Pasta with Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
⏱ 15 min prep · 🍳 25 min · 🍽 4
Meatballs solve something ground beef in sauce rarely does: kids who eye every visible fleck of onion or fold of stewed tomato with suspicion will usually eat a smooth, round meatball without a second look. The sauce stays mild -- no scorched garlic, no chili heat in the kids' portion -- but it still tastes like more than ketchup thinned with water.
Shape a double batch while you already have the ground beef out and your hands are in it anyway. Half goes straight into tonight's sauce; the rest gets fully cooked, cooled, and frozen flat in a bag for a night later this month when there's no time to start from raw meat.
The shopping list is short and repeats itself most weeks: ground beef, canned tomatoes, one onion, pasta. Nothing on it needs a special trip past the regular supermarket run.
Ingredients
- 0.500 stk rød chili
- 2.000 fedd hvitløk
- 400.000 g kjøttdeig eller karbonadedeig
- 1.000 stk egg
- 100.000 g parmesan
- 1.000 bunt basilikum, finhakket
- salt
- pepper
- 2.000 boks hermetiske tomater
- 1.000 stk gul løk
- 400.000 g fersk pasta
Instructions
Bland kjøttdeig med krydder og form til kjøttboller, stek dem i olivenolje til de er gjennomstekte.
Stek løk og hvitløk myk i olivenolje, tilsett hakkede tomater og urter, og la sausen putre i 15 minutter.
Kok spaghettien etter anvisning på pakken.
Server spaghettien med kjøttboller og tomatsaus, og topp med revet parmesan.
This dinner earns its weeknight spot because it survives chaos: the meatballs don't dry out sitting in a warm oven while you're stuck on the school run, and the sauce is mild enough that a preschooler and a skeptical ten-year-old eat from the same pot without negotiation. Ground beef and canned tomatoes are already on most families' regular supermarket list, so this almost never means a special trip. It's also one of those meals that tastes just as good, maybe better, reheated the next day -- worth doubling specifically so a busier evening later in the week takes care of itself. Freeze the extra meatballs cooked and cooled in a single layer before bagging them, and they separate easily for however many portions you actually need that night.
FAQ
Why do kids eat meatballs when they refuse plain ground beef in sauce?
Shape is the key -- a smooth, round meatball looks finished and familiar, while loose ground beef with visible flecks of onion or tomato invites inspection first. The meat inside a meatball is also mixed and seasoned evenly all the way through, so the flavor stays consistent bite to bite instead of concentrated in clumps. That makes meatballs one of the few ground-meat dishes that works across ages at the same table.
Can the tomato sauce be used for anything besides this pasta?
Yes -- the sauce works well as the base for a simple rice or potato bake, or as a pizza sauce if you let it reduce until thicker. It also freezes fine on its own, separate from the meatballs, so you can keep a ready sauce base for nights when all you need to do is boil pasta and heat it through. Taste it for extra sugar or a knob of butter if it's going to stand alone without meatballs.
How long can the meatball mixture rest in the fridge before cooking?
The mixture holds up well covered in the fridge for up to a day before you shape and cook it -- the flavor actually settles and improves. That makes it easy to mix the ground beef the night before and just shape and cook the meatballs right before dinner the next day. Avoid leaving it raw for longer than two days for food-safety reasons.
What if the tomato sauce turns out too sharp or acidic?
Canned tomatoes vary in acidity from can to can, and a pinch of sugar or a teaspoon of butter stirred in near the end of cooking usually evens most of it out. Cream or crème fraîche also works, and has the added benefit of mellowing the sauce further for kids who are sensitive to sharp tomato flavor. Let the sauce simmer a few minutes after adding either so the flavors have time to come together.
Can I use store-bought meatballs instead of making them from scratch?
Store-bought meatballs from the chilled aisle save you 15-20 minutes and work fine in the same tomato sauce, though they're rarely as juicy as homemade ones. Warm them through directly in the sauce for the last ten minutes instead of pan-frying them separately, so they pick up more flavor along the way. It's a reasonable shortcut on nights when 40 minutes in the kitchen just isn't realistic.
How do I keep the meatballs from drying out in the oven?
Mix a little grated onion or a splash of milk into the ground beef before shaping the meatballs -- both help the mixture hold onto moisture during baking. Don't bake them any longer than necessary either; 12-15 minutes at 200°C/400°F is usually enough to cook them through. Letting them rest a few minutes in the sauce after baking also makes them juicier before serving.