Our Best Meatball Recipes

Japanese-Style Chicken Meatballs

“Perfect recipe!” wrote one reader of our savory-sweet chicken meatballs, based on Japanese tsukune.

By Courtney HillJanuary 11, 2022

Vietnamese-Style Chicken Meatballs

These flavor-packed, quick-and-easy meatballs were inspired by traditional Vietnamese pork meatballs. They can be served with lettuce leaves for wrapping, piled onto cooked rice to make rice bowls, added to Southeast Asian soups or tucked into a bague

By Julia RackowOctober 13, 2020

Spaghetti and Meatballs

What makes the perfect spaghetti and meatballs? We looked to Naples, though the combination isn’t actually served in Italy.

By Rose HattabaughApril 25, 2023

Spiced Chicken and Cashew Meatballs

Roasted cashews ground in a food processor with a few seasonings add richness and bold flavor to these oven-cooked meatballs. Ground cardamom lends subtle citrus, mint and floral notes, while garam masala adds a warm, well-rounded spiciness; use which

By Rose HattabaughOctober 13, 2020

Spanish-Style Meatballs

These tapas-style meatballs, called albondigas, are rich and satisfying. Smoked paprika not only spices the meatballs, it also flavors the sauce and helps thicken it to a glaze-like consistency. For this recipes, look for firm, meaty green olives such

Neapolitan Meatballs with Ragù

Naples is best known for pizza—but we went for the generously-sized, ultra-tender meatballs.

By Diane UngerDecember 18, 2019

Turkish Meatballs with Lime Yogurt Sauce

There are many variations (and spellings) of kofta across the Middle East and North Africa, but essentially they’re seasoned patties, often made from ground lamb or a blend of beef and lamb. It’s the rest of the world’s answer to the Italian meatball.

By Diane UngerApril 20, 2017

Pecorino “Meatballs” in Tomato Sauce

At Checchino dal 1887, a restaurant in Rome’s Testaccio neighborhood, we were introduced to pallotte cacio e ova, or cheese and egg balls. The dish exemplifies the cooking of cucina povera, which takes simple, local ingredients and transforms them int

By Courtney HillMarch 2, 2025

Curried Chicken and Cashew Meatballs

Dried out, flavorless ground chicken? Just add cashews! In these super tender meatballs, the fatty nuts fix both problems. Meanwhile, torn-up bread mashed with yogurt further helps with tenderization while also binding the mixture. Either dark- or whi

By Felisia TanMarch 26, 2025

Greek Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

These Greek cigar-shaped meatballs are known as soutzoukakia smyrneika. The spicing reflects the dish’s origins in Smyrna, a former Greek settlement and now the Turkish city of Izmir. Soutzoukakia often are made with beef or a combination of beef and

By Calvin CoxJune 11, 2021

Greek Meatballs with Tomato Sauce (Soutzoukakia)

These tender-sweet, all-pork meatballs are seasoned with cumin and simmered in a garlicky honeyed tomato sauce.

By Courtney HillApril 1, 2022

Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce (Albondigas Enchipotladas)

These Mexican meatballs are served in a tomato sauce laced with spicy, smoky chipotle chilies. Canned fire-roasted tomatoes are an easy way to give the sauce flavor that accentuates the smokiness of the chipotles. Instead of browning the meatballs on

By Courtney HillOctober 15, 2019

Baked Meatballs with Spicy Tomato Sauce

A go-to pantry flavor solution does double duty when we add it to both meatballs and sauce. Depending on your mood and what you have on hand, give the dish a Mexican flair with smoky-spicy chipotle chilies in adobo, or use the spice paste harissa for

By Courtney HillOctober 16, 2023

Belgian Meatballs (Boulets à la Liégeoise)

This recipe was inspired by “a torrent of 700 foil-wrapped meatballs” we saw rain from balconies in Belgium.

By Diane UngerFebruary 4, 2019

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato-Chipotle Sauce

Albóndigas en chipotle, or meatballs in chipotle sauce, is a Mexican classic. We use ground turkey (dark meat is best for flavor and texture, but white meat works, too), and we bind it with both breadcrumbs and pepper jack cheese. Additional cheese go

By Diane UngerApril 7, 2020

Meatballs in Spicy Tomato-Basil Sauce

Ground fennel seeds lend these meatballs a subtle licorice-like sweetness, making them reminiscent of Italian sausage. Use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the whole seeds to a powder, or if you're able to find preground fennel seed at th

By Diane UngerApril 7, 2020

Egg-Stuffed Mexican Meatballs with Salsa Roja

Like the ones we were taught to make in Mexico, these meatballs, or albóndigas, hide a sliver of hard-cooked egg at the center. For best flavor and texture, we use a combination of ground beef and pork. The tomato-onion-garlic puree that becomes the s

By Courtney HillAugust 10, 2020

Turkish Beef and Rice Meatballs (Kadınbudu Köfte)

Plump and juicy, Türkiye’s pan-fried beef and rice balls achieve the perfect balance of tender interiors and golden-brown crustiness.

By Diane UngerApril 4, 2023

Pork Meatballs with Lemon Grass and Dill

The inspiration for these meatballs comes from Southeast Asia (dill, though more a Western herb, is used in the cooking of northern Vietnam). If you can find ground galangal, it’s great in place of the ground ginger; it lends a citrusy, uniquely South

Bombídia-Style Greek Meatballs with Feta-Yogurt Sauce

Greek soutzoukakia are oblong or cigar-shaped meatballs spiked with cumin, garlic and other seasonings that are typically served in a tomatoey sauce. But Bombidia in Thessaloniki specializes in grilled soutzoukakia, with a creamy yogurt-feta sauce on

By Lawman JohnsonApril 14, 2026

Cashew-Coconut Meatballs with Creamy Spiced Tomato Sauce

This take on Indian kofta (meatballs) includes roasted cashews and coconut, both of which add richness and texture to the dish. The meatballs can be shaped up to an hour in advance and refrigerated until ready to cook. Steamed basmati rice or warmed f

By Sandra Rose GluckFebruary 5, 2018

The Original Spaghetti and Meatballs (Pasta alla Chitarra con Pallottine)

In towns across the Abruzzo region in central Italy, we learned to make a local specialty: pasta alla chitarra con pallottine, the ancestor of Italian American spaghetti and meatballs. Pasta alla chitarra, the pasta used in Italy, is a long strand sha

By Courtney HillAugust 16, 2024

Gundi

"At first bite of this wonderful soup, the flavors of gundi are reminiscent of falafel. All of the rich, warm spices we are familiar with, in a rustic and simple broth. Gundi is to Iranian Jews what the matzo ball is to Eastern European Jews. Sometime

Vietnamese-Style Meatball Lettuce Wraps

Meatballs, carrot salad and a dipping sauce? Seems like a lot of work. But not so with these Vietnamese-style meatballs.

Roman-Style Meatball Cacciatore

At Piatto Romano restaurant in Rome, we learned that the local way to make cacciatore doesn’t involve tomatoes. Rather, the sauce has a base of white wine and is infused with rosemary and garlic, plus anchovies that lend umami but whose flavor otherwi

By Kevin ClarkFebruary 18, 2025

Baked Kefta with Tahini

These succulent Jordanian meatballs, kefta, meld beef with aromatics and a tangy, lemony tahini coating.

By Rose HattabaughDecember 19, 2022

Beef and Pine Nut Kofte

These Turkish-style kofte (meatballs—or, in this case, patties) get their fine, tender texture and rich flavor from processing the beef with ground pine nuts, parsley and spices. Moistening your hands when shaping the mixture helps minimize sticking.

By Rose HattabaughFebruary 10, 2020

Moroccan Meatball Tagine

The term “tagine” refers to a Moroccan shallow earthenware cooking vessel with a conical lid as well as the stewy dishes prepared in the pot. To make this tagine of tender, warmly spiced meatballs simmered in a thick tomato sauce—a much-simplified ver

By Diane Unger & Courtney HillJanuary 11, 2022