Pork and beef meatballs stuffed with melty, gooey mozzarella, swimming in a rich tomato sauce makes for a filling weeknight meal! The best part? This recipe is on the table in 40 minutes.

Photography Credit: Sally Vargas

Featured in 14 Recipes That Make the Most Canned Tomatoes

Everybody loves meatballs! Take a ho-hum dinner, add meatballs, and presto! It’s a meal fit for king, or at least a king’s family.

These pork and beef meatballs have a surprise morsel of mozzarella cheese in the center.

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HOW TO MAKE STUFFED MEATBALLS

You can whip these meatballs up in as little as 20 minutes. Form the balls, poke a hole in each one with your finger, stuff with a piece of cheese, and re-form the meatball around it.

Then into a pan they go to bake in the oven. While the meatballs bake, make a quick tomato sauce on the stovetop. Combine the sauce and meatballs, sprinkle the entire dish with cheese, and bake together until everything is bubbly, cheesy, and slightly melted.

Spoon the meatballs into a bowl with sauce, serve over pasta, or layer them onto a sub for a delectable meatball sandwich. Yum!

WHAT KIND OF MOZZARELLA SHOULD I USE?

Either fresh mozzarella or low-moisture mozzarella (cut from a block of cheese or sticks) will work fine in this recipe, depending on what you can find in your market. The low-moisture cheese tends to be a bit oozier when it melts, but I’ve made these with both kinds of cheese.

10-MINUTE TOMATO SAUCE? YES, PLEASE!

This is my go-to sauce. With just tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, and basil, it is ridiculously easy to make.

Every time I see someone reach for bottled tomato sauce in the market, I want to tap her on the shoulder, “Honey, stop! Don’t do it! Buy that can of tomatoes, and make your sauce in 10 minutes! Here, I’ll give you the recipe.” Naturally, I refrain from that kind of behavior.

That can is filled with the San Marzano variety of tomatoes, packed in thick tomato sauce. That can of tomatoes is the secret to the freshest, easiest tomato sauce known to woman or man. It’s a few pennies more than the store’s own brand, but it’s lot of pennies less than a prepared sauce.

Canned tomatoes should be soft and pliant, swimming in thick sauce and easily squished with your hand. If you are buying tomatoes in watery juice that are hard where the stem was removed, make a note and try another brand next time. (Rant over.)

MAKE-AHEAD MEATBALLS

To freeze raw meatballs: Spread them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag. Let them defrost in the refrigerator and bake as directed in the recipe. They will keep in the freezer for two to three months.

To freeze cooked meatballs: Spread them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag. Reheat them from frozen slowly on the stovetop or in the oven, in the sauce.

You can also defrost them in the fridge overnight, and then heat them on top of the stove. They will keep in the freezer for two to three months.

To freeze cooked meatballs in sauce: Place them in a freezer container and freeze. Reheat them slowly on top of the stove, or defrost them in the fridge, and then heat them on the stovetop or in the oven, in the sauce. They will keep in the freezer for two to three months.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE MEATBALLS?! THE MORE THE MERRIER!