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Tender. Juicy. Flavorful. A good meatball is a beautiful thing. And almost every culture and cuisine has found a way to make the most of simple ground meat; Greek ‘<a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/recipes/easy-herby-greek-meatballs-with-feta-and-spinach-orzo">keftedes</a>’, Vietnamese ‘bun cha’, ‘<a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/recipes/beef-kofta-in-homemade-flatbread">kofta</a>’ from the Middle East and India, and Ikea-favorite Swedish ‘<a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/recipes/sebs-childhood-swedish-meatballs">kottbullar</a>’.

Perfect for speedy weeknight family meals (kids love them!) and a true freezer favorite. Every home cook needs a handful of meatball recipes up their sleeve. I’ve rounded up my top ways to eat meatballs, showing off the versatility of the humble meatball, so you too can fall in love with all they have to offer.

And remember, most meatball recipes begin with minced meat (pork, beef, chicken, veal, or lamb, or a mixture), breadcrumbs, and eggs. From there, the seasoning, aromatics, and sides can be easily adapted to suit almost any cuisine or craving.

Keep in mind, meatballs take well to freezing both before and after cooking, so never hesitate to make a big batch and keep them on hand for last minute meatball nights. 

For me, my first experience of meatballs was with <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/recipes/steven-makes-spaghetti-and-meatballs">spaghetti in a classic marinara sauce</a>. This typical Italian-American preparation is a favorite thanks to generous sized meatballs (often bigger than the traditional Italian ‘polpette’), rich tomato sauce and a generous tangle of spaghetti to bring it all together. Similar in flavor to a Bolognese, spaghetti meatballs feels a little more fun to eat, and the tender, meaty texture of the meatballs contrasts perfectly with the silky sauce. Try out our variations on the classic with the recipes below, and you’ll soon be convinced by this homely classic.

Steven makes spaghetti and meatballs

Pasta with mini meatballs

5-ingredient spaghetti meatballs

Asparagus pasta with meatballs

Meatless meatballs with tomato sauce

Cooking meatballs on a sheet pan not only saves on washing up, they require less attention than pan-fried meatballs, which can keep you tied to the stove. Simply roll them up and lay them out to cook in the oven until golden brown, but still juicy! Serve them with veggies, grains, and carbs to complement the flavors of the meatballs. 

Sheet pan meatballs with chickpeas and vegetables

Easy sheet pan meatballs with savory walnut sauce

A favorite among Ikea shoppers (if you’ve tried them, you’ll know what I’m talking about), Swedish meatballs (AKA ‘kottbullar’) typically combine beef and pork with the usual breadcrumbs and egg. The balls are then pan-fried and served with a rich and creamy sauce, mashed potato, and lingonberry jam. Simple, comforting food. If you’ve not tried them before, this is your sign!

Seb’s Childhood Swedish Meatballs

Vegan Swedish meatballs

Asian-style meatballs served with rice may be one of the most underrated of all. The powerful flavors of Asian cooking (think soy sauce, lime, chili, ginger, and fish sauce) ensure big flavor with just a few steps. Served with rice, herbs, and salad these recipes will have you coming back over and over again. 

5-ingredient curried pork meatballs with rice

Easy honey-soy glazed meatballs

Easy lemongrass meatballs

These simple, feta-filled pork meatballs are served with orzo and fresh spinach in a delicious creamy broth. Dill and lemon add a summery brightness that perfectly pairs with the comforting meatballs and orzo. Experiment with lamb, chicken, or turkey, and swap in any of your favorite herbs and quick-cooking vegetables for a recipe that ticks so many boxes.

Easy, herby Greek meatballs with feta and spinach orzo

An insider tip from a true meatball lover: Add any meatball to a bread roll and you have a meatball sub! Whether it’s Italian style with Parmesan and marinara sauce, herby Greek meatballs with lemon, feta, and a dollop of Greek yogurt, Swedish meatballs with a little cream sauce and lingonberry jam, or a Thai-style lemongrass meatball with a drizzle of fish sauce, lime and cucumber. Experiment with your leftovers to find your new favorite meatball sub! You won’t look back. What&#x27;s your favorite way to enjoy meatballs? Let us know in the comments!

... so you too can make the most of the cross-cultural staple

5 Ways to Fall in Love With Meatballs + 1 Secret Favorite Way

This article is part of “The Community Issue”, our celebration of what brings us together: Food. We’ll be giving you recipes that you asked for, highlighting some amazing recipes that you’ve shared, exploring what we’ve learned from each other here at KS, and so much more! Join us as we connect with each other through food this month and check out <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/stories/from-local-to-global-introducing-our-community-issue">this link</a> for an overview of all our latest stories and recipes from the issue. Don’t forget to follow us on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kitchenstories_official/" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a> for behind the scenes, extra community content, and more!

The recipes <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/stories/new-on-kitchen-stories-upload-your-own-recipes">our community shares</a> bring new inspiration to our team—and we love to highlight standout recipes for you to try in articles that spotlight community recipes—whether we focus on <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/stories/love-tomatoes-love-bread-try-andalusian-salmorejo-soup">one in particular</a> or a collection of <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/stories/community-collection-the-best-of-the-best-from-2020">many</a>. So it was only natural that this month, which we&#x27;re dedicating entirely to the community, we make space for even more community recipes. First up? This recipe for Bratl in der Rein (or Austrian roast pork) by community member <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/users/patrick-pailliart">Patrick Paillart</a>, which caught my eye and won me over immediately.

Every time you <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/stories/new-on-kitchen-stories-upload-your-own-recipes">upload a recipe</a> to Kitchen Stories, our community team gets to work. We check it for completeness, look at the images, preparation steps, and, if we have no suggestions and don’t see missing pieces, we approve it for publication. Recipes that are particularly creative or uploaded with an obvious attention to detail are ones that we flag and try to give special attention to so other community members can see it and share in our appreciation by, of course, cooking it! So it’s no wonder why Patrick&#x27;s recipe caught our attention. The preparation of his recipe is explained in great detail and each step is accompanied by a beautiful (and helpful!) photo, which ensures that anyone cooking this recipe will be able to follow along easily. In his chef’s note, Patrick also vividly tells how this traditional recipe from Austria&#x27;s Innviertel region (the northwestern quarter of Upper Austria) reminds him of his grandmother-in-law. We thought it fit perfectly with the theme of <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/stories/from-local-to-global-introducing-our-community-issue">our monthly issue</a>; what better way to bring people together to learn or reminisce than a regional recipe? Of course, more literally, this community recipe also brought some members of our team together to cook the dish, photograph it, and put it in the right light so the community will be inspired to do just the same!

An Austrian Sunday roast, made “easy”

There was plenty to talk about when it came to cooking Patrick’s recipe. Our photographer Eric was excited to see how the pork would taste and basically hovered around the oven waiting for it; my colleague Kirsten was looking forward to the <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/de/stories/die-wunderbare-welt-der-klosse-und-knodel">bread dumplings</a>; I was highly anticipating the sweet and sour caramelized cabbage; our chef Hanna was inspecting (very closely, mind you!) the details of the recipe itself. To make the recipe, you must first cook the pork belly in beer, this softens the skin on the outside so you can score it easily; it also makes for a particularly crispy crust later on. As the name suggests, the roast is then placed in the Rein (the Austrian term for a roasting pan) on a bed of root vegetables and potatoes and roasted in the oven for just under 2 hours. In the meantime we devote ourselves to the cabbage and the bread dumplings.

For the sweet and sour cabbage, part of the white cabbage is first caramelized with onions and sugar until it’s a deep, rich golden brown hue. Then it’s deglazed with apple cider vinegar and water and can be set aside to simmer away slowly while we make the dumplings. Some simple, butter-sautéed onions, parsley, and milk get mixed with some rustic pieces of stale bread, mixed, and rolled into large bread dumplings. Kirsten, Hanna, and I are all very familiar with these semmelknödel and discuss the intricacies of shape and flavor (it’s a big deal in Germany!), while Eric, who grew up in Canada, is quite and more skeptical—he&#x27;s never tried these types of dumplings before.

We are slowly approaching the end of our roasting project. The dumplings are cooking in a pot of simmering water, the cabbage is on the stove to keep warm, and we can start the final step for our pork: crisping up the crust. As described in the recipe, we rub it with a little salt and turn on our oven’s grill function. The little diamonds we had scored into the skin earlier gradually begin to pop up, almost like popcorn, a spectacle we all had to capture on camera (be sure to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kitchenstories_official/" rel="nofollow">follow us on Instagram</a> for behind the scenes peeks!) At about 1 p.m. sharp, just like grandma, we take the finished roast out of the oven. But we don&#x27;t eat it yet, we have to take the photos first! On previously selected plates, we lovingly arrange the roast, dumplings, sweet and sour cabbage, and root vegetables to photograph. In addition, a little boat of gravy sits beside the plate, ready to crown our Sunday roast.

What comes next is one of the incentives for us to deal with food and recipes every day: We get to eat. At our lunch, we came together around this regional family recipe that made it from the Innviertel region of Austria to our Berlin office thanks to Patrick Paillart and the Kitchen Stories community. Eric finds his first bread dumpling quite different from what he expected, but &quot;so delicious&quot; and we all agree, perhaps the last time we had such a delicious, hearty dish was around a table with our own families. After all, it’s not every day that you make and eat a meal like this. Thanks to Patrick and his grandma-in-law, I finally know how to make a perfect pork roast at home myself—and all the homey feelings seemed to be baked right in.

Grandma's pork roast with sauerkraut & bread dumplings

Do you have a regional recipe you want to share with our global community? May is all about how we can connect—globally and locally—across our international community, because good food unites us all. So <a href="https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/stories/faq-lets-talk-profiles-and-uploading-recipes">upload your favorite recipe</a> via our app or website; we can’t wait!

Patrick’s recipe for an Austrian roast has stolen our hearts

How This Community Member’s Regional Family Recipe Made It To Kitchen Stories

No one should avoid cooking steak for dinner, just because the thought of preparing it seems complicated. We will show you a few simple tricks to easily determine the various levels of doneness for beef. Not only Christmas table decorations can impress at social gatherings - a perfectly cooked steak will do so, too. Searing a steak is all about retaining the meat&#x27;s natural juice. Therefore, it is important to pat the meat dry with a towel before cooking. Beef is usually cooked until it’s pink. The longer the meat cooks, the more juice it loses, which makes it become dry and tough. The right core temperature (inner temperature of the meat) is of great importance. A steak is cooked in little time, but at high temperature. Only if you reach the appropriate core temperature, germs will be killed effectively. Speaking of germs: before you start, wash your hands thoroughly with soap to make sure they can’t spread.

The level of doneness can easily be determined with the finger test. The texture of the area of skin below your thumb is comparable to that of a steak. This texture changes from soft to firm, depending on which finger you press your thumb against. By using the following guidelines, you’ll easily be able to determine how well-done your steak is.

If you cook the meat for approx. 2 minutes per side, the meat will be a bit cold and bloody in the center; on the outside pink. The meat juice should be dark red. Test: press your thumb against your index finger. The cooked meat should be quite soft, just like the fleshy area below your thumb. Core temperature: 45-55°C/ 113-131°F

If you cook the meat longer, approx. 3 minutes per side, it will become pink throughout. The center will still be a bit raw; the meat very juicy. The skin will begin to appear lightly charred. Test: lightly pinch together your middle finger and thumb. If the steak and the area of skin below your thumb feel the same, your steak is medium-rare. Core temperature: 55-60°C/ 131-140°F

The meat should be only slightly pink in the middle and there shouldn&#x27;t be any juice leaking. The outside should have a nice brownish char. The juice should be lightly pink. Medium-rare steak is very popular and what most restaurant owners prefer. Test: press your thumb against your ring finger. The area below your thumb and the meat should feel pretty firm by now. Core temperature: 60-65°C/ 140-149°C

After cooking the meat for approx. 5-8 minutes per side, the meat will be completely cooked through. Don’t be deceived by its grayish-brown, crispy outside: inside, the meat is delicious. There should only be a small amount of clear juice that comes out after you cut into the steak. Test: press your thumb against your pinky finger. The meat, like the area of skin below your thumb, should be firm. Core temperature: above 70°C/ 158°F How well-done the steak is will depend on the thickness and weight of the cut of meat. Before serving, the steak should rest for about 5-8 minutes, so it won’t lose too much of its juice when you cut it.

To make sure nothing can go wrong, have a look at our “How to cook the perfect steak”video! Our outstanding method: we let the meat reach its perfect core temperature by cooking it in the oven at a low temperature first, before searing it on both sides. Due to the low temperature, the steak is gently heated and will not lose any of its precious juice.

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