Nonna’s Polpette al Sugo (Nonna’s Meatballs in Sauce)
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Nonna’s Polpette al Sugo is the ultimate Sunday dinner. When we think about a traditional Italian meal, meatballs and tomato sauce is the first thing that comes to mind. The sauce is thick and delicious, and the meatballs are flavorful, moist, and tender.
Polpette al Sugo means meatballs in sauce in Italian, and every family has its special recipe. This one has been passed down for generations in our family.
Nonna served it with homemade pasta or Four Cheese Ravioli every Sunday and for every holiday dinner of my childhood and it is still everyone’s favorite meal. Especially when it is followed by her Stuffed Sicilian Artichokes and Homemade Cannoli Shells filled with Ricotta Cream filling!
What Makes Nonna’s Homemade Polpette al Sugo Special
Nonna’s meatballs are incredibly light, tender, and irresistible. She combines beef, pork, and veal for a soft, delicate texture. Beef alone is drier and coarser, while pork and veal add fat and flavor, making for the juiciest meatballs.
Partially baking them before adding them to the sauce enhances their flavor while allowing them to absorb moisture from the sauce, resulting in perfectly tender polpette.
What I love about this recipe is that the meatballs are delicious on their own—so much so that I always make extra to nibble on before the sauce is even ready!
And then there’s the sauce! Nonna keeps it simple with tomato purée, fresh basil, polpette, and some additional meat for flavor. After simmering for hours, it thickens into a rich, perfectly balanced sauce that fills the house with an incredible aroma.
The result? Melt-in-your-mouth meatballs in a luscious tomato sauce—pure LOVE!
Ingredient Notes
Polpette Ingredients
Ground meat: An equal amount of ground beef, pork, and veal creates the best texture. The easiest thing to do is to buy meatloaf mix, which is already prepackaged in equal portions of each cut of meat.
Seasoned Breadcrumbs: Good quality storebought breadcrumbs are perfectly fine to use. This is a great shortcut and there is no need to soak stale bread.
Pecorino Romano Cheese: Freshly grated pecorino adds a sharp, salty flavor. You can also use a mix of Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano.
See the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantities.
Sauce Ingredients
Country Style Pork Ribs and Italian Sausage Links: Adding this additional meat is optional but adds a lot of depth and complexity to the sauce.
How to Make Nonna’s Polpette al Sugo
Polpette
1.Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Gently mix all ingredients together just until well incorporated. Try not to overwork the meat.
3. Form into small balls slightly larger than a golf ball and place them on a rimmed baking sheet.
4. Bake them in a 375 °F oven for 10-15 mins. or until starting to brown.
Cooking Tips
The trick to tender meatballs is to not overwork the meat. I suggest letting all of your ingredients come to room temperature before you start so they mix easily.
Use your hands to gently fold the ingredients from the bottom of the bowl to the top until they are evenly combined.
Tomato Sauce
1.Heat olive oil in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Season the pork ribs and brown them for about 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove the ribs from the pan and set aside.
2. Add the diced onion to the same pan and cook until tender. Then, stir in the garlic and tomato paste. Cook the tomato paste for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly so it does not burn.
3. Add the tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, and one can of water to the pan, stirring to dissolve the tomato paste. Stir in the sugar, baking soda, salt, black pepper, and a few fresh basil leaves.
4. Now, you can add the ribs, sausage, and meatballs to the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, turn the heat down to low, and gently simmer the sauce for 2-3 hours. Stir the sauce often to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Cooking Tips
Taste the sauce periodically and season accordingly. A piece of crusty bread is a great tool for sauce tasting!
Serving Suggestions for an Authentic Italian Dinner
In Italy polpette al sugo may be served at a meal consisting of pasta, but never together.
An excellent first course might be a plate of Gnocchetti, or Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli in sauce. That would then be followed by meatballs and sauce and a vegetable dish like Fried Artichokes, Grilled Eggplant, or Italian Green Beans and Potatoes.
A delicious meal like this needs to be finished with a cup of espresso and something sweet and decadent. Authentic Tiramisu, Lemon Olive Oil Cake, or a slice of sweet Ricotta Pie are good options.
Make Ahead and Storage
One of the great things about Italian meatballs is that they can be made well in advance and frozen until you need them. We make dozens of them and store them in the freezer for when we want to add them to sauce or soups.
The best way to freeze the polpette is to bake them first. I like to take them out of the oven when they are just barely done. Let them cool, then place them in freezer bags. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQs
Polpette, Italian meatballs, can be served in several ways. The most common is cooked in a tomato sauce. They are also often baked or fried and served without a sauce, or they can be cooked in a broth or soup.
Spaghetti and meatballs emerged in the U.S. in the late 1800s as Italian immigrants adapted their cuisine to available ingredients. With more access to meat, they made larger meatballs and paired them with spaghetti and rich tomato sauce, creating a hearty, affordable dish that became an Italian-American staple.
In Italy, meals are generally broken into courses. Pasta is usually served in a smaller portion as a first course. That is followed by meat or fish, with vegetables and salad served last.
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Nonna’s Polpette al Sugo (Nonna’s Meatballs in Sauce)
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Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 ½ lbs. Meatloaf mix Beef, Pork and Veal
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 Onion diced
- 1 clove Garlic finely chopped
- 1/3 cup Breadcrumbs seasoned
- 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano Cheese grated
- ¼ cup Milk
- 1 tbsp Mint fresh, chopped
- 1 tbsp Parsley fresh, chopped
- ½ tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
Simple Meat Sauce
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 lbs Pork Ribs Country style
- 15 Meatballs
- 6 links Italian Sausage cut in half
- 1 Onion finely diced
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 90 oz Tomato Puree Or a combination of puree and crushed tomatoes
- 1½ tsp Salt
- 1½ tsp Sugar
- 2 pinches Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Black Pepper ground
- 4 Basil Leaves fresh, large
Instructions
Meatballs
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together until well incorporated but try not to over work the meat.1 ½ lbs. Meatloaf mix, 1 Egg, 1/4 Onion, 1 clove Garlic, 1/3 cup Breadcrumbs, 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano Cheese, ¼ cup Milk, 1 tbsp Mint, 1 tbsp Parsley, ½ tsp Black Pepper, 1 tsp Salt
- Form into balls slightly larger than a golf ball or any size that you like.
- Place on a cookie sheet and bake in a 375 ° oven for 10-15 mins. or until starting to brown.
- Remove from oven and either add to your sauce or place in plastic bags and freeze for later use.
Meat Sauce
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Brown the pork ribs for 2 mins per side. When they are nicely browned, transfer them to a plate.2 tbsp Olive Oil, 2 lbs Pork Ribs
- Add the onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until just tender. Stir in the tomato paste and continue stirring for a minute.1 Onion, 2 cloves Garlic, 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
- Pour in the puree (and crushed tomatoes if you chose to use them) and bring to a boil. Add salt, sugar, baking soda, pepper, and basil. Bring to a slow boil.90 oz Tomato Puree, 1½ tsp Salt, 1½ tsp Sugar, 2 pinches Baking Soda, ½ tsp Black Pepper, 4 Basil Leaves
- Add in the meat and bring the sauce back to a slow boil. Cover and cook on a low to simmering heat for one hour stirring often.15 Meatballs, 6 links Italian Sausage, 2 lbs Pork Ribs
- Uncover the sauce and cook for an addition 1-2 hours. Stir the sauce often and adjust the salt and pepper to taste.
Made this tonight for the family and it was outstanding!
Thanks for letting me know how much you liked it Sean! This is definitely a family favorite!
These are by far the best meatballs I’ve ever had! Just like Nonna used to make them!
Alex that is high praise! Thank you for leaving a review and I am so happy that you loved the recipe!
These are the best meatballs and sauce you’ll ever have! It’s so worth it to make the jarred sauce !!
Enza,
This looks delicious! I wish I were having it at your house!
Will try to make them. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Shelby
Shelby
So good to hear from you! Text me to catch up!
Miss you!
Enza