For a solid family-style dinner recipe, try Dutch oven meatballs with flavorful red sauce; the tasty meatballs are a delicious one-pot meal that tastes great with al dente noodles or a fresh side salad like arugula spinach salad.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Meatballs in red sauce are a classic comfort food everyone will love.
- This Dutch oven meatball recipe is perfect for special occasions like Sunday dinners, birthdays, or Christmas Eve dinners.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Olive Oil: Saute the vegetables and sear the meatballs in olive oil.
- Vegetables: I prefer yellow or sweet onion, but you can also use shallots. And add diced bell peppers with the onion.
- Garlic: I suggest using six garlic cloves between the meatballs and the sauce, but measure with your heart.
- Ground Beef: Use fatty 80/20 ground beef to make the Dutch oven meatballs.
- Eggs: Bind the meatballs with two beaten eggs.
- Spices: Season the meatballs and gravy with kosher salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried herbs like basil, oregano, and parsley.
- Tomato Paste: Adding a spoonful of tomato paste intensifies the tomato flavor and deepens the color of the sauce.
- Wine: Add full-bodied flavor with dry white wine.
- Tomatoes: Canned tomatoes and tomato puree are the foundation for the rich tomato sauce. I suggest using San Marzano peeled tomatoes.
- Heavy Cream: Include heavy cream for a creamy finish.
Additions and Substitutions
- Replace the ground beef with hot Italian sausage, pork, or veal. Try ground turkey or chicken for a lower-calorie option. You can also use a combination of ground meats for even more flavor.
- Use fresh herbs instead of dried basil, oregano, and parsley, or try Italian seasoning instead of the individual dried herbs.
- Prepare my recipe for simple sugo al pomodoro or store-bought marinara sauce if you don’t want to prepare the sauce in the recipe from scratch.
How to Make Dutch Oven Meatballs and Gravy
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
For the Meatballs
Step 1: Warm a tablespoon of the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Cook for 5-10 minutes until softened.
Step 2: Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then transfer it to a large mixing bowl with the ground beef.
Step 3: Add the beaten eggs, kosher salt, black pepper, dried basil, dried parsley, and dried oregano. Mix, using your hands, until combined.
Tip: Oil your hands and don’t over-knead the meatball mixture, or they will become tough.
Step 4: Form the meat mixture into 1- inch balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step 5: Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the meatballs in a single layer, careful not to overcrowd the pan.
Cook until the meatballs are golden brown on all sides, for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer them to a baking sheet and set them aside. Cook the remaining meatballs in batches.
For the Sunday Gravy:
Step 1: Drain the leftover oil from the Dutch oven. Then, warm olive oil in the pan over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Saute for 5-10 minutes until the onions soften and become translucent.
Step 2: Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another minute. Then, deglaze with red wine and carefully scrape up any stuck-on pieces on the bottom of the pot. Simmer for another minute.
Step 3: Add the peeled tomatoes, crushing the whole tomatoes into the pot with your hand. Then, stir in the tomato puree.
Step 4: Season with kosher salt, black pepper, dried basil, dried parsley, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low for a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes.
Step 5: Stir in the heavy cream and carefully nestle the seared meatballs into the sauce. Simmer uncovered for 2 hours over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Expert Tips
- When searing the meatballs, don’t worry about cooking them through since they will finish cooking in the sauce. The goal is to develop a golden brown crust.
- Discard the oil from searing the meatballs if there is too much in the pot, but leave the leftover burnt bits in the bottom because they will flavor the sauce once you deglaze the pot with the tomatoes and tomato puree.
- Take your time preparing this Dutch oven meatball recipe. The longer the sauce cooks, the better it tastes. Maintain a low temperature as the sauce simmers, and you don’t have to worry about the heavy cream scorching since you maintain a lower temperature.
- If you prefer a smoother sauce, use an immersion blender to process the sauce before adding the homemade meatballs.
- You might want to add a spoonful of sugar if the sauce tastes too acidic, but there is a better option. Many Italian grandmothers swear by adding a freshly peeled carrot to the pot.
If you enjoy this recipe, try one of these dinner favorites!
Ways to Serve Dutch Oven Meatballs
Spoon the meatballs and homemade sauce over your favorite pasta with freshly grated parmesan cheese or add them to crusty bread with mozzarella to make meatball subs. If you want to serve the meatballs as the main dish, here are some of my favorite sides to complete the meal.
- Vegetable Chopped Salad with Sherry Shallot Dressing
- Cucumber Carrot Salad
- Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
- Risotto Allo Zafferano
- Air Fryer Zucchini and Squash
What to do with the Leftovers
- Refrigerate – Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- Freeze –Let the meatballs cool, then transfer them into a freezer-safe container or bag. The Dutch oven meatballs freeze for 2-3 months.
- Thaw – Thaw frozen meatballs and sauce in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheat – Microwave individual leftovers or warm them on the stovetop in a Dutch oven.
More Meatball Recipes:
For more ideas for what to make with ground beef, try one of these ground beef recipes!
Dutch Oven Meatballs
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- ½ medium bell pepper, deseeded and finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 pounds ground beef, 80/20
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, coarse ground
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- ½ medium bell pepper, deseeded and finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 1 can peeled tomatoes, 35-ounces
- 1 can tomato puree, 28-ounces
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
For the Meatballs:
- Warm a tablespoon of the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Cook for 5-10 minutes until softened.
- Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then transfer it to a large mixing bowl with the ground beef.
- Add the beaten eggs, kosher salt, black pepper, dried basil, dried parsley, and dried oregano. Mix, using your hands, until combined.Tip: Oil your hands and don't over-knead the meatball mixture, or they will become tough.
- Form the meat mixture into 1- inch balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the meatballs in a single layer, careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until the meatballs are golden brown on all sides, for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer them to a baking sheet and set them aside. Cook the remaining meatballs in batches.
For the Sunday Sauce:
- Drain the leftover oil from the Dutch oven. Then, warm olive oil in the pan over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Saute for 5-10 minutes until the onions soften and become translucent.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another minute. Then, deglaze with red wine and carefully scrape up any stuck-on pieces on the bottom of the pot. Simmer for another minute.
- Add the peeled tomatoes, crushing the whole tomatoes into the pot with your hand. Then, stir in the tomato puree.
- Season with kosher salt, black pepper, dried basil, dried parsley, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low for a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the heavy cream and carefully nestle the seared meatballs into the sauce. Simmer uncovered for 2 hours over low heat, stirring occasionally.
- When searing the meatballs, don’t worry about cooking them through since they will finish cooking in the sauce. The goal is to develop a golden brown crust.
- Discard the oil from searing the meatballs if there is too much in the pot, but leave the leftover burnt bits in the bottom because they will flavor the sauce once you deglaze the pot with the tomatoes and tomato puree.
- Take your time preparing this Dutch oven meatball recipe. The longer the sauce cooks, the better it tastes. Maintain a low temperature as the sauce simmers, and you don’t have to worry about the heavy cream scorching since you maintain a lower temperature.
- If you prefer a smoother sauce, use an immersion blender to process the sauce before adding the homemade meatballs.
- You might want to add a spoonful of sugar if the sauce tastes too acidic, but there is a better option. Many Italian grandmothers swear by adding a freshly peeled carrot to the pot.
- The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for professional advice.