Easiest Meatballs Ever

Here it is, the easiest meatball recipe ever. You won’t believe how simple (and delicious!) these are.

A quick Google search for “easy meatball recipe” will yield over 30 million results. 30 MILLION! Do you know what’s not easy? Sorting through 30 million results to find the one you’re looking for.

The good news is that I’ve done the hard work – sorting through recipes, researching, testing different methods – and have come up with the easiest (and tastiest) meatball recipe ever.

Why are These Meatballs the Easiest?

There are two key factors when it comes to ease – how easy the recipe is to prepare (quick method, no obscure ingredients) and ease of cleanup. I’d argue that ease of cleanup is just as important as preparation. Life’s too busy to spend a ton of time cleaning up the kitchen.

Let’s start with the preparation. These meatballs require only 8 ingredients, which includes salt and pepper. All 8 of those ingredients get dumped into one bowl at the same time and mixed together. And the easiest part of it all? We use a cookie scoop (like this one) to evenly scoop out the meatballs and place them right on a parchment lined baking sheet. No dirty hands here.

Which leads us to cleanup. Toss out that parchment paper and you’re DONE. Easy meatballs for the win and one of your family’s favorite meals can be served up in no time.

Easy Meatballs

Contributor: Ellie O’Brien

Here it is, the easiest meatball recipe ever. You won’t believe how simple (and delicious!) these are.

• Author: Ellie O’Brien
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Entrée
• Method: Baked
• Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Ingredients

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• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ⅓ cup finely chopped onion
• ¼ cup minced Italian parsley (optional)
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. pepper

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Add all ingredients into a large bowl and mix until combined. You can do this with a large spoon or with your hands. Don’t over-mix.
3. Using a cookie scoop (approximately 1 inch in diameter), scoop out the meatballs onto the parchment paper.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165°F on an instant read thermometer.

This post originally appeared in February 2018 and was revised and republished in January 2021.