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Hearty Marinara Sauce and Meatballs

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a.k.a. Sunday Sauce. Thick and chunky marinara sauce loaded up with Italian spices and served over easy homemade meatballs and pasta.

Most days I have a strong feeling that this sauce is what’s running through my veins.

Hearty Marinara Sauce and Meatballs - a classic (and delicious) Italian sauce recipe perfect for a crowd. | My Sequined Life

Do you have a meal from your childhood that embodies all things love, tradition, family, and heritage (not to mention loads of flavor)? This hearty marinara sauce and meatballs is that meal for me. Sunday afternoons I’d hang around the house attempting to do my homework on the brink of intoxication from the smell of this sauce simmering away on the stove top. Eventually my homework would be finished and tucked away in my backpack and I’d celebrate by eating my weight in sauce, meatballs, pasta, cheese, crusty Italian bread…you know, the best of the best in Italian food.

Basically my spirit food is a big ‘ol bowl of this sauce. (Is ‘spirit food’ a thing? Like a spirit animal?)

Hearty Marinara Sauce and Meatballs | My Sequined Life

While it takes a bit of planning ahead, the active time in this recipe is pretty minimal. You start by browning the onions and mixing the sauce ingredients together. While the sauce begins simmering, you mix up the ground beef and other meatball ingredients and roll ’em into meatballs. The meatballs bake for awhile, then take a swim in the sauce for a few more hours until the sauce is beautifully thick and your willpower has just about run out.

The beauty of this sauce is that the quantity is so adaptable. As written, this will make a large pot that will feed a crowd of hungry friends and relatives. Maybe even with some leftovers. When B and I make this for ourselves, we typically halve the recipe and it still yields enough for 4-5 meals. Sometimes though we make up a big batch and freeze half of it for super speedy, homemade future deliciousness. A stocked freezer makes me happy. 🙂

Hearty Marinara Sauce with Meatballs | My Sequined Life

I’m the type who likes a little pasta with my sauce, so it should come as no surprise that in recent years I’ve been known to heat up a little bowl of leftover sauce for a late-night snack. Only sauce – no pasta. This marinara sauce is that good and my cravings for Italian food are so strong that usually any thoughts of a midnight bowl of ice cream or cookies are clouded out. It’s so thick and hearty that you can even eat the sauce straight-up with a fork, which will work in a pinch if all your spoons are in the dishwasher and you need sauce nooow (that’s happened so I know), but I suggest a spoon so you can enjoy eeevery little iota of this beauty.

Is it Sunday yet?

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Hearty Marinara Sauce and Meatballs

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 4 hours
Author Alyssa

Ingredients

For the sauce:

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 large onions chopped
  • 4-5 cloves garlic minced
  • 4 28- oz cans crushed tomatoes
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil may use 2-3 tsp dried

For the meatballs:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • dash of salt
  • dash of pepper
  • 1 lb. ground beef

Instructions

For the sauce:

  • In a large pot (at least 8 qt.) set over medium heat, add olive oil and let heat. Add onions and cook until soft and just starting to brown. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano, and basil and stir. Bring sauce to a simmer, and cover sauce pot (leaving lid open a crack) and let simmer while you prepare the meatballs.

For the meatballs:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, stir together eggs, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, salt and pepper. Add beef and stir until all ingredients are well-mixed. Form meatballs about 1 1/2 - 2" wide from the mixture. Place meatballs on a baking sheet and cook for 40 minutes.
  • Remove meatballs from oven and add to the sauce. Let sauce simmer on a low setting for an additional 2-3 hours, keeping the lid cracked. Stir sauce occasionally to ensure the very bottom doesn't burn.
  • To serve, spoon sauce and meatballs over pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, etc.

Notes

One of our favorite additions to this sauce is to add 5-6 sweet Italian sausages to the baking sheet with the meatballs, cook for 40 minutes, and add sausage to the sauce to simmer along with the meatballs.
Recipe can easily be halved.
Source: My Mom. 🙂

Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Catherine says

    Dear Alyssa, it doesn’t get any better than this! What a hearty and comforting meal…perfect any time!
    I remember my parents would sometimes have a little competition to see whose sauce was better…it brings back such fun memories! I always think of my mom and day when I cook, no matter what it is I’m making. xo, Catherine

    Reply

    • Alyssa says

      Sauce competitions sound so fun, Catherine! And no doubt delicious all the way around. I love the memories that cooking brings up. Thank you!

      Reply

  2. Ashley @ My Midwest Table says

    Spirit food is a thing! This sauce looks incredible, and I can totally see why you had a hard time focusing on homework with this simmering away. Being a grown up is pretty great sometimes. You can make this sauce whenever you want. 🙂 Yum!

    Reply

  3. Tina @ Tina's Chic Corner says

    Is it weird I want meatballs for breakfast? 😉 The holidays were always spent with my dad’s family which meant 100% Italian food so lasagna and meatballs are near and dear to my heart. 🙂 This meal looks 110% AH-mazing.

    Reply

    • Alyssa says

      Not weird at ALL, Tina! I think I’ve snacked on some leftover meatballs for breakfast before. 🙂 Your holidays sound a lot like my holidays in terms of the food. Y-U-M, and great memories, too!

      Reply

  4. Ashley says

    My grandma’s meatballs are that food for me! Ah they are so good! I would eat some for dinner with pasta … and then other times just eat them by themselves with a little bread for dipping. Yum yum!

    And these look delicious! I love meals that make a lot and freeze well!

    Reply

    • Alyssa says

      Meatballs, sauce, and bread for dipping…YES! So, so good. I’ve made a lot of dinners out of that alone, with maybe a token five to ten strands of spaghetti. Haha!

      Reply

    • Alyssa says

      Thanks Renee! I must admit the pasta was really there for the photo’s sake. I’ve definitely made a meal of just the sauce and meatballs before! 🙂

      Reply

  11. Maryann says

    This recipe brings back wonderful memories; many Sunday dinners with loved ones all enjoying “red gravy”‘ spaghetti and meatballs. What a treat.

    Reply

  12. Tash says

    Oh my! This sauce is so thick and delicious looking! Craving some marinara right now! The photo’s look as if they have come straight out of an Italian cook book! Yum 🙂

    Reply

  13. Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice says

    Spaghetti and meatballs definitely remind me of my childhood! And I still love eating it today! Your homemade sauce sounds delicious, as do the meatballs. This is one of my husband’s favorite meals, so I will definitely have to make this for him!

    Reply

  15. marcie says

    I could totally just eat a bowl of pasta sauce — I really don’t need the pasta! Especially when there’s delicious meatballs in them like this! This meal looks delicious, Alyssa! 🙂

    Reply

    • Alyssa says

      Haha I’m the same way, Marcie! The pasta was really there for the sake of the pictures. I’d be content just digging in to a bowl of sauce + meatballs!

      Reply

    • Alyssa says

      Hahaha Sues there are days my spirit food would be doughnuts, too! I don’t think I could stick with just one. 🙂

      Reply

  17. Danielle says

    Spirit food should definitely be a real thing! This sauce looks incredible and you can’t have a sauce this hearty without some meatballs. Love this!

    Reply

  18. Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says

    I used to love smelling Sunday dinner cooking all day when trying to do my homework. You just gave me a wonderful flashback to being a kid again. This sauce does sound amazing. I can see why you eat just the sauce as a snack sometimes. Yum!

    Reply

  21. Annie @Maebells says

    Don’t you love the power of food? How it can bring back memories and make you feel at home?! I love it! There is a cake my grandmother used to make that makes me feel the same way! Sometimes certain recipes are just good for your soul! 🙂
    Love this marinara by the way, total comfort food here!

    Reply

    • Alyssa says

      I love it too, Annie! So many memories of mine are connected with food, and I love that preparing and eating those foods years later bring me right back! Good for the soul. 🙂

      Reply

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