Description
These ricotta meatballs are tender, light and incredibly delicious and are what meatball dreams are made of! They take no time to prepare but are fancy enough for a Saturday night dinner! Say hello to your new favorite meatball recipe.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound ricotta cheese
- 1 pound ground turkey or chicken
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (plus more for serving)
- 1 tbsp parsley (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon salt (or as needed)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Freshly grated nutmeg (as needed)
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 4 cups classic marinara
- 1 lemon for zesting
- pan spray (as needed)
- lemon (zested, as needed)
- parsley (chopped, as needed)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl (except marinara) and mix with hands until completely smooth, pale and homogenized.
- Spray down a sheet pan or a foil pan with pan spray
- Using an ice cream scoop, messily place the mixture onto the sheet pan.
- Form meat into golf ball size balls, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
- Place them into a 450-degree oven for 12-15 minutes.
- In another pan, heat up the marinara in a pot large enough to fit the marinara and the meatballs.
- If serving with marinara, once the meatballs are done, carefully add them into the pot with the marinara and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
- Serve meatballs in sauce alone, or over pasta; sprinkle fresh Parmesan, grate some lemon zest and sprinkle some chopped parsley on top.
Notes
- Both the sauce and the meatballs can be made ahead of time.
- The meatballs and the sauce are both very freezer friendly. Just place them into ziplock bags or into a freezer safe container and freeze until needed. You can also place them both into a foil pan and freeze covered in the sauce until needed. Simply reheat right in the oven without defrosting at 350 degrees COVERED until they come to temperature.