Too firm and too dry are easily fixed. Too firm--aka superballs, i.e., too bouncy for playing jacks--happen when you compact the meat. That's why they make "meatball makers". It's to keep ham-handed cooks from rolling the heck out of them. Roll very lightly to make a nice shape, and a smooth surface to keep the juices in better. LIGHTLY. You're not looking for molded superball perfecting of shape. Just roundish.

Too dry is usually the usual suspects: Not enough moisture (you can add a sppon or two of water (or your favorite watery liquid so you don't have to feel defeated by adding water, though non-alcoholic, because the alcohol steams out faster), or not enough fat (but doubtful this because we know you're not shy with fat), too hot an oven, or too long a cook. But it also depends on what you put in your meatballs. For some, just seasoning is a big deal, where others put in a whole salad (who, me? what? did I say that?) Many people use a panade, which will help a lot with moist and tender meatballs (cheater! but it works). Others put in dry bread or crackers or less dry bread or stale matzah (shh! look away). Without the milk of a panade, it's important to gauge the moisture that will be soaking in, and make sure it's really soaking into the bread so it doesn't leak out but is there for the meat, rather than the bread just wicking out all the moisture then releasing it to the air, and basically towelling off the insides of the meatball.

If you pan fry your meatballs, you can slave over them, turning so all sides get seared, etc. Some people will crowd the pan and add water to steam them a bit (i.e., prevent the towel-off). Easiest for me is giving them a quick brown in the frying pan, them put them on parchment on a baking sheet and in the oven.

Meatballs à la JC

1.5 lbs ground beef (85/15 is good, but will work with fatter or leaner)

2 large slices stale whole wheat bread, or white, or matzah

3 large eggs

1 medium onion, minced in the FP

1 bunch baby carrots, scrubbed rather than peeled for the nutrition and minced in the FP

handful of fresh or dried chopped parsley

seasoning, to taste

Cut or tear the bread up, smallish.

Chop the onion, carrots and parsley until coarsely minced, if you don't have a food processor.

Combine with the meat, eggs, bread and seasoning in a large bowl.

Mix well, but in a fluffy way. Don't over handle.

Form into balls. Compress lightly between hands so the meatballs won't fall apart. They'll be soft anyway and should be handled delicately.

Brown the meatballs in a large braiser or frying pan, with a touch of oil if needed.

Don't crowd them while browning so it'll be easier to turn them. Use a smaller, separate pan to make small batches if necessary. Alternatively, brown them in the oven on a parchment lined sheet tray.

Don't squish.

If using a sauce or glaze, when all the meatballs are browned, crowd them into the big pan and pour in the liquid. Simmer covered, on stove or in oven. until done, turning occasionally. The vegetables will release a lot of juice, which should be absorbed back. The finished texture is soft and juicy, not firm and crumbly.

Lovely!

Add to the stew my incessant laziness, always trying to find an easier / faster way. I’m one of those who slaves over my albondigas meatballs, turning each one with chopsticks so they are evenly browned like a oiled beach goddess before we knew about skin cancer. I want to become more of a Lay-Z-Boy sort of cook.

One trick I use for xiao long bao is making “stock jello” and including that in the mix. It works for a dumpling because the wrapper holds all the moisture in. I don’t know if it would work for meatballs. Hmm, maybe I can enclose each meatball in a very thin wrapper of rice paper. Antithetical to the Lay-Z-Boy approach, I guess.

If you added breadcrumbs to the mix, they would absorb the melting stock jello.

Good topic, John, as I like testing different versions. My most recent like is from Anne Burrell (RIP), but Ina G’s are close. For some years now I’ve done mine in the oven. I know ”good” meatballs are really a matter of taste/preference…no right or wrong. I added some of my own notes following the recipe.

Anne Burrell’s Meatballs

Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
Salt and pepper
2 large cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
Pinch crushed red pepper
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
2 large eggs
1 cup grated Parmigiano
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 cup breadcrumbs (I used Progresso Italian Style)
1/2 cup water

Coat a large saute pan with olive oil, add the onions and bring to a medium-high heat. Season the onions generously with salt and pepper; cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. The onions should be very soft and aromatic but have no color. Add the garlic and the crushed red pepper and saute for another 1 to 2 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl combine the meats, eggs, Parmigiano, parsley and bread crumbs. It works well to gently mix the mixture with your hands. Add the onion mixture and season generously with salt and squish some more. Add the water and do 1 final, gentle mix. The mixture should be quite wet. Test the seasoning by making a mini hamburger size patty and cooking it. If it doesn't seem right it could need more salt.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Shape the meat into desired size. Coat a large saute pan with olive oil and bring to a medium-high heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides. Place them on a cookie sheet and bake them in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked all the way through (depending on size). If using right away, add them to a big pot of marinara sauce. If not using right away, they can be frozen for later use.

My Notes: I used a pound of ground beef and a half pound of sausage…no veal. I also added a little dried oregano and basil as I was cooking the onions/garlic. I use about 1/3 cup water for this. I did not brown the meatballs on the stove first. Just used the oven…350 for 25-30 minutes for golf ball-sized meatballs. This gives me about 24.

JL, you're over complicating it! If you want to moisten with stock jello, just break it up with a whisk or something, into little pieces and stir it in. Use an appropriate amount, like the half cup in the recipe Chloebud posted. (In my recipe, the juices from the onion and carrot act as the water.) This way, you just have to work promptly or chill your mix, which you should do on general principles, and the stock will melt just when it's needed. By their nature, meatballs will leak a little while cooking, but with all that veg and juice, mine don't make puddles.

I can't speak from experience because I've just read a few articles similar

To This One (live link)

but have yet to try it, I did make up two meat loaves on Saturday (beef and pork), wrapped and froze them. I added 1/4 teaspoon baking soda per pound of meat. I'll let you know if they are remarkable meatloaves - mine can be hit or miss. Either swimming in fat in their pans or so dry they crumble and won't slice prettily.

My eldest sister in law can make the best meatballs. Huge pans of them, finished in her oven. She always uses stale bread soaked in milk. It doesn't help mine. There is never a flat side to any of her meatballs, they turn out round and, well....'ballish'......

I don't have any exotic or gourmet methods for meatballs, just a basic recipe of beef, onion, egg, bread crumbs (stale but not dry). I like poultry seasoning spices in mine, don't want carrot or celery or other veggies, no garlic. But my mom always used canned evaporated milk to moisten the bread, so I do, too. They are very moist and tender.

I also sometimes use ground turkey or chicken instead of beef with the same ingredients but I chop a generous amount of button or crimini mushrooms very finely in the Cuisinart to add to the meat. That reduces calories and cholesterol and also makes them very tender. I will also add a bit of Beef or Mushroom Better than Bouillon because the ground poultry can be kind of flavorless.

Yours all sound good. I splash in a glug of wine and a splash of olive. I cheat and use powdered onion and garlic. I make them quite small and only ever use them in spaghetti sauce. Sometimes I make chicken ones.

Sixty years of making meatballs and I've never changed anything:

2 lbs of 85/15 ground beef

1 lb package of mild Italian sausage

Oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and a bit of salt

Remove the casing from the sausage and mix everything by hand in a large bowl. Roll the meatballs by hand so that they're around 1-1/2" in diameter. Roll them all before you start to cook. In a big pan, add some olive oil and get it hot. Slide the meatballs into the pan and then continually roll and flip them with a pair of wooden spoons for around 20 minutes. Cut open the largest one to check if they're cooked all the way through.

A meatball with sausage in it sounds interesting. I can’t believe I never thought to try it. Thanks Ricky.

I wish I could fry a round meatball. Maybe I should just make meatsquares so I can brown each side nicely while maintaining shape. I have even tried more oil so they are like shallow fried but they still won’t stay round. I gave up trying. LOL

I bake mine - just made a batch the other day. I like them small, not large. They get rolled in breadcrumbs then sprayed or drizzled with olive oil and baked about 24 minutes. After that, they can go in the sauce to simmer, or stored separately to add as desired.

I have 2 recipes, but I don't make the stuffing mix ones now because I haven't seen that brand in stores for quite some time now. I prefer organic.

Holiday Meatballs

1-1.5# ground meat - beef or turkey

1 egg

1/2 c. fine breadcrumbs

1/4 c. finely chopped onion

big pinch nutmeg

1 tsp. smoked salt

black pepper to taste

red pepper flakes to taste

1 Tbs. smoked paprika

1-3 tsp. marjoram - if fresh, use larger quantity

2-3 cloves minced/crushed garlic

2 Tbs fresh parsley-chopped

Mix everything but the meat very well then add meat and blend lightly and well

Form into rough 1-1 1/2" balls (use cookie scoop &/or sharp spoons), then roll in fine dry breadcrumbs and shape neatly

Place on oiled or parchment lined cookie sheet or roasting pan

Drizzle or spray a little olive oil on top of each ball

Bake @ 350F, 24-25 minutes

Simmer in sauce 20 minutes, if desired - this will make them softer.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Quick & Easy Meatballs

1# ground meat

2/3 c. Arrowhead Mills cornbread stuffing mix - crushed to fine crumbs

1 egg

1 clove garlic - crushed or finely minced

1/4 tsp. black pepper

3/4 c. more finely crushed stuffing mix for breading

Mix, form and bake the same way as above.

This is Ina’s recipe from her book, although I cook mine in the oven. Pretty sure she has a version where she does, too.

Anyone make fishballs?

I know how to make my grandmother's gefilte fish, more like patties, but I don't.

“Anyone make fishballs?”

Shirako?

We're on a ground turkey kick. I like mine stuffed with mozzarella cheese! Gooey in the center!

2lbs ground turkey

2 cups bread crumbs, pre-packaged, very dry

2 cubes beef bouillon, powdered, then mixed in

1 Tbl Dried basil

1/2 tsp Thyme

1 diced medium yellow onion

1/2 head Minced garlic

2 raw eggs

-------------------------------------------------

1lb Mozzarella cut into 1/2" cubes

Mix it all up, Form into 1.5" sized balls, insert a 1/2" cube of Mozzarella in the center of each ball.

Fry in pan, medium heat, with a light coating of olive oil. Cover for 5 minutes, then roll the balls, lightly brown, until all is cooked...20 minutes.

Cafe Sevilla's albondigas (meatballs) Recipe - Los Angeles Times

This is my favorite meatball recipe to the degree that I don't even try others since first using this one. The only thing I do differently is to use 1/3 ground pork, 1/3 ground beef and 1/3 spicy Italian sausage for the meat.

Shirako, ha ha.

I mean the fish balls you buy frozen in Asian stores and use in hot pot. They are rubbery; I wonder if they can be better.

Sevilla’s recipe looks great. I’ll try some of that next time!

No recipe for meatballs here. Why complicate something that is easy, no-fuss comfort food?

I use chuck (always chuck), dump in some seasoned Italian breadcrumbs (I like Progresso brand), Lawry's seasoned pepper, ~1 tsp of salt per # of meat, 1 egg per # of meat. Mix it all together, taste the mix for adjustment and off we go. Sometimes I'll add some worschteschire sauce and/or nutmeg, too.

Agree the Sevilla version sounds good.

For some fun with meatballs, I have a book called The Meatball Shop Cookbook. Lots of versions…Buffalo Chicken, Greek, Mexican, Reuben, Veggie, Thai, Salmon, Turkey, Crab, Jambalaya, Bolognese and so on. I’ve probably made these from the book the most…called “The Greek.” Pretty tasty with tzatziki.

I usually cheat and buy Aldi's Bremer brand Italian meatballs. Bought some Bremer mini meatballs this morning along with hoagie buns, and marinara to make meatball sandwiches for the Chiefs game watch party Monday night.

I have a great recipe for meatballs that I saved from a long ago Chowhound thread. Can't put my hands on it at the moment, but I haven't made it for awhile. It's usually just the two of us and I can't be bothered. A few years ago, I went out of character and bought a package of premade meatballs after deciding the ingredients were all things I would make a meatball with.

They're not as good as mine, but we like them. We keep packages of these in the freezer and cook them with 1/2 a jar of Rao's marinara because there's not much sauce with them. We make a meal from the package of meatballs and freeze the rest of the marinara for the next time. A package of Rummo bronze cut spaghetti always in the pantry, and grated parm in the freezer. Our version of "fast food".

(We live so remotely, we have no delivery options for take out and sometimes we just don't feel like cooking from scratch).

When I make meatballs, I usually have enough to vacuum seal and freeze a couple of portions to use that way. @seagrass_gw Cape Cod, you could make a batch of meatballs, and have your own, since you like them better, in the freezer ready made. ;)

I used to buy them occasionally at Sam’s. Been a while but maybe these since I remember ”Carando.” They weren’t bad in a pinch.

plllog - I know, huh? Chronic health problems plague me and it's a stamina thing. DH is the batch cooker and makes mean meatloaves, 3 at a time, but he wouldn't have the patience for meatball production...

Rice in the meatballs? I'm intrigued @John Liu. Perhaps this is the answer to GF meatballs. I've tried everything from commercial GF breadcrumbs (which IMHO are not great) to ground oatmeal. How much rice per lb of meat?

Oh, Seagrass, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to intrude. There are a lot of things I can't be bothered with just from not wanting to do the work. Wishing you lots of feeling betters.

Gardener123, I've used rice in meatballs. It works great! IME, plump medium white rice works well, cooked through then dried somewhat.. Basmati is too firm. You can also break up the rice to make it more like breadcrumbs. But I've also had good luck with oats. I wonder...Minute Rice might work going straight into the mix, to absorb the moisture and kind of fall apart in the mis.

gardener, I didn’t measure, but replaying the moment of negligently scooping and dumping an unmeasured quantity of dripping rice into 1.5 lb meat, I think it looks like 1/2 to 1 cup cooked rice. Enough that the rice is quite visible in the mix and even identifiable in the cooked meatball.

Which may not be what you want, because guests with vivid imaginations and suspicious minds could interpret the white rice as maggots. This is an aesthetic hiccup that I noted for future resolution.

Note that the cooked rice had no binding function - its contribution was moistness and absorbed flavor.

I think I might experiment with black sticky (glutinous) rice, which could address both the aesthetic and functional points.

Or, brown rice would be worth a try.

Well, John. You talked me into it. Then you talked me out of it.🤣

Someone needs to show off their vintage meat baller - because some of us don’t need an excuse to collect weirdo kitchen gadgets.

I use one of these:

Mine is like scoop tongs, but I don't use it for meatballs. I forget what I do use it for, though. Check out "meatball scoop ball maker" on Amazon. They have some really ingenious looking meatballers I've never seen before.

I saw a recipe for Italian wedding soup where the meatballs were formed using a small melon ball scooper...thought that was clever.

A very common ”kid’s first recipe” meal here is ”Porcupines”, which are meatballs with various herbs, finely diced onion and a large handful of raw, long grain rice formed into balls and dropped straight into slightly (half as much water as usual) diluted canned tomato soup then left to simmer until cooked. Serve over mashed potatoes. We still like them as a blast from the past on the odd occasion.

I like cheesy meatballs. I use:

Ground Chuck

Grated fresh onion

Garlic and onion powder

Dried oregano

Fresh Basil

Worcheshire Sauce

Salt and Pepper

Mozzarella cheese- I usually just use grated whole milk mozzarella mixed throughout. Sometimes if I feel like the effort, I cut it into cubes and put in the center of the meatball.

I bake my meatballs, and I find when I do that, they do not need egg and breadcrumbs to stay together yet still tender. But sometimes I will throw an egg and some saltine cracker crumbs in there if I feel less confident about it. I tend to use cracker crumbs instead of breadcrumbs a lot.

I too use a cookie scoop to measure them out. I scoop em all at once, then go back and roll em to make them purdy.

Did you mean one of these?

I think I have one somewhere, but my cookie scoops work better, and are stainless steel, while the vintage one is aluminum. It's also not as efficient at cleanly releasing the meatball mixture, IME.

“…but my cookie scoops work better…”

Ditto.

Carol's is a nicer version of mine, the one I use for other things than meatballs. :) For meatballs , sometimes I just pinch, others I'll use a spoon or open scoop. I don't need one of those fancy things on Amazon, that are probably designed for commercial. :)

Now, here is a twist:

How would you make a *vegetarian* meatball?

A meatless meatball would be interesting, no? There are a lot of vegetarians who would like spaghetti and meatballs . . .

TVP

...and liquid aminos

Last fall (following a similar meatball discussion here?) I did make vegetarian meatballs with mushrooms and lentils and tzaziki sauce on the side— made them twice and was pretty happy with the results. I don’t think I’ve saved my notes but they are very delicate and must be handled and cooked carefully to avoid falling apart.

No TVP, (way too processed) or liquid aminos.

Think falafel, risotto, Korean rice balls, (with sticky sushi rice), and Turkish lentil kofta.

24/7, 365 i have falafel, aranchini, and mixed grain and various cooked beans, 1/2 pints, in the freezer.

and liquid gold....

Yeah, that was a joke....

Reality is with non-vegan you can use an egg (or eggwhite) which IME is just a heck of a lot easier than using vegan sticky stuff. Black beans with nuts or seeds (e.g. quinoa) are often used for a kind of meatiness. Good flavor and some protein (black beans and rice in the same day gives you a complete protein, so eat some beans with S's rice balls).

That made me recall when I worked in a vegetarian restaurant back in the crunchy 1970s, we made lentil burgers with a mixture of brown rice, green lentils and millet, seasoned with chopped onions, carrots, tamari and parsley, then fried in lots of oil - they were very tasty, served on home made onion rolls with mayo and all the fixings.

FWIW, this is from the Meatball book I mentioned earlier. I’ve not tried them.