1. Make meatball mixture.

Combine the following ingredients well in a mixing bowl using a spatula spoon or large spoon. Or your hands, if you’re cool with that.

• 1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed or finely diced
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese (ideally full fat)
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 lb ground beef (I usually use 15 / 85)

2. Preheat pan.

I usually use a cast iron skillet, but you could use any large frying pan (ideally about 12″ given the recipe size). I preheat it for a solid 2-3 minutes, then I spray it down well with olive oil. You really don’t want the meatballs to stick.

Preheating not necessary with nonstick. You don’t want those to get too hot.

3. Brown the meatballs.

Once preheated, begin scooping the meatballs into the pan. I use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop for this purpose. If you don’t have one, you could use 2 large spoons to achieve something similar – aim for each meatball to be about 3 tablespoons of mixture.

Let the meatballs cook over medium high heat for 4-5 minutes, until they are well-browned on one side. Then, gently – they are quite delicate at this stage, tip them over to another side and let them brown for another 4-5 minutes. 

4. Add the chicken broth, cover, and let them cook for another 10 min or so.

Once they have browned on two sides, no need to flip them again. Just leave them down on the second side (which is now browned). Then add the 2 cups of chicken broth.  Bring it to a boil.

Then cover loosely. With my cast iron, I’ll either use a frying pan lid that fits, or put a large (clean) frying pan on top of it. I leave a little area for some steam to vent. Reduce the heat, and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes. The chicken broth should be mostly gone by this point – it’s okay for some liquid (maybe 1/4 cup) to remain. I usually temp the meatballs at the end to make sure they’re finished. I turn off the heat when they’re at least 165F internally. But it’s okay if you go past that – I often get them into the 180s.  With all the ricotta and breadcrumbs, you’ll be fine – they won’t get hard. I strongly prefer to err on the side of overcooking with meatballs.

If you’re making pasta, I usually put it on as soon as the lid goes onto the meatballs.

5. Enjoy!

I eat these over pasta with olive oil and a little salt. I break up the meatballs a bit to ensure to get a bit of meatball with every bite of pasta. Alternatively, I will add a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of parsley and chives to the pasta and then mix in the meatballs.

Of course, you could always heat up some red sauce to toss the pasta in, and then serve the meatballs on top.