These freeze beautifully (no garlic) and make wonderful spaghetti, meatball sandwiches, or in a meatball stew. You can also use them for cocktail meatballs or Swedish meatballs, vary the size and seasonings to suit your needs.
You can use part of these when you make them and freeze the remainder after cooling for 30 minutes. Freezing directions below.
Double the large recipe to make dinner meatballs for 100 people.
These are dinner-size meatballs, about 16 to the pound, allow 4 per person. For cocktail meatballs, shape 24-25 to the pound and allow 3-4 per person.
| To make 48 meatballs | To make 200 meatballs | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| 2-1/2 pounds | 10 pounds | ground round or chuck |
| 1 pound | 4 pounds | hot or sweet Italian sausage casings removed (may use turkey sausage) |
| 5 | 20 | large eggs, beaten |
| 1/4 cup | 2 cups | minced yellow onion |
| 1-2/3 cups | 6-1/2 cups | fine dry breadcrumbs OR substitute ground Parmesan for 1/3 cups or 1-1/2 cups of the crumbs |
| 3 tablespoons | 3/4 cup | cornstarch |
| 2 teaspoons | 2 tablespoons | salt |
| 1 teaspoon | 1 tablespoon | pepper |
| 1 tablespoon | 3 tablespoons | fresh thyme OR |
| 2 teaspoons | 5 teaspoons | dried thyme |
| 1 teaspoon | 2-1/2 teaspoons | dried, crushed rosemary |
| 2 cups | 2 quarts | milk OR reconstituted nonfat dry milk |
Mix all ingredients lightly but very well and form into meatballs.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place meatballs in a shallow stiff baking pan with sides and bake about 30 minutes, until meat is no longer pink and internal temp is 155 degrees or above.
Remove pan carefully to avoid spilling hot grease, or use a spatula to remove part of the meatballs if the pan is very full. The leftover meat juice/fat mixture can be frozen to use in flavoring plain cooked dried beans.
You can use part of these at this point and freeze the remainder after cooling for 30 minutes.
To freeze, cool 30 minutes. Place a dozen meatballs in a single layer on freezer wrap and fold over wrap neatly. Or freeze partially on a cookie sheet and place single layers in zippered plastic bags.
Store bags flat. Do not stack anything on top of the meatball packages in the freezer for at least 12 hours.
To serve, heat the frozen meatballs covered in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes or until warmed through. Or thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Add to recipe or heated sauce of choice.
SAFETY WARNING: NEVER refreeze thawed meatballs until they have been cooked to 160 degrees internal temperature.