My Italian Meatballs with Sunday Sauce recipe is a tried and true family favorite. Made with pork, beef, garlic, egg, and breadcrumbs, the meatballs are baked then simmered in tomato sauce for a few hours. Serve with pasta for the quintessential Italian American Sunday dinner!
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The meal I enjoyed most as a kid
Every Sunday my grandma would wake at the crack of dawn to start her Sunday sauce (she called it gravy), and most of the time it would include Italian meatballs and other assorted meat, like beef braciole, Italian sausages, and pork chops.
I cannot think of a better smell to wake up to and it took a ton of willpower for me to not sneak a taste every hour or so.
The way she made meatballs and Sunday sauce is the way my mom makes it, the way I make it, and the way I hope my kids will make it after I’m long gone. It’s an honor to think my family legacy may grace some of your dinner tables as well!
Whenever I make Italian meatballs, I serve it with a pound of pasta, a green like garlicky spinach, escarole, or broccoli rabe, a loaf of Italian bread, and plenty of cheese for grating. Tara always likes to serve a bowl of ricotta at the table too!
Featured Comment
One reader, Janie, commented: “I cannot tell you what an absolute hit this was. I made the Sunday sauce and the meatballs. It was not a hard recipe to make, just needed attention. No problem. My family were oooing and ahhhing with every bite. So good and such tender flavorful meatballs! ★★★★★”
Recipe Ingredients
All ingredients for this recipe are shown in the pic below and special notes are made in this bulleted list to assist you.
- Meat. I prefer to use a combination of ground pork and ground beef (I use chuck because it has a higher fat content, giving the meatballs a better taste and texture). Feel free to use any combination you’d like of beef, pork, or veal. You can also use ground turkey to make turkey meatballs or bulk sausage to make sausage meatballs.
- Breadcrumbs. I like to start with plain breadcrumbs and season myself by adding parsley, a garlic paste, Parmigiano Reggiano, and salt and pepper.
- Tomatoes. While you can start with crushed tomatoes, I do prefer to start with canned whole plum tomatoes for Sunday sauce and either hand-crush (for more texture), or blender-pulse. I also use a can of tomato paste for extra body.
- Onion. I originally published this recipe back in 2019 and at the time didn’t add garlic to my Sunday sauce – just onion. Now that I’m updating this post, I’m still just using onion, but would like to point out that you can most definitely use garlic! I do find there is enough garlic in the meatballs that the sauce doesn’t need it, but please do what you like!
- No dried herbs? I’m addressing this here because some folks may wonder why I don’t use dried herbs in my Sunday sauce. My recipe is light on the spice rack herbs for good reason – the high quality tomatoes and the meatballs are the stars of this dish. Dried herbs can often be overpowering and are simply not needed. You may find other Sunday sauce recipes on the internet that use a ton of dried herbs labeled “Italian Seasoning”; I don’t use anything labeled as Italian seasoning, ever! And I encourage you not to either. If you absolutely feel the need to add a dried herb to your Sunday sauce, a touch of dried oregano wouldn’t hurt.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
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How to make Italian Meatballs with Sunday Sauce
Each number corresponds to the numbered written steps below.
- Coat the bottom of a large heavy pot with 1/2 cup of olive oil and saute the onions on medium-low heat until translucent, 5-7 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes, spreading the paste around with a wooden spoon. Add a splash of water if the paste starts to burn.
- Add the hand-crushed (or blender-pulsed) tomatoes, salt, and pepper and stir until incorporated. Cook on a very low simmer with the lid slightly ajar taking care to stir the sauce every so often to avoid sticking. The sauce should cook on low heat for at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours, but the longer the better. After taste testing, add the optional sugar if needed. Note: Most of the time sugar is not needed but sometimes a particular batch of tomatoes can be too acidic. If you hate the idea of adding sugar, a carrot will work too.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. While the sauce simmers, add the beef and ground pork to a large mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper. To the meat, add the breadcrumbs, grated cheese, parsley, and garlic paste. Pour 2 beaten eggs into the meat and gently mix everything together, but don’t overmix. If the mixture seems too dry, add one more egg to the mix. If the mixture seems too wet, add a little more breadcrumbs.
- With wet hands, roll the meatballs to 2-inches in diameter. Bake the meatballs in the oven on a sheetpan with a wire rack for 15 minutes, then increase the temperature to 475°F and bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until browned.
- Alternatively, you can shallow-fry the meatballs in olive oil in a frying pan until browned.
- If frying, allow the meatballs to drain on a paper towel-lined dish. Pictured below are the baked meatballs and fried meatballs. You can see the fried are slightly more browned.
- Place the browned meatballs in the Sunday sauce and cook for a minimum of 1 hour on low heat to allow the meatballs to absorb the flavor and braise in the sauce. When the meatballs are done cooking, move to a separate bowl to serve and add additional sauce to pasta, if desired. Serve with grated cheese and Italian bread.
Top tips
- Don’t overmix. Overmixing the meatballs can cause them to be tough. Mix just until they come together and can be rolled into balls without any cracks.
- Baking vs. frying vs just dropping them in. It comes down to personal preference whether you bake or fry. Baking will give you a slightly softer meatball, while frying will give you a browner meatball that’s slightly crispy on the outside (like my pan-fried meatballs). I wanted to show you the two main ways to make meatballs for Sunday sauce, but there is a third way and that is to simply drop the raw meatballs into the sauce and allow them to braise the whole time.
- Thickening the sauce. If you prefer your Sunday sauce (or Sunday gravy) on the thicker side, you can open the lid to the pot a little wider to allow for more evaporation. If you find the sauce is too thick, you can add a touch of water.
- Add wine. I don’t add wine with this recipe, but every now and then I change up my Sunday sauce and add a cup of red wine. It adds another dimension of flavor to the sauce!
- Add some more meat. For even more flavor, drop in some sweet and hot Italian sausages and a few pork chops. Serve both the sausage and pork with the meatballs.
- Serving. There will be a lot of sauce after removing the meatballs. As mentioned, I always serve my meatballs and Sunday sauce with a pound of pasta (we love rigatoni and tortiglioni), but you can also use the sauce for stuffed shells, lasagna, baked ziti, and more!
More nostalgic Italian American favorites
If you love authentic Italian American Sunday sauce with meatballs, give these other recipes a try!
If you’ve enjoyed this Italian Meatballs and Sunday Sauce recipe, give it a 5-star rating.
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Italian Meatballs And Sunday Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 4 28-ounce cans plum tomatoes hand crushed or blender pulsed
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 1/2 cup (120g) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 teaspoons sugar optional, depends on sweetness of the sauce
For the Meatballs
- 1 pound (454g) ground chuck
- 1 pound (454g) ground pork
- 1 cup (100g) plain breadcrumbs plus more as needed
- 3/4 cup (68g) grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1/2 cup minced flat-leaf Italian parsley
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 3 cloves garlic paste
- 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
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Instructions
For The Sauce
- Coat the bottom of a large heavy pot with a 1/2 cup of olive oil and saute the onions on medium-low heat until translucent (about 5-7 minutes).
- Add the tomato paste to the onions and cook for 5 minutes, spreading the paste around with a wooden spoon. Add a splash of water if the paste starts to burn.
- Add in all of the hand crushed tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Stir the sauce until incorporated and cook on a low simmer with the lid left slightly ajar. Stir the sauce every so often (very important!) to avoid sticking. The sauce should cook on low heat for at least 2.5 to 3 hours but longer will be better. Add optional sugar after taste testing, if required.
For The Meatballs
- Add the beef and ground pork to a large mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- To the meat, add the breadcrumbs, grated cheese, parsley and garlic paste. Pour 2 beaten eggs in and gently mix everything together. If the mixture is too dry, add one more egg to the mix.
- With wet hands roll approximately 2" diameter meatballs. The meatballs can be shallow fried in neutral oil until brown on all sides or baked on a sheet pan with wire rack at 400°F for 15 minutes the and additional 5 minutes at 475°F.
- Place the browned meatballs in the sauce and cook for a minimum of 1 hour on low heat to allow the meatballs to absorb the flavor and braise in the sauce.
- When the meatballs are finished, serve with choice of pasta, grated cheese and Italian bread. Enjoy!
Notes
- Calories. The calorie info reflects the addition of 1 pound of pasta.
- Meat. Chuck, which has a large amount of fat and flavor, and ground pork are a great combo for juicy tender meatballs. Avoid using really lean meats if at all possible.
- Mixing the meatballs. It’s crucial to not over-mix a meatball and to not form them too tightly. Use wet hands and roll the meatballs by hand until there are no cracks.
- Breadcrumb amount. The amount this recipe calls for is a fair compromise in the meat to breadcrumb ratio. If the meatballs are too wet after mixing in the initial 1 cup of breadcrumbs, add a bit more until a meatball will form that holds its shape.
- Eggs. 2 eggs is a good starting point, but don’t be shy about using an extra one if the mix is too dry. The eggs are the binder and ensure the meatballs can be formed properly.
- Let the meatballs slowly cook. Leave them in the sauce (minimum 1 hour) on very low heat to slowly braise and absorb the flavors of the homemade Sunday sauce.
- How to make the sauce thicker. With or without paste the sauce can be thickened by simply opening the lid to allow quicker evaporation. Conversely, to slow the thickening process keep the sauce pot fully covered or add a touch of water.
- Leftovers. The meatballs and sauce can be stored in the fridge for 3 days and can be reheated on the stove-top. If the sauce is a little too thick, just add a touch of water to loosen it up. Or if needed, just toss in another can of crushed plum tomatoes to increase the amount of sauce and let it cook for 30 minutes to incorporate into the existing sauce.
- Freezing. The sauce and meatballs can be frozen. Reuse them by thawing in the fridge, then cooking on the stove-top over moderate heat.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This recipe was originally published on July 12, 2019. It was completely updated on April 28, 2025.
Oh Jim,
Loved looking at your recipe for Italian Meatballs and Sunday Sauce. It looks a lot like mine although I don’t use a recipe. I brown garlic instead of onion for the sauce and then puree the tomatoes before adding to the sauce. For seasoning in the sauce, I also add a touch of cinnamon. For the meatballs, I puree onions, celery and carrots to mix in with the ground beef and (sometimes including ground pork), then add bread crumbs and grated parm with salt, pepper, a bit of ground nutmeg and eggs. Form the meatballs and cook in the oven. You are a man after my own heart. I think I am old enough to be your mother.
Made the Italian meatballs and Sunday sauce. Wonderful recipe. I could not find ground pork, so had to use 3 mild Italian sausages with the ground beef. Turned out delicious.
The sauce is so simple, yet so flavourful.
Will definitely utilize this recipe again. 5 stars.
Margot
Hello Jim and Tara,
I cooked your “Italian meatballs Sunday sauce” recipe for the family on Easter Monday.
Children and (teenage) grandchildren adored it, as did me and my husband. It was a huge success!
Many thanks to you, not only for the wonderful recipes, but also for the work you put into the videos, the photos and all the tips and interesting anecdotes.
Hope you had an enjoyable Easter too!
Best regards,
Helen Olry
(Lorraine region, N.E. France)
What do you do with the sausages and pork in the Sunday sauce recipe
Hi Cheryl, you can cook them directly in the sauce until tender.
James, I really enjoy watching when you cook your recipes, show and explain the ingredients and have your children and wife taste test the completed recipes. You continually give me encouragement to cook new recipes. Please continue because you are educational, your recipes are easy to follow are simply to make and most of all your presentations are very, very interesting.
Thanks for the comment, Walter and so happy you’re enjoying the recipes!
Hello:
Your meatball recipes sounds great! However,my husband doesn’t like grated cheese. Would I change amounts of any other ingredients if I leave the cheese out?
Thank you for your wonderful site,
Mary
Hi Mary, you can omit the cheese entirely, however, the cheese does add a bit of salt so if you find the meatballs aren’t salty enough when you make them, that could be why. Hope you enjoy.
How many meatballs are in a single serving?
Hi Nina, it really depends on the size of the meatballs. This recipe yields approximately 12 large meatballs so about 2 meatballs per serving.
Is the nutritional information per serving or in total?
Nutritional information is per serving.
I love Youse Guys! So much like what I grew up with!
Born and raised in Stony Brook off Cedar St. Things really picked up in the early to mid 1960’s when it seemed like all of Brooklyn, Queens and a bunch of the Bronx moved in.
That’s when where I learned to cook Italian, from my friends Moms…
I’m in Virginia, sure do miss Stony Brook though…..
Thanks for the comment, Jackson, and we love Stony Brook too. I know the street you’re talking about – it’s still beautiful there!
Your recipes never disappoint! Thank you
Sounds delicious. It’s pretty close to how my Gramma made the sauce and meatballs. She put fresh basil in her sugu, and Italian bread soaked in milk (or water) and squeezed out and blended with the meatballs. Do you have a recipe for Beef Spedini (Sicilian style) and/or Bruciole (Brushaluni)?
Hi David, thanks for the comment and glad you like the recipe. We don’t have a spiedini recipe on the website, but we do have one for braciole here: https://www.sipandfeast.com/italian-beef-braciole/
Very similar to the way our family makes “gravy.” (I’m from S. Philly). One of my grandmothers made meatballs the way you do, the other used only beef. I happen to be reading this at almost 10 p.m. and I want to go into the kitchen and start a pot going. Good thing the meat is in the freezer!!!!
Angelina, my grandmother, made this same recipe when she came from Calabria in 1910.
I remember fighting with my cousins to see who would get the last piece of pork from the gravy
She taught my mother who taught my wife and now my sons to make it for Sunday dinner. Best part, still has the same fantastic taste and now being passed on to yet another generation with my grandchildren
Love the videos and the recipes. Good flavorful food.
Sunday sauce is the best!
I honestly do not see simple & authentic neopolotan recipes for Sunday sauce Like this one, it is the same one My Grandma made almost a 100 years ago. However, I would supplement breadcrums for Italian bread soaked in water and squeezed out as well As options for the meatballs like raisins or pignoli nuts ..Thankyou fir keeping authentic alive
I noticed you don’t have garlic listed as one of the ingredients for the sauce. Was this an over site?
Hi Linda, it’s not an oversight. Jim doesn’t add garlic to his Sunday sauce (he uses it in his marinara recipe).
I love your family style …
I love your recipes …
My fav are the Italian peasant recipes
and your adorable son.
Keep up the great work!
Hi Edie, we’re so happy you’re enjoying the recipes and thanks for the comment!
James: First of all, I love your recipes….always trying new ones. I’m hoping you will eventually publish a cook book – I’ve got a wad of your recipes and I would love to have them organized in a book. I will order one the day you announce. Is a cookbook in the future?
Hi Cort, thanks for the comment and so happy you’re enjoying the recipes. We are working on a cookbook so stay tuned. Jim will share more information via this website, email, YouTube and the podcast as things progress.
This recipe is just the way my family makes sauce and our meatballs!