions.
7. Mediterranean Chicken Meatballs
Sun-dried tomatoes, feta, Parmesan and fresh herbs are mixed into chicken meatballs before baking. Optional lemon finishes the batch. Choose this for cheese and vegetables inside the meatball rather than a cream sauce outside it.
8. Baked Turkey Meatballs
Onion, garlic and Italian breadcrumbs bind turkey with eggs and milk. The small balls bake without a built-in sauce. Choose your accompaniment separately and follow the poultry cooking checks in the complete method.
9. Greek Turkey Meatballs with Tzatziki
Parsley and mint flavor baked turkey meatballs, while drained cucumber, yogurt, lemon and garlic form cold tzatziki. The sauce stays separate while the meatballs cook. Serve warm meatballs with that chilled topping.
10. Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Homemade turkey meatballs are browned in skillet batches and transferred straight into a tomato-filled slow cooker. They finish over a longer covered cooking stage. This is not an all-at-once raw dump method.
Glazed Meatballs for Serving
These choices range from homemade beef meatballs to commercially cooked ones. Check whether oven reheating, a separate saucepan glaze or a slow cooker holding stage comes before serving.
11. Hawaiian Meatballs with Pineapple
Homemade beef meatballs are cooked before pineapple, peppers and a sweet-sour sauce are combined with them. Reserved pineapple juice goes into the glaze. Rice is a separately prepared accompaniment if you choose to add it.
12. Grape Jelly Meatballs
Commercial fully cooked meatballs are reheated first, then coated in a simmered grape-jelly and tomato-chili glaze. The slow cooker holds the hot mixture for serving. The bottled chili sauce is tomato-based rather than plain hot pepper sauce.
13. Cranberry Balsamic Meatballs
Chilled fully cooked beef meatballs are heated in the oven while a cranberry, honey and balsamic sauce is thickened separately. Both enter the preheated cooker hot. The cooker stage is for holding and blending, not starting with raw beef.
14. Honey Buffalo Meatballs
Fully cooked meatballs are heated before joining a honey, apricot and cayenne-style glaze. A cornstarch slurry thickens the sauce before the slow cooker stage. Any rice is made separately from the glazed meatballs.
15. Teriyaki Meatball Foil Packets
Thawed fully cooked meatballs, pineapple, peppers and red onion are divided among foil packets with prepared teriyaki sauce. The packets grill over moderate indirect heat. Rice is separate, and the foil is opened carefully after cooking.
16. Sweet Chili Meatballs
Freshly shaped beef meatballs begin raw in a sweet-chili, soy, ketchup and garlic sauce in the slow cooker. They cook covered until finished. This method differs from the reheated prepared-meatball serving recipes above.
Meatballs in Sandwiches, Pasta and Soup
Finish with meatball recipes that build a larger dish. The sub uses cooked refrigerated meatballs, the casserole uses fully cooked frozen ones, and the soup and one-pot pasta shape fresh beef meatballs.
17. Meatball Subs with Provolone
Cooked refrigerated beef meatballs are heated in marinara before filling buttered, toasted rolls. Provolone melts under a closely watched broiler. Choose this for a complete sandwich assembly rather than meatballs served on their own.
18. Meatball Penne Casserole
Dry penne and fully cooked frozen meatballs bake covered with marinara and measured liquid before cheeses are added. The pasta needs to remain moist until tender. This recipe has a covered cooking stage and a separate cheese finish.
19. Swedish Meatball Noodle Soup
Homemade beef meatballs cook before joining a creamy broth flavored with Dijon and Worcestershire. Egg noodles are boiled separately and divided into the bowls. Include both the meatball and noodle preparation stages.
20. One Pot Meatball Pasta
Fresh beef meatballs are browned, then returned to a pot with dry pasta and tomato sauce to finish. Water is adjusted to keep the pasta submerged. The initial browning does not complete the meatballs’ cooking.
Before You Choose Your Recipe
Choose meatball recipes by the meat, starting state and serving style. Match raw or prepared meatballs to the specified method, allow for any separate glaze or side dish, and follow the individual cooking checks. The links above contain full quantities and directions.
