These baked cinnamon meatballs are light, tender and served in a classic marinara sauce. The flavor combination of beef, cinnamon, garlic and tomato is delicious and makes this easy dinner great.
My ingredient notes:
- I adapted America's Test Kitchen's classic meatball recipe here but left out the Parmesan they use and added the cinnamon.
- Instead of the commonly used bread crumbs, this recipe uses sandwich bread cubes mashed with sour cream and milk. This keeps the meatballs from becoming dense and tough and adds a bit of tanginess that goes great with the remaining flavors.
- I used a full teaspoon of cinnamon for 1 pound of ground beef, which gives these meatballs an unmistakable but not overpowering cinnamon flavor.
Full Recipe
Cinnamon Meatballs
These baked cinnamon meatballs with marinara sauce are comfort food at its best.
Equipment:
Ingredients:
Method:
For the meatballs:
- Mix sour cream and milk together. Soak the bread cubes in the mix for about 10 minutes.6 tablespoons full-fat sour cream, 2 tablespoons whole milk, 2 slices white sandwich bread, cut into ¾-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
- In a separate bowl, mix beef, parsley, egg, garlic, salt and cinnamon with a large fork.*1 pound ground beef (80 percent lean or up to 90 percent lean), 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, 1 large egg, 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced or pressed through a garlic press, ¾ teaspoon table salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Add the soaked bread cubes to the meat and mash everything together.
- Form 18 to 20 meatballs using a spring-loaded metal scoop or your hands. (Use about 2 tablespoons of the mix per meatball.) Set the meatballs directly onto non-stick baking sheets (no need to grease the sheets).
- Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes.
For the marinara sauce:
- Heat the olive oil in a pan or Dutch oven.1 tablespoon olive oil
- Add the onions and saute for a few minutes, until they are starting to soften.¼ cup finely diced white or yellow onion (you need about ⅓ of a small onion for that)
- Add wine, tomatoes and oregano.½ cup dry red wine, 1 can crushed tomatoes (28 ounces), 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- Add the meatballs to the sauce.
- Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the sauce has cooked down to the desired thickness.
- Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- Serve the meatballs and sauce with spaghetti, crusty bread or in meatball sandwiches.
Recipe notes:
*I like to use a serving fork for this step. It's large and sturdy enough to mash everything together easily.
Storage instructions:
Store any leftover meatballs and sauce together in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. You can also transfer the meatballs and sauce into a freezer bag and freeze.
Did you make this recipe?Please consider leaving a review- THANK YOU!
Nutrition (estimate only):
More cinnamon beef recipes:
- This stuffed butternut squash with ground beef is easy to make and full of great fall flavors.
- This gnocchi Stroganoff has melt-in-your-mouth tender beef in a delicious fall-spiced red wine cream sauce.
Comments
No Comments