A tried and true spaghetti and meatballs recipe that's been in the family for years. The smell of the sauce and meatballs alone is enough to make you want to make it over and over again!
In a medium saucepan, combine all sauce ingredients and mix well. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
For the meatballs
In a large bowl using a fork, combine all of the meatball ingredients. Gently mix with your fork so as not to smash the ingredients together. Too much working of the mixture can cause your meatballs to turn out tough.
Once everything is mixed, use your hands to be sure everything is combined well. Work with hands for no longer than one minute. Just long enough for everything to come together.
Use a cookie scoop to create meatballs. I don’t roll mine, just place them straight from the cookie scoop into the pan. You can roll them in your palms first, but again, only for a moment, don’t overwork the meat!
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in large saute pan or skillet. Brown meatballs on both sides, creating a nice crust. Remove meatballs and drain fat. Don’t scrape out any bits of meat from the pan!
Deglaze the pan with 2 tablespoons of wine. Return meatballs to the pan, pour marinara over the meatballs and bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for a minimum of 30 minutes. You can simmer the meatballs for up to 2 hours if you like, but you may need to add a little water throughout the process to keep the marinara from thickening too much.
Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles.
Notes
The meatball recipe makes 65 meatballs. I usually make the meatballs then split them into 3 batches. I freeze 2 batches for another day and cook the third. Feel free to cut the meatball ingredients in half to reduce the amount of meatballs.