A friend was spending time with a family member in the hospital, and I offered to cook dinner for her family. Somehow in the midst of a busy day, I had completely forgotten about preparing the meal. When my friend called to see if I was still planning to drop off the food in 45 minutes, I said “Of course!” This is the meatball recipe I created on the fly. I happened to have some garlic bread in the freezer, which I popped into the oven. I threw together a salad while the meatballs were cooking. In less than 40 minutes, I made an entire meal for a family of five! As a bonus, my friend called later that night to say how much her kids loved the meatballs. To this day, she has no idea that I had actually forgotten about making the meal. Well . . . up until this day.
- 1½ pounds extra-lean ground beef
- 1 20 oz jar tomato basil past sauce
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. salt
- Heat a skillet or pan over medium-high heat.
- Add oil; swirl to coat.
- Shape 20 meatballs (about 2 tablespoons each) and place in the olive oil.
- Sprinkle with salt.
- Sauté meatballs 3 minutes on each side then add pasta sauce over meatballs.
- Cover with a lid or tinfoil and cook for 15 minutes.
- Serve over rice or pasta.
- You can substitute ground turkey or ground chicken.
- Alternatively, this can be made in the Crock-Pot on low for 6 hours.
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I’m definitely not a cook but this looks simple enough for me to make! I haven’t had meatballs since I was a little girl and I was considering trying them soon. I love meatloaf so I don’t see why I wouldn’t enjoy meatballs!
This looks DELICIOUS! I can’t wait to try out this recipe. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ooh, love recipes with just a few ingredients, and my family and I love meatballs! I’ve totally spaced on delivering dinner before too, but I don’t think my offering ended up this amazing 🙂 Following you now on Facebook for more deliciousness!
Yummm! you don’t get much better than 3 ingredient meals!! These look so simple! Will definitely have to try it! With so many flavourful pasta sauces out there the possibilities can be endless!
This seems like an easy and clean recipe! Definitely need to try it out sometime soon.
This looks amazing. I think my whole family will enjoy this.
Karen, what a fun, simple recipe!! Last time I made meatballs was……months ago? I’ll have to try this recipe next week!!
Omgosh YUM!!! This looks like my kind of recipe- easy and delicious! For sure going to have to try it:)
This is my kind of meatball recipe. I’ve made meatballs with onions, eggs and breadcrumbs before, but I find myself not wanting to do it regularly enough. This is an easy weeknight meal for sure!
We’ll give these a shot tomorrow! my mouth is melting!
Love how simple this is, and you even included crockpot instructions! Sounds delicious.
Homemade meatballs are my favorite and these look to die for! I love how simple and easy it is!
Three ingredients is right up my alley. I love to keep meals simple when we have such hectic schedules.
You totally had me at “delicious and simple” 🙂 These look so yummy!
Thanks for a simple recipe I can make quickly! Can’t wait to try this.
What a delicious recipe! I love this idea – meatballs are always a great dinner idea!
omg what an easy and yummy looking recipe! I haven’t made meatballs in a while too, so this is definitely going on my grocery list 🙂