Meatballs With Tomato Sauce and Rice

A delicious and simple recipe for homemade meatballs with tomato sauce makes a wonderfully easy meal! Serve these beef meatballs with rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes for a tasty and comforting dinner that everyone will love.

My mom makes these delicious saucy meatballs all the time, and even though I’ve made many other types of meatball recipes over the years, I always come back to her recipe because it’s perfect.

Meatballs with tomato sauce are the ultimate comfort food dinner! The homemade tomato sauce is just heavenly over rice, but it works with pasta or mashed potatoes too. Anything goes, as long as there are enough meatballs to go around.

If you’re in the mood for something a bit different but still in meatball form, try my Chicken Parmesan Meatballs with lots of melty cheese on top, or Lebanese Beef Kafta that can be baked or grilled.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

1. A Tried and True Recipe – All of my recipes have been tested and perfected for you, but this one, in particular, goes back much further! My mum has made these meatballs for as long as I can remember, and I still make them the exact same way.
2. Simple Flavors – A rich tomato sauce is the best thing to go with homemade meatballs. This sauce starts with a can of tomato sauce and is given extra flavor with onion, garlic, and oregano.
3. Minimal Cleanup – Tender meatballs are cooked in a skillet with the sauce. Put a lid on the pan to avoid any splattering, and you’ll have much less to clean up than if you’d baked or pan-fried the meatballs instead.
4. Versatile Recipe – You can switch things up with this recipe if you want to, although I don’t really recommend changing too much! Use these meatballs as a simple dinner that everyone will enjoy, try them as an easy party appetizer (keep them warm in your crockpot), or make meatball bombers!

Key Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make Meatballs in Tomato Sauce:

• Ground Beef: You can use whatever cut of ground beef you usually buy, but I generally use 80/20 or ground sirloin. Using ground chuck will make your sauce a bit greasy, but it’s still delicious! You can even use this recipe to make turkey meatballs if you’d like to.
• Onion: Make sure to dice the onion for the meatball mixture very small, or you can grate the onion on the large holes of a box grater. If the pieces of onion are too big they won’t cook fully.
• Tomato Sauce: A can of unseasoned tomato sauce, or a jar of your favorite marinara sauce is the base for this tomato sauce for meatballs. Use what you have on hand.
• Breadcrumbs: Plain, unseasoned breadcrumbs work best. I’ve made this recipe with gluten-free breadcrumbs as well, and it’s wonderful either way!

Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

How To Cook Meatballs in Sauce

1. Make the Meatballs: In a large bowl, combine ground beef, onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. To mix everything, it’s best to use your hands but you can also use a spatula if you like. Mix everything together until just combined. Do not over mix. Set the mixture aside while you make the homemade tomato sauce.
2. To Start the Sauce: Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, add onion and saute for 2 minutes or until it’s soft. Add garlic and tomato paste, and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Finish the Sauce by adding tomato sauce, oregano, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Mix well and keep at a simmer.
4. Form Meatballs: Use a cookie scoop to portion out meatballs, then roll them between your hands to make them round.

5. Add the Meatballs to the Sauce: Drop the meatballs into the simmering tomato sauce.
6. Simmer: Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, flipping the meatballs halfway though. Cook until the internal temperature of the meatballs reaches 160°F/71°C.

Recipe Tips

• If you’d like more sauce with your meatballs, use a large 32oz jar of tomato or marinara sauce instead of the smaller can. 
• I made these meatballs small, because that’s how my mom always made them! You can make them larger if you prefer.
• Use your hands! I use my hands to mix the meatball mixture so that it doesn’t get overmixed and tough. You’ll also want to use your hands to roll each meatball before adding it to the sauce. 
• Use a cookie scoop. Using a 1-tablespoon scoop will give you about 30 meatballs, or you can make 15 2-tablespoon-sized ones. In either case, using a scoop will help you to keep each meatball the same size.
• To Store: Keep leftover meatballs and sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. They reheat easily in the microwave or on the stovetop.

Storing Tips

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

These reheat very well in the microwave, or you can return them to a small saucepan and heat on low on the stove.

You may also freeze the meatballs with the sauce for up to 2 months. Allow to thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating.

What To Serve With Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

I always choose rice with this recipe! Plain long-grain white rice is perfect, but you could use brown rice or even quinoa if you want your meal to be a bit more healthy.

These meatballs are delicious with buttered noodles, olive oil pasta, spaghetti squash, or crockpot mashed potatoes too.

Recipe FAQs

Easy and delicious Beef Meatballs with Tomato Sauce are one of my favorite meals, and the recipe from my mother turns out perfectly every single time! Make sure to Pin this recipe for later!