Ready in 45 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe is loosely based on Smitten Kitchen Perfect Meatball recipe
This is the meatball recipe we used to make and sell in 1/2 lb bags. Like many pretentious recipe writers, we say things like "this is a fairly straightforward recipe, so the key is high-quality ingredients. If your parmesan doesn't require refrigeration before opening, try again."
Ingredients
1 lb ground pork
1 tablespoon lard
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons onion, chopped
1 small fistful of fresh parsley, stems removed (equivalent of 3 tablespoons finely chopped, but don't chop it, it's going in a food processor!) [editor notes: yes, feels like a lot of parsley]
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup milk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Preparation
- Heat oven to 400 F (convection if your oven has it)
- Heat lard in a saute pan, add garlic and onion. Cook gently until softened
- Add softened garlic and onion, along with all the other ingredients besides pork, to food processor. If you don't have a food processor, we've used an immersion blender, but it doesn't work super-well
- Pulse until all ingredients are incorporated
- Let stand 5 minutes for liquids to absorb
- Scrape food processor out into a bowl, add pork, and mix until well combined
- Using gently wetted hands to prevent sticking, roll meatball mass into 1 inch balls and line up on a parchment lined baking sheet
- Bake about 5 minutes then rotate meatballs and cook another 5 minutes or until lightly browned and fully cooked though
Tips
These can be made in large batches. When making large batches, we mix the food-processed mass with the pork in a stand mixer for ease.
These freeze well. To freeze, put cooked meatballs in a bag or container and don't forget about them.
For depth of deliciousness, shallow fry the meatballs in a cast iron pan with lard instead of oven baking.
Last Modified: 2025-08-22