- 1 pound ground lean beef
- ½ pound ground veal
- ½ pound ground pork
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1½ tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
- ½ small garlic clove, peeled and minced
- 2 cups bread crumbs
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 cup Rao’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Combine beef, veal, and pork in a large bowl. Add eggs, cheese, parsley, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Using your hands, blend ingredients together.
Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture. Slowly add water,1 cup at a time, until the mixture is quite moist.
Shape the meat mixture into balls (2½ to 3 inch balls).
Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan. When oil is very hot but not smoking, fry meatballs in batches. When bottom half of meatball is very brown and slightly crisp turn and cook top half. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.
Lower cooked meatballs into simmering Marinara Sauce and cook for 15 minutes. Serve over pasta or on their own.
Makes about 28 meatballs
Oh My Goodness–had these in Las Vegas and they were marvelous–So big you only need one. They are served a la carte and my husband and I split a pasta dish.
Can’t wait to try recipe!! Good comfort dish–warms the tummy.
I find it hard to believe that 2 pounds of ground meat makes 28 3 inch meatballs…but it does sound spectacular. Must try it. Yummmm…..!!!!!
Believe it! Great recipe. Enjoy!
Just made the meatballs… DELICIOUS and so easy to make.
I made the meatballs yesterday and they tasted great although they fell apart easily once I dropped them in the sauce.
Didn’t even get close to 28 meatballs and I DOUBLED the recipe.
Well worth trying. I ended up placing them in a pan covering with sauce and mozzarella then baking for about 20 min. Enjoy !
These meatballs are so tender and delicious. I used leftovers and made meatballs sandwiches with fresh mozzarella. They were fabulous! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
OMG!!! I must say these are some of the best meatballs I ever had…shhh dont tell my mom! I was a little nervous with 2 cups of water, once you mix it you will see why you need it! I made more that 28 meatballs with this recipe, but I dont make mine that big! Thanks for sharing this recipe, its awesome!
Thank you sooooooooooo much for this recipe The best meatballs I have ever had !!! I make them for my family and friends all the time and they are always a hit. I can’t believe you shared this recipe. We all really appreciate it.
You are sooooooooo welcome! We are glad that you enjoyed this recipe.
These are the GREATEST MEATBALLS on the planet earth. I’ve been making them for years ever since I bought the Rao’s cookbook which refers to them as Anna and Frankie’s meatballs.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!
How long in advance can these be made in advance and still be at there best? I made them recently and OH MY! Yummy!!!! Thanks for sharing! I have your cookbook!
It makes me very popular! lol
If you want these meatballs to taste fresh I would suggest to serve them the day they are made, but you could make them one day ahead. Enjoy!!
YOU SAVED OUR MARRIAGE. THANK YOU FOR BEING SO GENEROUS WITH YOUR RECIPES. WE DREAM OF VISITING YOUR RESTAURANT FOR OUR 40TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY IN 2012.
Can I freeze these meatballs after frying?
Yes you can, but I would suggest you let the meatballs cool down and put them in a freezer container. Enjoy!!
great recipe, though I like more garlic and parsley chopped to a paste and skim milk in lieu of water, because milk is pasteurized, and they will stay longer. But every italian knows how mom left a dozen fried meatballs on the side, just fried,with a long hot pepper on panella bread, and next two days like a mini meatloaf, sliced on sliced bread with kethcup or lettuce or hot peppers. But, if you flatten each one slightly before frying, then you will only need to turn them over once, from the hot oil splashing on the sides and they will brown all over faster. Hey JOE, it seems you either didnt use enuf eggs, cause you added more meat to recipe, or you didnt fry them right, or you added too much water. Next time, add half more by cutting all ingredients in half and make additional recipe. Furthermore joe. rao’s advised in recipe to make 2 1/2 to 3 inches, but not so exact if you are micro reading them. next time follow someones recipe first, before you take it apart. Thank you Mr Frank P. and family
These are great …. made them a while back…put them in the freezer and just dropped them in a sauce when needed….. I remember some on said you could bake them and I think I did instead of frying in oil ……can anyone confirm this????
Thank you!!
You can bake them, but will not taste as good as frying them. Enjoy!
I already baked them this weekend 425 deg 15 minutes triple batch made over 90 meatballs that were GREAT to say the least……. not as greasy and much easier than dealing with the oil pan….
I absolutely love these meatballs!!! I am going to make them for a Christmas Party this year. I usually make them with Spaghetti sauce. What type of sauce would you suggest that I use?
Thank you. I would recommend a Marinara sauce. Enjoy
Greetings. Is the cookbook still available for purchase? Is the NY restauranrt the only location? Thanks…
Happy New Year. Yes the cookbook is available on our website raos.com and there is a Rao’s restaurant in Las Vegas.
This is EXACTLY the kind of meatball recipe I was looking for! I’m going to make them tomorrow! Thank you!
Love this recipe and I don’t have the heart to tell my Mom that I’ve abandoned our 100-year-old family recipe for it. I made them on Sunday with the Rao’s marinara sauce and they tasted awesome. Very close to the way I remember them at the restaurant. I’m a big fan of your entire product line- especially the dry pasta. It’s much better than any of the other supermarket brands.
I hope you asked for a lot of money for that cookbook.
Rao’s meatball recipe is my favorite meatball recipe!!
Looking forward to making these meatballs…I always seem to have this problem once my meatballs go into the sauce some of them start to fall apart…any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong, or tips on how to keep this from happening ..Thanks in advance
Thank you. They are my favorite meatballs. I suggest adding a little more breadcrumbs, may be the meatballs are very moist.
I always bake them and they both turn out great and I do not have all the mess of cooking in olive oil……they will stay together better as well.
Enjoy
Can you freeze the meatballs before you fry them? I tried that and just pulled them out as needed. I let them thaw and then fried them… then put them in the sauce. Please advise!
I like to fry my meatballs then freeze them. I find out easier to just thaw them and put in the sauce. Whichever works best for you.