Discover Your Creative Kitchen AI Companion
Let our assistant inspire your next meal!
Simply provide a recipe idea or the ingredients you have, and ScrummyChef will instantly come up with a new recipe just for you.

Chef John's Creamy Ricotta Meatballs

4.6
Save
Rate
Tap to rate
PREP TIME
20 min
COOKING TIME
40 min
TOTAL TIME
60 min
SERVINGS
8 servings
Dinner
Chef John's Creamy Ricotta Meatballs
Ingredients
  • 1/2 onion, minced
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 1/4 cup packed chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
  • 1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
  • 1 (28 ounce) jar marinara sauce
  • 1 cup water
Instructions
1
Heat olive oil in a medium-sized cooking vessel over an intermediate temperature until the onion becomes transparent, approximately 5 minutes. Introduce garlic into the mixture and switch off the heat source. Move the onion mixture to a large container for further processing.
2
Combine ground beef, ricotta cheese, parsley, egg, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper with the onion mixture until it reaches a nearly uniform consistency; incorporate bread crumbs into the blend and continue to mix until everything is well combined.
3
Form approximately 2 tablespoons of the mixture into a rounded shape for each meatball. Heat remaining olive oil in the same cooking vessel used to cook the onions over an intermediate temperature and brown meatballs on all sides in hot oil, approximately 5 minutes. Utilize a crumpled paper towel held by tongs to remove excess oil from the cooking vessel.
4
Pour marinara sauce and water over meatballs in the cooking vessel. Stir to combine and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Decrease the heat to a low-medium level and simmer, stirring occasionally, until meatballs are cooked through and no longer contain pink centers, approximately 30 minutes.