Name: Easiest-Ever Meatballs
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: ½ cup panko bread crumbs; ½ cup milk; 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, opened; 1 tablepoon extra-virgin olive oil; ¼ teaspoon sugar; ¼ teaspoon plus ½ teaspoon table salt, measured separately; 1 pound 85 percent lean ground beef; ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (1 ounce); ½ teaspoon garlic powder; ½ teaspoon dried oregano

Why This Recipe Works

Need a quick and easy dinner idea the whole family will love? These meatballs simmer right in a simple homemade tomato sauce, which infuses the sauce with savory flavor (and means there’s no messy, splattery browning). We start with a supersimple panade made from panko bread crumbs and milk. The panade helps keep these meatballs soft and tender as they cook, just the way we like them.

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Before You Begin

Serve your meatballs with spaghetti or Italian sub rolls. This recipe makes enough sauce to coat 12 ounces of pasta. It's unnecessary to temp the meatballs because they will reach a food-safe temperature if cooked according to the recipe instructions. (For more information on food safety, check out this guide.)

Instructions

In large bowl, use rubber spatula to stir together panko and milk. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes.

In Dutch oven, use clean rubber spatula to stir tomatoes, oil, sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt until combined.

Add beef, Parmesan, garlic powder, oregano, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt to bowl with panko mixture. Use your hands to mix until combined.

Divide beef mixture into 12 portions (about 3 tablespoons each) and place on large plate. Lightly wet your hands. Use your wet hands to roll each portion into ball.

Add meatballs to sauce in pot.

Bring sauce to simmer over medium heat (small bubbles should break often across surface of sauce). Cover and cook until meatballs are cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Turn off heat. Serve.