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By: The Chunky Chefpublished: 10/02/2016
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This hearty meatball Parmesan bake combines homemade meatballs, marinara, and Italian cheeses in one skillet or pan. Perfect for subs, pasta, and more!
Velvety soft homemade meatballs combine with robust marinara sauce and savory Italian cheeses in this ultra hearty meatball Parmesan bake. Serve these meatballs with pasta, use them to make meatball subs/sliders, or just serve them along with a crusty piece of bread!
Okay guys… I’m sharing one of our favorite Italian-style meals!
This recipe. OMG. We have it a LOT here for dinner, because it’s just so delicious. It can be a bit time consuming if you make it straight through at once, but I’ll give you some tips below on how to make this faster and easier to prepare!
The buttery-soft homemade meatballs are definitely the star here. They’re so melt-in-your-mouth due to a great combination of equal parts beef, pork and veal (but feel free to omit the veal and just use beef and pork if you object to veal), and soaking the breadcrumbs in milk before adding them to the mixture.
I know some people have issues with cooking tomato based sauces in a cast iron pan (it can cause a slightly metallic taste and can potentially strip the seasonings off your pan), but if you have a WELL seasoned cast iron pan, it shouldn’t be an issue.
I use my cast iron pans for nearly everything, so they’re very well seasoned, but I wouldn’t cook this recipe in a newly purchased pan. To be safe, you could use an enameled cast iron pan (like this one), or bake your meatballs on a baking sheet them transfer them to glass baking dish (like a 13×9″).
We love to serve this meatball Parmesan bake as is, with a salad and some nice crusty bread… but it’s also amazing with pasta, or even put onto a bun for the most delicious meatball sub you’ve ever had!
Ways To Make This Meatball Parmesan BakeFaster:
- Make meatballs ahead of time and keep refrigerated until ready to use.
- Make meatballs and freeze them (I recommend doubling the meatball recipe, keeping half in the refrigerator for use soon, and freezing the second half)
- In a pinch, you could substitute your favorite frozen meatball, partially thawed, and cook as directed, starting with the sauce step
Helpful Tools for This Recipe:
- LODGE SQUARE CAST IRON SKILLET– This is the pan used in this recipe/photos… it’s the perfect size!
- LODGE ENAMELED CAST IRON BRAISER– If you’re not comfortable cooking a tomato based dish in a regular cast iron, this is an excellent alternative!
- SMALL COOKIE SCOOP – This little miracle makes the perfect sized meatballs, with hardly any mess!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Meatball Parmesan Bake
4.56 from 25 votesAuthor: The Chunky Chef
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour hour
Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes
Calories: 645
Servings: 4 -6 servings
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This hearty meatball Parmesan bake combines homemade meatballs, marinara, and Italian cheeses in one skillet or pan. Perfect for subs, pasta, and more!
Ingredients
MEATBALLS
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground veal
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup shredded Asiago cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Handful of fresh parsley chopped
- 2 eggs
- salt and pepper to taste
CASSEROLE
- 1-2 jars of marinara sauce of your choice
- 1 - 1 1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese or shredded mozzarella
- Drizzle of olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- Fresh basil minced (for garnish)
- Fresh parsley minced (for garnish)
Instructions
MAKE THE MEATBALLS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line an oven safe skillet with foil and set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, mix breadcrumbs and milk. Set aside.
Mix ground meats, garlic, breadcrumb mixture, Asiago and Parmesan cheese, parsley, eggs, salt and pepper, by hand until just combined, being careful not to over-mix.
Use a small cookie scoop and form ping pong ball sized meatballs.
Spray prepared foil-lined skillet with cooking spray and place formed meatballs on the foil.
Bake for 20 minutes.
MAKE THE CASSEROLE
Lower oven temperature to 375 degrees F.
Place meatballs on a plate and remove foil from skillet.
Pour about 1/2 cup marinara sauce in the bottom of the skillet and spread to cover.
Place meatballs in skillet in a single layer.
Pour remaining marinara sauce over the top of the meatballs, then sprinkle shredded Italian cheeses over the top, so all the meatballs are covered in cheese.
Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the top of the cheese, then sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
Cover skillet with another piece of foil and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove foil and bake, uncovered, for another 20 minutes.
If desired, broil the dish for a minute or two after baking.
Garnish with fresh basil and parsley if desired.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
If you prefer not to use ground veal, substitute it with an equal amount of additional ground beef or pork.
Recipe adapted from Hugs and Cookies
Video
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
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Meet The Chunky Chef
Hey there! I'm Amanda. Wife, mother, photography nerd, and bacon lover! I believe that delicious meals should be easy to make. Now that you’re here, stay a bit, browse a few recipes, and let’s get cookin’!
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Niki says
These meatballs were AMAZING !! Didn’t have veal so I skipped the veal but wow. Delicious!!!
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Hanna says
This is one of my mom’s favorite recipes that I’ve made for us, and she asked me to make it again this year since my brother asked for spaghetti and meatballs while he’s in town for Christmas. One question— could I swap all of the meats in this for ground turkey? It will absolutely lose some of the deliciousness, but turkey was a request of his. What other changes would I need to make to accommodate for texture differences (if any)? Appreciate your insight ☺️
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The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested this recipe using only ground turkey, so I can’t say for certain whether any changes would need to be made. I would suspect you might want to add a touch of extra milk so they aren’t dry. If you do some experimenting, I’d love to know how it turns out 🙂
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Abby says
Can I use frozen meatballs?
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The Chunky Chef says
Yes 🙂
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Ali says
This was so great! Thanks for the recipe. I topped it with Mozzarella and parmesan as well.
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Tammy Hammett says
Easy, delicious recipe. My family favorite now.
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Ima says
So you made the meatballs, but not the sauce??? Eh
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Amanda says
Obviously you can use homemade sauce if you prefer… I have a homemade marinara here on the site 😉 That’s the beauty of recipes… you can adapt them as you see fit.
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Janalyn Huffman says
This Meatball recipe is the Bomb! I have been making it ever since I first found it 2-3 years ago! Have made it as is and used it for meatballs and spaghetti! Make them and freeze them to cook later, they hold up well! Definitely a Family Favorite!
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Linda Parker says
GREAT !! I made this today (just finished dining) and it was a very good recipe.
I used uncooked pork meatballs from our grocery, did the oven thing for 22 min, added mushrooms to the tomato blend sauce for extra body and taste, and followed the cheese addition as you instructed.
Hubby loved it as did I. Had 12 meatballs and a great leftover dish, with corn on the cob tomorrow! (He wanted corn instead of the salad I gave him today!)
Thank you Amanda – this is a keeper in our house.
Nieces & nephews coming for 2 wks in July — they well love this, I am sure!Reply
Linda Parker says
I forgot to rate it….. 5 ***** Star from me!
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Catherine says
I’m only using veal and ground beef. Do I need to add anything to make up for the pork?
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The Chunky Chef says
You’ll want to have a total of 1.5 lbs of meat, so you’ll want to do 3/4 lb of each beef and veal.
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Robin Swanson says
It was delicious! I used freshly made meatballs from my grocery store meat department. Yum!
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Samantha Johnson says
Can I use pre made meatballs? Not the frozen ones.
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The Chunky Chef says
You sure can 🙂
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Glo McDuffy says
Hi there. I absolutely love this recipe and made it without the veal but still awesome. Thank you!
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Sharry says
I made this for dinner tonight. It was FANTASTIC… Thank you
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Sophie Izzo says
I’ve adjusted the reciepe for 20 servings. It calls for 5 cups bread crumbs and 2.5 cups milk. Is the mixture supposed to be dry?
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The Chunky Chef says
It’s not supposed to be very liquid-y, the milk is just there to soften the breadcrumbs a bit, which makes a more tender meatball 🙂
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Chrissy Herald says
Hi. I’d like to substitute ricotta for the breadcrumbs (husband not a fan of breadcrumbs). Should I consider adjusting the number of eggs when using the ricotta or merely drain the ricotta? Thank you!
Reply
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Chrissy, you really wouldn’t even know the breadcrumbs are in the meatballs, as you don’t taste them at all. If you’d still like to sub ricotta for the breadcrumbs, I would drain it, but I’ve only tested the recipe as written, so I can’t say for certain how it will work out.
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Linda says
This was excellent! I didn’t change a thing. Thank you for sharing it.
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Theresa Tazbir says
Oh my gosh! Delicious!
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