How to Make Parmesan Meatballs

Stop topping your meatballs with Parmesan and add it directly into the mix instead.

Almost everybody has tried the standard meatball, some to the point of boredom. You can enhance the versatility and flavor of your meatballs by adding Parmesan cheese to the mix. An Italian dish, Parmesan meatballs revamp the standard American meatball recipe, adding parsley to the mix to accentuate the flavor of Parmesan cheese. Making these meatballs is no more difficult than making hamburger patties; in terms of tools, a standard kitchen is all you need.

Things You'll Need

• Ground meat (beef or turkey)
• Panko
• Egg, scrambled but uncooked
• Parmesan cheese, preferably fresh
• Chopped parsley
• Chopped garlic
• Dry herbs and spices, such as oregano, basil, pepper and salt
• Olive oil (any type)
• Oven
• Baking dish

Instructions

1. Mix the meatball ingredients. Mix the meat, panko, egg, Parmesan, parsley, garlic and herbs together. You do not need to add olive oil. In terms of proportions, you have plenty of flexibility. The only rules are that meat should be the main dry ingredient and the egg should be enough to make all of the other dry ingredients stick together reliably.

2. Grease the baking dish with a thin layer of oil. Put a small puddle of olive oil in the middle of the baking dish. Spread the oil over the pan with your hand or a brush.

3. Shape the meatballs. Pinch off a chunk of the meatball mixture approximately the size of a golf ball. Use your hands to shape the chunk into a sphere. Place them on the baking dish.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

5. Place the baking dish in the oven, preferably on one of the middle racks.

6. Let the meatballs cook for half an hour. Check on the meatballs occasionally. If you see the crust of the meatballs are brown prior to the end of the half hour, take them out early.

References

• "Joy of Cooking"; Irma Rombauer et al.; 2006
• "On Cooking"; Sarah Labensky et al.; 2010