Description
Deliciously easy slow cooker Italian meatballs — perfect as an appetizer, with pasta or on a sub sandwich with melty cheese. Freezer-friendly, too!
Ingredients
Scale
- ½ cup milk
- 4 eggs
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 12 ounces bulk mild Italian sausage
- 1 ¼ cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 (24 oz) jars marinara pasta sauce (or make your own & use 6 cups)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together milk and eggs until combined. Add ground beef, Italian sausage, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder; stir with a wooden spoon or mix with your fingers until well combined.
- Heat broiler to high; place an oven rack about 4 to 5 inches from the broiler. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets with cooking spray or oil. Using your hands, shape (about 40) 1 to 2-inch meatballs from the mixture; place on prepared baking sheets.
- Broil meatballs 6 to 8 minutes, flipping halfway through, until browned. Transfer to a 6-quart slow cooker.
- Top meatballs evenly with sauce. Cover and cook on low 4 to 5 hours in the slow cooker until meatballs are cooked through to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees F.
- Serve on top of pasta, on split hoagie rolls with melty cheese for meatball sub sandwiches, alongside buttery mashed potatoes or on their own as an appetizer.
- TO FREEZE: Let meatballs and sauce cool completely. Place in a resealable plastic bag and freeze in a single layer; or, freeze in a Tupperware container. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then heat the thawed mixture (meatballs and sauce) together until heated through.
Notes
- This recipe makes a lot of meatballs, so if you don’t plan to freeze any I’d suggest halving the recipe.