Hi everyone, its Natasha of Natashaskitchen.com and today we're making a family
favorite - spaghetti and meatballs in a
homemade marinara sauce. We're sharing
all of our secrets for incredibly tender,
juicy and flavorful meatballs. We start
with a surprising ingredient. You'll need
three slices of white bread. Remove the
crust, then dice the bread or tear it
into small pieces. Transfer those to a
large mixing bowl and add 2/3 cup of
cold water. Let the bread soak up the
liquid for about five minutes then mash
it up with a fork. Now add one pound of
ground beef and one pound of sweet
ground Italian sausage with the casings
removed. Also add one large egg, four
minced garlic cloves, a teaspoon of salt
and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Mix
everything to combine and it's easiest
just to use your hands.
Oh! and I almost forgot - 
add 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
and stir everything together. Divide the
meat into about 22  - 1.5"
meatballs and it's so easy to just use a
trigger release ice cream scoop. Use your
hands to roll each one into a ball then
dip in flour, tapping off the excess. Once
all of your meatballs are formed, place a
large, heavy pot or Dutch oven over
medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of
olive oil.
Once the oil is hot, add half of the
meatballs, without crowding the pot and
sauté until they're browned on all sides,
or about 2 minutes per side. The
meatballs will not be fully cooked
through at this point, just browned.
Transfer those to a platter and repeat
with the second batch. Now in the same
pot add one cup of diced onions and
saute stirring occasionally for five
minutes. Now add four minced garlic
cloves and stir for one minute. Pour in
two 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes
and add 2 bay leaves. Stir the sauce to
combine and bring it to a light boil. Add
the meatballs back to the pot along with
any accumulated juices, stirring to
submerge the meatballs, then partially
cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile cook 1 pound of spaghetti in
salted water according to the package
instructions until al dente or softer if
your family loves it that way. Drain the
pasta, without rinsing it 5 minutes
before the sauce is done. Add 2
tablespoons of chopped basil and season
with salt and pepper to taste.
Combine the cooked pasta with the sauce
and stir until the noodles are evenly
coated.
It is dinner time and I am so excited
because I've got this juicy meatball
pasta staring back at me.
Alright, we're gonna give this a quick
toss. Make sure everything is really well
combined and all the noodles are coated
in that luscious sauce. Mmm...
Wow! This is so saucy... Look at this! YUM!
And loaded with meatballs. Okay, and my
favorite way to serve this is
family-style,
so we're gonna pour this all into a big
serving pasta bowl. All right,
just all at once. Are you ready? All right,
I'm gonna use those muscles... Yeah ,that's
that last noodle... come on! Okay, there we
go, smooth. Kind of all right. Oh yum yum
yum. So many meatballs! This is the
perfect family dinner and garnished with
a little bit more fresh basil. And of
course - Parmesan cheese, lots of parmesan.
This adds great flavor and just makes it
feel like a restaurant. And this grater
is really fun, I'll leave a link below.
Okay, a little more, little cheese happy
there. Okay and now I'm gonna serve it up.
You can just hear how saucy it is.
Okay and a little bit more basil gives
it that fresh pop of color and flavor of
course. And a little more cheese, because
who can resist. All right, looks like a
nice mountain. Okay
and I'm gonna cut into one of these
meatballs because I want to show you
guys just how soft and tender they are.
Oh my goodness, fork goes right through
it. All right, here we go.
Mmm... Big bite, mm-hmm... Oh my goodness! Those
meatballs are just melt-in-your-mouth
tender and the secret to making them so
good, is combining ground beef with that
sweet Italian sausage. Such a great
flavor combination and searing them on
the stove first, seals in all the juices
and then they slow cook in that marinara
sauce. Oh my goodness, this is so good! So
worth the effort!
This is absolutely kid-friendly! One of
my kid's favorite meals and it reheats
really well, so it's perfect for work
lunches and meal planning.
I hope this spaghetti and meatballs
recipe becomes a new favor in your home.
If you guys enjoyed this video, give us a
great big thumbs up below, make sure to
subscribe to our Channel and we'll see
you next time. Hey, before you go, if
you're looking for more meal planning
ideas, you know, things that reheat
really well, that you could eat
throughout the week -  check out some of
our favorite dishes right over here and
right down there. And before you go, click
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