Spaghetti with meatballs in a Dutch oven

Spaghetti with meatballs is often considered a typical American recipe. That's where I ate it for the first time. Since then I have loved the meat balls with spaghetti. That's why we often cook them at home. While it is true that this dish is mainly used in New York was very popular with Italian immigrants. However, they did not first discover it in the USA.

You can buy a Dutch Oven here

Spaghetti with Meat Balls - a recipe from Italy and America

It is often said that spaghetti with meat balls is in Italy is not prepared. However, that is not correct. Spaghetti with meatballs has been prepared since the Middle Ages, especially in Abruzzo, Puglia, Sicily and other regions of southern Italy. However, they are often only found in special regions or even cities. In modern cookbooks in Italy they are referred to as maccheroni alle polpette. However, meatballs in Italy are usually smaller than those found in American cuisine. In Abruzzo, for example, spaghetti alla chitarra is served as a first course. These are pasta with small balls of meat and a meat or vegetable stew. Dishes such as Pasta Seduta or Maccaroni Azzese in Apulia also have similarities with the recipe.

Recipe for spaghetti with meatballs in the Dutch oven

You can prepare the recipe for spaghetti with meatballs on the stove in a pan. In summer, this also goes well in the Dutch Oven open fire or on the Gas grill. Our collection for Gas grill recipes you can find here. In our recipe we show you how to prepare the dish in the Dutch Oven.

Ingredients for Spaghetti with Meatballs:

800 grams of minced meat
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp salt for the ground beef
two onions
2 teaspoon sugar
500 grams of tomato passata
1 EL tomato paste
two gloves of garlic
100 ml of cream
200 ml beef broth
100 ml of red wine
1 tsp salt for the sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
500g spaghetti
1 bunch fresh basil

Preparation of spaghetti with meatballs

Mince the garlic. Add it to the ground beef. Season with salt and oregano. Then you knead everything together and form meatballs out of it.

Heat the lid of your Dutch oven. In it you fry the meatballs for the spaghetti with meatballs on all sides.

At the same time you heat the oil in the Dutch oven. Then fry the onions in it and season them with sugar and tomato paste.

Then you add the tomato passata and let it all boil up. Then add the meatballs.

Finally add the garlic, salt, cream and red wine and pour the drippings from the meatballs into the sauce. Let the whole thing come to a boil. Then you reduce the heat.

Let the sauce simmer with the meatballs for about 30 minutes. If you prepare the sauce in the gas grill, you can reduce the heat.

In the meantime, cook the spaghetti in salted water in a separate pot.

Then you can serve the spaghetti with meatballs with a few leaves of fresh basil.

We wish you a good appetite!