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Marilyn Ginsburg

Mom's Famous Spaghetti and Meatballs

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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Meatballs
  • 1 16-ounce package JENNIE-O® Extra Lean Ground Turkey Breast
  • 4 slices of white bread
  • 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion grated
  • 1 small clove garlic minced finely
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Spaghetti Sauce
  • 1 cup onion chopped
  • 1 small clove garlic minced
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 - 15 ounce can tomato puree
  • 2 - 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
  • 2 - 6 oounce cans tomato paste
  • 2 cups water
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
For serving
  • Spaghetti noodles 16 ounce box, cooked and drained
  • Parmesan cheese grated for topping

Method
 

For the meatballs
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
  2. In a small bowl, add enough water to bread slices to cover; let stand for 2 minutes.
  3. Remove bread slices and squeeze out excess water.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine bread with ground turkey and remaining ingredients; toss lightly with fork to combine.
  5. With moistened hands (or an ice cream scoop), shape meat mixture into meatballs.
  6. One pound of ground turkey makes approximately 24 meatballs.
  7. Bake meatballs in oven for approximately 20-22 minutes, turning over at the halfway mark.
  8. Set aside in the refrigerator.
For the spaghetti sauce
  1. Heat olive oil in a pan.
  2. Add onion and garlic, and cook for about 5-6 minutes until onion is softened and translucent.
  3. Add tomato puree, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, sugar, salt, oregano basil, parsley and pepper.
  4. Stir and simmer, uncovered, for 1-2 hours.
  5. Add the meatballs and simmer for 1 hour longer.
  6. Serve with hot spaghetti and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Notes

If you happen to find yourself with one 28-ounce can of tomato puree and one 15-ounce can of tomato sauce instead of what the recipe calls for above, let me tell you that you'll be completely fine!
You can also brown the meatballs in a skillet in vegetable oil (instead of baking).
I used extra lean ground turkey for this recipe because that's what I had on hand; however, you can use regular lean turkey which has a little more fat content and would be my first choice recommendation.

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