Ricotta Meatballs are a simple, light, and no-fry dish. A recipe that is prepared in a few minutes, cooks in about 20 minutes. Ricotta meatballs are delicious hot accompanied by good fresh bread but are also excellent cold for those who want to enjoy them, for example, at the beach or at work. The sauce that accompanies the ricotta meatballs is a simple onion and basil sauce that would be perfect if prepared with fresh tomatoes, but alternatively, if you don’t have them at home, diced tomato pulp will do just fine. It is a vegetarian dish that will make both adults and children happy.

For more ideas on main courses or cold dishes, here are some recipes to follow

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 10 meatballs
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian

111.40 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 111.40 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 6.84 (g) of which sugars 0.53 (g)
Proteins 5.51 (g)
Fat 7.28 (g) of which saturated 2.93 (g)of which unsaturated 1.58 (g)
Fibers 0.90 (g)
Sodium 389.26 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 87 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients for Ricotta Meatballs

The ingredients that make up the ricotta meatballs are simple, light, and vegetarian.

1 cup ricotta
1 egg
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic (small)
to taste chopped parsley
1 oz grated Parmesan cheese
14 oz tomato pulp
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion
to taste chili powder
4 g coarse salt
a few leaves basil

Tools for Mixing and Cooking

No special tools are needed to prepare and cook the ricotta meatballs, the non-stick saucepan for cooking is really important.

1 Bowl
1 Set cutlery
1 High-edged saucepan

Preparation

The preparation of the meatballs is simple and takes just a few minutes, during which you should start cooking the sauce because you need to add the meatballs to the saucepan when the sauce is already cooking to prevent them from breaking.

Put all the ingredients in a bowl: ricotta, egg, salt, pepper, Parmesan, garlic, parsley, and breadcrumbs, and mix well with a spoon.
You will get a soft but workable dough with your hands. Take one spoonful of the mixture at a time, roll it with your hands to form the meatballs, and you will see that if you use a light touch, the dough will be soft but will not stick to your hands.
While preparing the meatball dough, you should start cooking the sauce in the saucepan, start by sautéing the half onion in olive oil, adding chili powder. When the onion is golden, add the tomato pulp, season with salt, and bring to a boil. When the sauce is simmering, lower the heat to medium and add the meatballs one by one, not placing them too close together as they will grow during cooking.
Let the meatballs cook covered with a lid for about 20 minutes over moderate heat. Turn the meatballs only once, helping with a spoon and lifting them completely to avoid breaking them. If the sauce dries too much, you can add a little white wine or water during cooking.
Consume the meatballs directly hot, accompanied by good fresh bread to enjoy all the sauce, which will be very tasty. However, you can also enjoy the meatballs cold; they will still be delicious.