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These oven-baked meatballs are big on flavor and so, so good simmered in tomato sauce and then piled on top of some pasta.
One of the reasons they’re so good: you’re using crushed Ritz crackers instead of breadcrumbs! You can certainly sub in breadcrumbs if you don’t have the Ritz, but the crackers really bring in the flavor.
You’ll also be adding some ricotta cheese (or farmer cheese, if you have that), which will mostly make for a super moist baked meatball.
Tip: You don’t have to stop at tomato sauce with these meatballs. You could turn them into Swedish meatballs or use a BBQ sauce to turn them into an appetizer. You could also simmer in marinara and load into sub rolls with mozzarella for meatball subs!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup ricotta or farmer cheese
- 1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a medium-sized casserole dish (mine was 11x7). Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, cheese, crackers, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper until well combined (I found that putting on gloves and using my hands was the easiest method).
- Roll out the meatballs a little smaller than golf ball sized (my batch made about 20-22 meatballs).
- Line them in the casserole dish so that the sides are touching.
- Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, making sure that the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. If you prefer the top to be a bit crispier, you can put them under a low broiler for a couple of minutes.
- Allow to cool slightly before adding to sauce (I just simmer a jar of store-bought marinara and add the meatballs to the sauce once they're cooked).
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