One Pot Meatball Pasta
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One Pot Meatball Pasta is the ultimate weeknight dinner. Easy to make in under an hour, this delicious meal will be loved by your whole family!
Tyler’s Tips for the Best Meatball Pasta
- Prep your meatballs in advance. You can bake the meatballs ahead of time and store them in the freezer so you can save time on assembling the tiny meatballs. This is the most time consuming part but it is absolutely worth it!
- Buy pre-made mini meatballs. You can sometimes find pre-made mini meatballs in the freezer section, but we prefer to make them fresh at home and freeze them!
- Don’t overcook the pasta! Cook the pasta until the liquid has just absorbed then remove from the heat to avoid mushy pasta!
substitutions
Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil, but we really recommend extra virgin olive oil.
Ground Beef: We like 85/15 ground beef. Feel free to use leaner ground beef depending on what you like. I haven’t tried making this with ground turkey or ground chicken but I think it would work.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Pasta Sauce: Any pasta sauce will work. We recommend looking for a low sodium jarred pasta sauce, or you can make your own. Follow our Crockpot Tomato Sauce Recipe!
storage
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Freezing: We don’t recommend freezing this recipe. The pasta will get mushy.
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or on the stove in a sauté pan with a little bit of olive oil. If it seems dry when reheating, add a splash of chicken broth.
other One Pot Pasta recipes:
One Pot Meatball Ditalini
Ingredients
For The Meatballs:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 egg
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
For The Pasta:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup dried ditalini
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 ½ cups chicken stock
- 1 cup jarred Marinara Pasta Sauce
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Make the meatballs: In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, milk, basil, parsley, pepper and salt. Mix together until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated.
- Roll the tiny meatballs. We recommend using a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon. You can also just use your hands. It’s a lot of work, but we promise it’s worth it!
- In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat.
- Add the meatballs to the pan and cook for 8 minutes until the meatballs are brown on the exterior. Make sure to gently stir occasionally to brown all sides.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic to the pan. Cook for 4 minutes until they begin to soften.
- Add the ditalini to the pan. Saute for 1 minute allowing the ditalini to gently toast in the pan.
- Add the dried spices, chicken stock and marinara sauce into the pan. Stir together to evenly incorporate all of the ingredients. Cover with a lid, turn the heat to medium high and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure the ditalini does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the ditalini has cooked and most of the liquid has evaporated, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
- Top with extra parmesan cheese, serve and enjoy!
I don’t have ditalini. Can I use elbow?
I have only tried this recipe with ditalini. I think elbows might work but can’t be sure without trying it – I’m sorry!
This meal was delicious and easy! My kids and husband all loved it, which is not the norm in my home. Next time I would double the meatball recipe, so I could freeze them and then next time I make the dish it would be even easier. I definitely will have this on our dinner rotation!
My favorite thing I’ve made in a while! I have been thinking about it since I made last and I can’t wait to make it again! Delicious!!
Made this last week and it was so easy and delicious! I love that it was all made in one pan as well. Will definitely be making again! 🙂
If I were to make the meatballs in advance, would I follow the same directions of pan frying them? Or are there different baking instructions?
You can pan fry them, or you can bake them in the oven. Baking in the oven is probably quicker (and cleaner, lol!). Place the meatballs on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at the meatballs for 10 minutes at 450 degrees F until they are browned. Let them cool completely then store in a ziploc bag in the freezer or container in fridge until you’re ready to use them.