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Clean recipe · cooking.nytimes.com

Spinach Meatballs With Pasta

Adding frozen, chopped spinach to your meatballs to “stretch” the meat further isn’t just kind to your pocket book — it also makes for a better meatball. The spinach brings moisture to the mix of beef and pork, which leads to a more tender and juicy meatball. (You can also exclusively use pork or beef if you prefer.) The spinach also accentuates the minerality of the iron-rich ground beef, adding savoriness without heaviness. This recipe has you brown the meatballs in a pot so that you can build the sauce with the flavorful drippings. If you’d prefer to cook the meatballs in the oven, roast them on the upper rack at 425 degrees until no longer pink, 11 to 14 minutes, then broil until golden-brown on top, 2 to 4 minutes before adding to the sauce. Be sure to scrape any drippings from the sheet pan into the sauce as well.

Original recipe: cooking.nytimes.com

Yield:
2 servings
Prep:
0 hr 15 min
Cook:
1 hr 15 min
Total:
1 hr 30 min
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Ingredients

  1. 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, liquid reserved
  2. ¾ cup panko bread crumbs
  3. 1 large egg
  4. 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped, divided
  5. Salt and black pepper
  6. 8 ounces ground beef (15- to 20-percent fat)
  7. 8 ounces ground pork
  8. ½ cup finely grated Parmesan (about 1½ ounces), plus more for serving
  9. ¼ cup finely chopped parsley or basil, plus a few sprigs
  10. 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for rolling
  11. 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
  12. 1 pound spaghetti, rigatoni or another long or tubed noodle

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, stir together the spinach, ½ cup of the spinach liquid, panko, egg, 1 teaspoon chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt) and a few grinds of pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes, until the panko is softened.