Two Meatballs in One

Recipe By Lynns Kitchen
Rating
Published Jun 19th
Two Meatballs in One
Prep 20m Cook 1h 30m Additional - Ready In 1h 50m
Servings 8 servings Calories 483.4

This is a sweet Italian sausage meatball tucked inside of a beef meatball. Very yummy and a great conversation starter. This is a labor intensive effort, but it is one of the most flavorful and moist meatballs I’ve ever eaten. It is also a very fun way to serve a very standard but beloved dish. Serve with your favorite pasta.

Recipe Ingredients

  • 4 sweet Italian pork sausage, casings removed
  • ½ cup water, or as needed
  • 2 ¼ pounds ground beef
  • ½ cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ sweet onion, minced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 (15 ounce) can no salt-added diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
  • 2 teaspoons white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon dried sweet basil
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Cooking Directions

  1. 1 Form pork sausage into small 1/2-inch meatballs using a small scoop. Fill a skillet with enough water to make a 1-inch depth; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer. Cook meatballs in the simmering water until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove meatballs with a slotted spoon and cool on a paper towel-lined plate. Drain water.
  2. 2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  3. 3 Mix ground beef, bread crumbs, ketchup, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, egg, granulated garlic, and 1 teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl. Scoop ground beef mixture into about 1-inch portions using an ice cream scooper; form each portion around 1 small pork meatball to cover completely. Arrange double meatballs on a baking sheet.
  4. 4 Bake in the preheated oven until meatballs are browned and partially cooked, about 25 minutes.
  5. 5 Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat; cook and stir onion and garlic in the hot oil until onion is softened, about 10 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, sugar, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon black pepper, basil, and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer sauce for 20 minutes. Add meatballs to sauce and simmer, stirring gently, until meatballs are fully cooked, about 20 more minutes.

Nutrition Facts

  • Calories 483.4
  • Carbohydrate 18.6 g
  • Cholesterol 120.5 mg
  • Fat 31.6 g
  • Fiber 2.4 g
  • Protein 31.1 g
  • Saturated Fat 11.6 g
  • Sodium 878 mg
  • Sugar 8.1 g

Chef's Notes

My 5 pork sausage links made 28 meatballs, but my beef only made 20, so I have 8 nice little meatballs I'm going to cut up and use on pizza next week. I would imagine 2 1/2 pounds of beef would probably make 28 meatballs, or use only 4 links of sausage instead of 5 for 2 1/4 pounds of beef. Whatever works!; You can use Butterball(R) lean sweet Italian turkey sausage links for a leaner meatball.

Reviews

  1. R Gibler Sep 22, 2015 01:07 AM
    I changed slightly to include 1 pound of Italian pork 1 pound Italian turkey and I pound premium beef. Mixing all together and baked as instructed. Very tasty!
  2. Marianne Aug 12, 2013 12:24 PM
    I halved this recipe and came up with 19 meatballs making sure to have no leftover parts. I used 2 Italian sausages and 1 pound of hamburger using a small cookie scoop for the sausage (and that cut in half) and a larger scoop for the hamburger. It was a little difficult to get the - Read more ...