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Today we’re making spaghetti and meatballs. These meatballs are super tender because of the ricotta addition. The sauce is super flavorful too and the best part is the whole recipe can be made in under 75 minutes! We hope you enjoy this spaghetti and ricotta meatballs recipe!

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****PRINT RECIPE WITH INSTRUCTIONS AND PROCESS SHOTS****
SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS PRINT RECIPE:

Spaghetti and Meatballs

INGREDIENTS WITH GRAM AMOUNTS (Gram amounts are estimates)

For The Sauce
1 pound (454g) spaghetti
¼ cup (56g) extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic – sliced
2 small anchovy fillets – optional
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ cup (120g) dry white wine
1 28-ounce (794g) can plum tomatoes – hand crushed or blender pulsed
2 24-ounce (680g per jar) jars passata
salt and pepper – to taste
¼ packed cup basil – hand torn
1 cup (240g) water – optional – For thinning sauce if needed
For The Meatballs
4 slices white bread – ends removed and cubed
1 cup (120g) ricotta
1 pound (454g) ground chuck
1 pound (454g) ground pork
1 cup (100g)Pecorino Romano – grated
½ cup flat-leaf Italian parsley – minced
2 large eggs
2 cloves garlic paste
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

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48 Comments

  1. As I said in the video, I often change up my sauce. It keeps things interesting in the kitchen and I encourage you to experiment often as well. Ricotta makes a very tender meatball and I recommend adding it to your meatballs. I'm pretty sure you will love it. The print recipe and ingredients are linked in the description. As always, thanks so much for liking and sharing our videos!

  2. You found out about the ricotta 👍 my mother in law has been using it in meatballs for 60 years 😋

  3. You make this food look so delicious I want to try and make it for my husband who loves spaghetti and meatballs 🥰 I also appreciate the video speed not taking an hour to make food

  4. Came back to thank you for the tip to dip your hands in water before rolling the raw meatball mixture. What a difference when I went to wash my hands afterwards!

  5. Honestly I think you've got the best cooking channel on youtube!! The food is great and the instructions and explanations of fundmentals have really helped my cooking. Thanks!!

  6. Jim,
    Let’s all take a minute to appreciate how you used the meatball recipe from Goodfellas (“I used 3 types a meat in the meatballs..veal, beef, and poahk…aahh butchu gotta have tha poahk…aauuhh that’s the flavah”) 😂

    Love your cooking and how your videos are a family production. You have a beautiful family.

  7. "the one ingredient you should never leave out."
    I'm hoping he says the pasta. Because that shit is integral to having spaghetti.

  8. Solid process and technique that's very adjustable in terms of ingredients, cost, flavor, effort, and simple enough in terms of equipment to be executed in any kitchen with a working cooktop. I give the presentation 9.5 out of 10.
    Let's see, how did my parents make "spaghetti" back in the '80s … get some Skinner spaghetti noodles, 24oz bag, pull out half, break them in half (of course!), drop them into a pot of boiling water with a tablespoon of butter. Brown ground beef in skillet, drain ground beef. Drain noodles and let rest in collander. Open two 8oz cans of Hunt's tomato sauce. Combine with beef in skillet and stir. Dump in noodles and stir. Serve with sweet corn, Kraft shaker parmesan powder, and Roman Meal wheat sandwich bread. NOTE: no spices were harmed or even disturbed in the preparation of this meal.

  9. Why would you call out a particular brand of Kosher Salt? Never seen that before…. I've never seen videos calling for a particular brand of Kosher Salt…. Strange.

  10. I find the ricotta works really well in the meatballs. This is also in the Ottolenghi cookbook.

  11. To avoid over mixing the meat mixture, I ask my butcher to grind the different meats together so they are already all combined and then I only need to mix in the other ingredients.

  12. Merci, a timely video. i'm defrosting the sauce I made a couple weeks ago to use on my next pasta recipe. And I'll be doing my sauce cooking day soon to fill up the freezer.

  13. I ordered Diamond salt because everyone on YouTube was using it. I prefer Morton’s. I’m just used to it.

  14. Great video! I’m a big fan of plating the spaghetti plain, then adding the meatballs, then liberally pouring the sauce over top

  15. Nobody in the comments section ever talks about whether or not they have tried the recipe as-is. Instead we get two responses:

    1.) "I did this, but I [insert a ton of ingredients and steps that I changed out without trying it first]."
    2.) Comments only about the interactions between the characters in the video, nothing about the actual food.

  16. Well, I am typically not a fan of ricotta in anything. Lasagna, for example, is a gloppy disgusting mess with it in there. But used here as secret tech to keep the meatballs moist might be perfect!

  17. I always saute fennel seed first in olive oil, then add the onions and garlic. Molto Bene'!

  18. I love the way you beam at your kids and Tara when they taste test. You are so proud of your family as they are of you

  19. One thing I learned years ago, always buy whole canned tomatoes instead of diced because they always use the best tomatoes for whole canned and the meh ones for diced.

  20. The best meatballs I ever had were at Mosca's in New Orleans. I think they put ricotta in the meatballs.

  21. James is a brutal critic ! You all are a fun family and produce a solid show — thank you !

  22. One of my favorite cooking shows, love how you show the consistency and look at different stages, but James and his reviews are my favorite part.

  23. This is exactly how, ironically, my polish grandmother on Long Island did this. She loved Italian food. She loved garlic. I used to snag a meatball before she added them to the sauce. They were so good. Even alone.

  24. Omg! Did not know this! What amt do u use for this particular recipe? I always have fish sauce in pantry! Thank u for the post.

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