Polpette are the pan-Italian home meatball, and a quiet rebuke to the American plate: in Italy they are eaten as a main course or dropped into soup, almost never piled on spaghetti. Each nonna's recipe is the right one.
Soft and juicy with a savory hit of cheese and herbs, the meatballs soak up the bright tomato sauce. Homely, they fall apart at the touch of a fork.
Milk-soaked bread (a panade) traps moisture and interrupts the protein network, keeping the meatballs tender rather than dense as they cook.
Variations
Polpette al sugo simmered in sauce, fried polpette as antipasto, in broth as polpette in brodo, Neapolitan version with raisins and pine nuts
On the Palate
Where Polpette sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 15 min
Soak bread in milk, then squeeze out the excess.
Watch outSqueeze the bread just damp, not dry — that trapped milk keeps the meatballs tender; wring it hard and they turn dense.
- 24 min
Mix minced beef and pork with the bread, egg, cheese, garlic and parsley.
- 35 min
Season well and roll the mixture into golf-ball-sized meatballs.
- 46 min
Brown the meatballs in olive oil until colored all over.
Watch outBrown them all over first for color and flavor, but don't cook them through here — they finish gently in the sauce.
- 51 min
Pour in tomato passata and a little water.
- 618 min
Simmer gently until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce thickens.
Watch outKeep the simmer barely bubbling until the sauce thickens and coats a spoon — a hard boil toughens the meat and splits the sauce.
- 71 min
Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- 82 min
Serve hot with extra cheese and bread.
