Best Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe
If you're looking for the Best Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe, you've just found it! Tomatoes, garlic, and onion are roasted in the oven until super caramelized then blended and poured over tender meatballs. Serve the ridiculously delicious sauce and meatballs over spaghetti, gluten-free spaghetti, or zoodles. Either way, you'll LOVE it!

The title says it all. Seriously. This is the best spaghetti and meatballs recipe ever ever ever. It's also my favorite Throw Back Thursday post to date. I always love remaking old recipes for #tbt but this one totally wins. (btw: if you scroll down about halfway you can have a good laugh at the first pics I took. they're pretty unappetizing.)
Want to take spaghetti and meatballs from a Sunday night kids' dinner to OMG I'll do almost anything to eat this every day of my life? I thought you might. Let me show you how.
Spoiler alert: it's super easy.
Why this is the best spaghetti and meatballs recipe:
- The trick is in the tomatoes. Simple, every day, store-bought tomatoes turned into magic by your oven.
- That's right, your oven. What makes this spaghetti and meatballs out of this world is the roasted tomato pasta sauce.
- Sweet, caramelized, super rich and delicious roasted tomatoes.
- It's also super crazy easy to make. Put some tomatoes, onions, and garlic in your oven. When they're dark and delicious, puree them in your blender and your spaghetti sauce is ready to eat.
- The hardest thing about making this spaghetti and meatballs recipe is deciding what to serve with it. I usually opt for zoodles (paleo + Whole30 + low-carb!) but regular or gluten-free spaghetti is pretty hard to pass up. Which would you choose?

How do I make the perfect spaghetti and meatballs?
Well since you're asking, let me tell you. First, you need to get the sauce just right. Luckily, that's super easy.
Here's how you're going to make your oven roasted tomato sauce:
- Nestle some tomatoes and a head of garlic into a baking dish.
- Pour in some olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper over the tomatoes.
- Roast roast roast. (this is a great time to pour yourself a glass of wine.)
- Take out the garlic and add some chopped onion.
- Roast roast roast some more. (another glass of wine?)
- Put the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, and all the delicious juices from the pan into your blender and blend until smooth.
That's it! You've just made the best oven roasted tomato sauce ever.

See those deeply caramelized tomatoes up there? That is what you want to see when you pull your tomatoes out of the oven.
And this is what they'll look like after you blend them …

How do you make easy meatballs for spaghetti?
The second part you need to nail when you're making spaghetti and meatballs are … you guessed it, the meatballs. Luckily they are as easy to make as the oven-roasted tomato sauce.
Here's how you're going to make the best spaghetti meatball recipe:
- Start with ground beef AND ground pork. Pork is fattier (read: tastier) and makes the meatballs nice and juicy.
- Mix the few simple meatball ingredients in a bowl then form them into balls about the size of a golf ball. Put the meatballs in a non-stick frying pan as you make them.
- Then turn up the heat and brown the meatballs, turning them a few times so they're pretty all around. It'll take about 15 minutes for them to cook all the way through.
That's it! Three simple and easy steps to the best spaghetti meatball recipe ever.
See how good they look …

Now all you have to do is pour that insanely delicious spaghetti sauce over the meatballs, ladle the spaghetti sauce and meatballs over spaghetti (or zoodles, if you're weird like me and actually prefer them), and dig in.
You are going to be so happy you did.
And just in case you're not 100% sold, since remaking this recipe a few weeks ago, my handsome man has (I'm not exaggerating) has asked me to make it again every. single. day. #truth


Easy Pasta Recipes:
- Fresh Summer Spaghetti
- Drunken Red Wine Spaghetti with Chorizo and Kale
- Warm Caprese Pesto Pasta
- Spicy Chorizo Bolognese
- 20 Minute Lemony Smoked Salmon Pasta

The Best Ever Spaghetti and Meatballs
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
The Spaghetti Sauce
- 3 lbs tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 head of garlic, top cut off
- 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper, more to taste
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- ā cup basil leaves
The Meatballs
- ¾ lb ground beef
- ¾ lb. ground pork
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ medium onion, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, gluten-free, if needed. Coco aminos for paleo
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper
To Serve
- Spaghetti, gluten-free spaghetti, or zoodles
- Optional toppings: parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast, basil leaves
Instructions
- Turn your oven on to 400 degrees. Place the tomatoes and garlic in a large baking dish, cut side facing up. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and drizzle with the olive oil. Pop the tomatoes in the oven.3 lbs tomatoes, 1 head of garlic, 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper, ¼ cup olive oil
- After 45 minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven. Take out the garlic and add the onions, nestling them around the tomatoes. Put the dish back into the oven for 1 hour more.½ medium onion
- While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the meatballs. Place all the meatball ingredients into a large bowl and mix well using your hands. Form into 16 meatballs and place them in a large, non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook until well browned on all sides and cooked through (about 15 minutes) then remove the pan from the heat and drain the oil.¾ lb ground beef, ¾ lb. ground pork, 3 cloves garlic, ½ medium onion, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 teaspoon each: salt and pepper
- If you're serving this over regular of gluten-free spaghetti, start heating the water and cook the pasta according to the package directions.
- Remove the baking dish from the oven and carefullyĀ transfer the tomatoes, onions, and all the juice to a blender. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and add them and the basil to the blender. Blend on high until smooth then pour over over the meatballs.ā cup basil leaves
- Serve the meatballs and sauce over spaghetti, gluten-free spaghetti, or zoodles.Optional toppings: parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast, basil leaves
Great! I just finished it last night and the result was unexpected, my wife and daughter both liked it, which made me happy. Thanks for your recipe!
Your caramelized tomatoes sauce elevates my spaghetti dish to another level. Thank you so much, Kristen.
Can I use beef only? As I don’t eat pork. Do I need to make any changes in the recipe?
Yes you can! Beef works well, too!
This recipe is delicious! I made it as soon as I saw your post. I roasted tomatoes and garlic for 1h and 30 min and that was plenty. One comment is that I would recommend roasting the garlic in container, covered with foil, separate from the tomatoes. Roasting the tomatoes uncovered is great as it helps concentrate the flavor as the juice evaporates. However 400 degrees for 2 hours in the oven will just completely dry out and char your garlic. If you want a little more roast on the garlic cloves, you can uncover for the last 20 minutes or so.
So happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe!
Amazing sauce ⤠Meat ball sauce with spaghetti is the dish I’m always crave. I just asked my bf to cook meat ball for dinner 2 hours ago, now I’m going to send this tasty recipe for him xD
– Natalie
I’m so happy to hear you like it!!!
This recipe is delicious!!! The sauce is good enough on it’s own as a soup! I added the garlic to the tomatoes the last 30 minutes of roasting time. I doused the tomatoes with PLENTY of olive oil which I transferred to the blender as well. Also, I used a pack of spicy Italian sausage in place of ground pork. Delicious!!! Thank you!
What a great idea to use spicy Italian sausage. I’m trying that next time for sure!!
When u blend the tomatoes and garlic, do u blend the tomatoes with the skin on?
I have left the skins on as they just disintegrate when pulsed.
Enjoy!
I do, too! The blend right into the sauce. š
Hi there,
So excited to make this recipe!! Just a quick question that may be on the silly side… š
To roast the tomatoes, do I need a roast pan? Will a normal 9×13 baking dish do fine, or will I be in trouble? Just wanted to check before I attempted this awesome-looking recipe! Thanks š
Hi Kate,
That should work just fine! Iāve used a few different sizes of pans when making this and it has always turned out. Enjoy!
I want to make this weekend. What kind of tomatoes shall I use?
Hi Steve,
Iāve used many different types of tomatoes and theyāve all worked great. Use whichever tomatoes at the grocery store look the ripest.
How much is a generous bunch of sea salt? Over or under salted would not be great, so I’d like to know at least an approximate measure. Thanks – looking forward to trying this!
Hi Lisa,
Iām always hesitant to give exact measurements with salt. The saltiness of a dish will depend largely on what type of salt you use and your own taste buds.
I would start with a few good pinches, blend, taste and go from there. When it tastes rich and incredibly delicious, stop adding salt.
Hi there. For the basil leaves, should they be fresh or no? I am planning on making this tonight…it sounds deeelish!
Hey Kimberly,
Fresh basil leaves will make a world of difference. If you can, definitely use fresh basil. If you can’t find any you could substitute a pinch of dried basil or just leave it out š
Hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Mix all ingredients together, form into 1Ⳡballs and sauté in a pan, turning frequently, for 30 minutes. Set aside
When you say “all ingredients” do you mean everything except for the garlic, tomatoes, and sea salt and basil? it would be helpful to separate the ingredients for the sauce vs. the meatballs for people who are novice cooks and need to follow recipes carefully.
Thanks!
Hey K,
Sorry that that wasn’t clear. I went back and re-read it and it definitely wasn’t!
I’ve separated the ingredients for the sauce and meatballs so it should be clear now. Let me know if you have any other questions.
And thank you for mentioning that it is helpful for novice cooks to have clear directions. I do forget that sometimes and I’ll have to keep that in mind!
I wish I’d asked questions before attempting this recipe. 400 degrees seemed very hot to roast the tomatoes so I went with 160 (celcius & fan forced oven). Unfortunately both the garlic and some parts of the tomato were still a bit burnt and that was after 90 minutes. I tried using the non burnt bits to blend with basil but to be honest it wasn’t a great tasting sauce at all. Given the simplicity of the ingredients etc I don’t know how it could have gone wrong. Very disappointing:(
I’m sorry it didn’t turn out as you had hoped. We’ve got this recipe flagged to remake again soon and so will recipe test it a few more times to see if we can figure out what happened. š
I put the garlic cloves in a separate dish, covered them with tin foil and set the timer for 1.5 hours to make sure they didn’t burn. They were burned to a crisp after an hour! Make sure to keep an eye on them and take them out ASAP!
Hey Alyssa,
Thank you for the feedback! Although this hasn’t happened to me whenever I make this recipe, I’m going to add a note to the recipe to help out other readers. Other than the crispy garlic, I hope it turned out for you š
Made this last weekend… SO FLIPPIN GOOD!!!!
That’s so great to hear, Amy! So happy you liked it as much as I did š
This recipe is delicious! I made it as soon as I saw your post. I roasted tomatoes and garlic for 1h and 30 min and that was plenty. One comment is that I would recommend roasting the garlic in container, covered with foil, separate from the tomatoes. Roasting the tomatoes uncovered is great as it helps concentrate the flavor as the juice evaporates. However 400 degrees for 2 hours in the oven will just completely dry out and char your garlic. If you want a little more roast on the garlic cloves, you can uncover for the last 20 minutes or so.
Hi Tracey,
That’s a great suggestion about covering the garlic. I actually took mine out before the end and just realized that I didn’t mention that in the recipe. So happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Yes. I am so making that tomato sauce.
Hey Katie,
I sure hope you do! I swear you are going to love it š
Oh does this look super good. I love the mix of beef and pork. Yum!
Thanks, Tia! I just found out that my Grandma also used to use a mix of pork and beef for her meatballs. Guess she was onto something long before I was!
My mouth is watering. These look super savory and comforting!
Hey Sarah,
I’m big on comfort food, especially when it’s been remade to be extra tasty!
Okay, my boyfriend has to make me some of these! or I’ll wail!
LOL absolutely get him too!!