This easy recipe for one pot spaghetti and meatballs cooks all together in one skillet. More flavor and less clean-up – how’s that for a suppertime winner?
Who doesn’t LOVE spaghetti and meatballs? But they are such a production, right? Browning the meatballs, warming the sauce, boiling the pasta…it takes every pot in the house. Right?
Actually…nope!. This easy peasy recipe for one pot spaghetti and meatballs makes a fabuloso spaghetti and meatballs, but here is the beauty part…all in that one skillet.
And, because everything is cooking up together, the spaghetti soaks up a lot of the gorgeous sauce and meatball flavor, so instead of one sitting on top of the other, all three components are beautifully, harmoniously, delectably, delightfully intermingled.
Sounds too good to be true, right? But it IS! And I am here to tell you how to do it, without overloading your dishwasher on top of everything else.
How To Make One Pot Spaghetti And Meatballs
The basic premise is this: after you mix up and roll up your meatballs, you are going to let them cook for just a few minutes in a large deep skillet just to quickly brown the outside. You want a nice dark brown sear on one side, and then turn them over with tongs to quickly firm up the other side.
Take them out and let them lounge around for a few minutes while you add some of your favorite tomato sauce, some water and some spaghetti to that same skillet. Turn up the heat, cover the pot and let it bubble away.
When the pasta is halfway done, you nestle those happy little meatballs into the spaghetti for the second half of the pasta cooking time, and this will give them enough time to cook up into tender perfection.
TIPS FOR MAKING ONE POT SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS!
I love this trick! Put your spaghetti in the middle of a clean dishtowel. Roll it up, and then grasp the towel with both hands and break the spaghetti inside the towel. Voila! Perfectly broken in half pasta.
You sure can! Use the directions on the box to adjust the cooking time – different pastas will need different amounts of time to get to al dente perfection. Denser pastas might also need to you add a little hot water towards the end of the cooking time if things are not looking saucy enough.
If I am in a rush, I grab the handy jar of Rao’s marinara sauce that I always have in my pantry for Pasta Emergencies. But if I have time, I make my favorite homemade kind, which I modestly call The Best Tomato Sauce In The World. If you try this (and please try it!) you want to puree it so it is nice and liquidly.
Eight minutes later there you have it: perfectly cooked pasta and meatballs that are delightfully saturated with tomato sauce and ready for the plate.
So if you have been longing for spaghetti and meatballs but have been exhausted by the very thought of it, this is your lucky day, because 30 minutes from now you can be sitting down to this super dish.
Pass the parmesan cheese, please!
OTHER SHORTCUT PASTA RECIPES THAT WE WANT SECONDS OF!
- One Pot Veggie Mac and Cheese. The best way to get them to eat their veggies.
- Easy Instant Pot Lasagna. The Instant Pot takes the work out of lasagna!
- Pastina with Egg and Cheese. The ultimate one pot comfort food. Happy sigh.
Want to round out your meal? This recipe pairs well with...
One Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
Prep Time: 20 minutes- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
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This easy recipe for one pot spaghetti and meatballs cooks all together in one skillet. More flavor and less clean-up – how’s that for a suppertime winner?
Ingredients
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
- 2 cups water
- 8 ounces spaghetti, broken in half
- Chopped fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
- Put the bread crumbs, milk, beef, Parmesan, egg and oregano in a mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix it all up until just combined.
- Form into meatballs, using about 2 tablespoons of meat mixture per meatball (a cookie scoop works wonderfully for this.
- Heat oil in a large deep skillet over high heat. Sear meatballs on one side for one minute until they are nicely browned on one side, about 2-3 minutes. Turn meatballs over to cook very briefly on the other side and transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
- Add the sauce and the water to that same skillet, add pasta and turn heat to medium high. Cover and cook for 8 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes..
- Now nestle the meatballs into spaghetti, browned side up. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover up the skillet and cook for 4 more minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Uncover and cook for 4 more minutes or until spaghetti is done, stirring gently from time to time.
- Divide among bowls and sprinkle with basil and more Parmesan cheese. Realize there is only one skillet to wash. Feel very happy.
Notes
Need to add something to your kitchen equipment to make this recipe? Below are some of the items we used in the Framed Cooks kitchen to help cook this up. These are affiliate links to things we use and love, which helps to pay for all that bacon I keep buying!
I'd love to hear what you think!