15 Minute Sausage Meatballs
Recipe video above. Save this one for those really busy nights: just chop up sausages, pan fry and voila - juicy meatballs without the fuss! A bottle of passata rather than canned tomato makes for a quick sauce which needs nothing more than a pinch of Italian Herbs and salt thanks to all the free flavour we get from the pre-seasoned meat inside the sausages. Serve over pasta, or polenta (try instant polenta!), mash or make saucy subs. YES!
Servings: 4
Calories: 371cal
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 700 g / 1.4 lb good sausages , cut into uniform 1.5 cm/ 0.6 " pieces with a sharp knife or scissors (keep the skin on) - your favourite ones for eating, any flavour, any meat (Note 1)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 3/4 cup chicken stock/broth , low sodium - sub water (Note 2)
- 700g / 24 oz tomato passata (US: tomato sauce like Hunt's) (Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp dried Italian herb mix (sub dried oregano, or 50/50 oregano/thyme)
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (+50% for flakes, halve for table salt)
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes , optional (hint of warmth - sub pinch of pepper)
- 1 sprig basil - stalk for sauce, leaves for garnish (optional)
Serving:
- Parmesan , finely grated
- 350g / 12oz pasta of choice , or polenta, mash or make subs!
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE
- Brown meatballs (3-4 min), add garlic for last 15 seconds. Reduce stock by half (1 min), add everything else, simmer 4 minutes. Serve!
FULL RECIPE
- Brown meatballs - Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over high heat. Add the meatballs and stir for 4 - 5 minutes until lightly browned but still raw inside. (Note 4)
- Add garlic and stir for just 15 seconds until light golden (careful, don't let it burn!)
- Simmer - Add the stock and simmer rapidly for 1 minute to reduce by half. Add everything else, stir, bring to a simmer, then lower heat to medium high and let it simmer energetically (but not crazy rapidly) for 4 minutes.
- Serve with lots of parmesan and hand-torn basil leaves over pasta, polenta, mash or other starchy vehicle of choice, or stuff into subs!
SERVING WITH PASTA
- Add cooked pasta with 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water into the pan with meatballs. Toss over medium heat for 1 - 2 minutes until the sauce is stuck to the pasta and it's stained red, rather than pooled in the base of the pan. Divide between bowls and enjoy!
Notes
1. Sausages - Not all sausages are made equal! Splotchy bits of meat inside typical mean more meat, less fillers (I aim for 80%+ meat, look at the ingredient label). Save the economical uniform pink ones for the weekend fundraiser sausage sizzle. :)
Quantity - The recipe calls for 700g/1.4lb which might sound like a lot but if you think about making regular meatballs, the default starts with 500g/1lb mince then you add breadcrumbs, egg etc to fill it out. 500g/1lb sausages is a little short to serve 4, and way too much sauce too!
Cutting - Cut so the pieces are uniform in size so they cook up into "meatballs" rather than "meat-cylinders". Don't worry if they get a bit smeary and wonky when you cut, they will self-fix into meatball shapes when cooking!
2. Chicken stock/broth rather than water gives the sauce a flavour boost to compensate for not simmering slowly for 20 minutes. You can substitute with water if you have the time to allow the same to develop flavour! (Very low simmer 20 minutes, return the meatballs in for the last 7 minutes or so).
Pro tip: pork sausages are juiciest and fry up the most golden while beef sausages brown more nicely, but gosh this is tasty with good chicken sausages!!
3. Passata - Pureed pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti tomato passata sold at Walmart). Widely available in Australian shops these days, alongside pasta sauces. Excellent for making thick, smooth sauces without simmering time to break down tomato chunks. More on tomato passata here.
4. Pan size - If planning to toss with pasta, you will need a very big pan, the one I use is 30cm/12" wide, 7cm / 2.5" deep. Else, put the drained pasta back into the pasta cooking pot and then pour the meatballs + sauce in to toss.
Nutrition per serving assuming 4 servings, meatballs and sauce only. Nutrition for sausages based on the pork British Sausages brand sold at Australian grocery stores.
Nutrition
Calories: 371cal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 65mg | Sodium: 1977mg | Potassium: 977mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 413IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 96mg | Iron: 4mg