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These are the easiest homemade meatballs you'll ever make. Super-fast too: I shopped for the ingredients and whipped up this meal in 45 minutes flat. Yes, hand-crushing the whole tomatoes adds a bit of prep time, but I've found the texture of the sauce isn't quite right with diced tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 4 Italian sausages, about 400 g
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 796 ml can whole tomatoes
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) dried Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground black pepper
- 1 large pinch hot chili flakes (optional)
- 454 g pkg rigatoni or penne pasta
- 4 large bocconcini balls or 1 cup (250 mL) grated mozzarella
- 1/2 cup lightly packed basil leaves or 2 cups (500 mL) baby spinach
Directions
- Set a large pot of water on stove to boil.
- Slice sausages in half width-wise, then squeeze the meat from the casings and shape into 6 balls per sausage (24 total).
- Cook sausage meatballs in a large deep frying pan over medium-high heat, turning often until browned, 6-8 minutes.
- Chop onion and mince garlic. When sausages are browned, add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until softened slightly and beginning to brown, about 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pour tomatoes into a mixing bowl; crush them coarsely, using your hands. Stir tomatoes into sausage and onion mixture along with seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat so sauce is gently boiling.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until meatballs are cooked through and sauce thickens, 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente, 11-12 minutes. Drain.
- Serve tomato sauce and meatballs over cooked pasta. Tear bocconcini and basil, and scatter overtop tomato sauce and pasta. If using spinach, stir into drained cooked pasta and allow to wilt.
- 27 g carbohydrates
- 25 g fibre
- 66 mg iron
- 4 mg calcium
- 597 g Extra nutrients info2