How To Make Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe | Homemade Marinara Sauce

Hi everyone, it's Natasha of Natashaskitchen.com and today we're making a family favorite, spaghetti and meatballs in a homemade marinara sauce. We're sharing all of our secrets for incredibly tender, juicy and flavorful meatballs. We start with a surprising ingredient. You'll need three slices of white bread. Remove the crust, then dice the bread or tear it into small pieces. Transfer those to a large mixing bowl and add two-thirds cup of cold water. Let the bread soak up the liquid for about five minutes, then mash it up with a fork. Now add one pound of ground beef and one pound of sweet ground Italian sausage with the casings removed. Also add one large egg, four minced garlic cloves, a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Mix everything to combine and it's easiest just to use your hands. Oh and I almost forgot, add one quarter cup of grated parmesan cheese and stir everything together. Divide the meat into about 22 one and a half inch meatballs and it's so easy to just use a trigger release ice cream scoop. Use your hands to roll each one into a ball, then dip in flour, tapping off the excess. Once all of your meatballs are formed, place a large heavy pot or dutch oven over medium heat and add three tablespoons of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add half of the meatballs without crowding the pot and saute until they're browned on all sides or about two minutes per side. The meatballs will not be fully cooked through at this point, just browned. Transfer those to a platter and repeat with the second batch. Now in the same pot, add one cup of diced onions and saute, stirring occasionally for five minutes. Now add four minced garlic cloves and stir for one minute. Pour in two 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes and add two bay leaves. Stir the sauce to combine and bring it to a light boil. Add the meatballs back to the pot along with any accumulated juices, stirring to submerge the meatballs, then partially cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook one pound of spaghetti in salted water according to the package instructions until al dente or softer if your family loves it that way. Drain the pasta without rinsing it. Five minutes before the sauce is done, add two tablespoons of chopped basil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Combine the cooked pasta with the sauce and stir until the noodles are evenly coated. It is dinner time and I am so excited because I've got this juicy meatball pasta staring back at me. All right, we're gonna give this a quick toss. Make sure everything is really well combined and all the noodles are coated in that luscious sauce. Wow, this is so saucy. Look at this. Yum and loaded with meatballs. Okay and my favorite way to serve this is family style. So we're gonna pour this all into a big serving pasta bowl. All right, just all at once. You ready? All right, gonna use those muscles. That last noodle. Come on. Okay, there we go. Smooth, kind of. All right. Oh, yum, yum, yum. So many meatballs. This is the perfect family dinner and garnish with a little bit more fresh basil and of course parmesan cheese. Lots of parmesan. This adds great flavor and just makes it feel like a restaurant and this grater is really fun. I'll leave a link below. Okay, a little more. Little cheese happy there. Okay and now I'm gonna serve it up. You can just hear how saucy it is. Oh my. Okay and a little bit more basil gives it that fresh pop of color and flavor of course and a little more cheese because who can resist. All right, looks like a nice mountain. Okay and I'm gonna cut into one of these meatballs because I want to show you guys just how soft and tender they are. Oh my goodness, fork goes right through it. All right, here we go. Big bite. Oh my goodness, those meatballs are just melt in your mouth tender and the secret to making them so good is combining ground beef with that sweet Italian sausage. Such a great flavor combination and searing them on the stove first seals in all the juices and then they slow cook in that marinara sauce. Oh my goodness, this is so good. So worth the effort. This is absolutely kid-friendly, one of my kids' favorite meals and it reheats really well so it's perfect for work lunches and meal planning. I hope this spaghetti and meatballs recipe becomes a new favorite in your home. If you guys enjoy this video, give us a great big thumbs up below, make sure to subscribe to our channel and we'll see you next time. Hey, before you go, if you're looking for more meal planning ideas, you know, things that reheat really well that you can eat throughout the week, check out some of our favorite dishes right over here and right down there and before you go, click below to subscribe and when you do, click that little bell icon so you'll get notifications every time we post a new recipe.