Traditional Homemade Italian Meatballs With Milk Soaked Bread

Ingredients

• 1 piece white bread (crusts removed (Note 1))
• 100 ml milk
• 500 g ground beef (or half beef half pork (Note 2))
• 1 onion (finely chopped or grated)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 45 g parmesan or pecorino (finely grated)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley ((Note 3))
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp oil (for frying if using pan frying cooking method)

Instructions

1. 1

   Pour the milk over the bread and leave it to soak in for 10 minutes while you prep the other ingredients.

2. 2

   Mash the bread and milk together to form a paste.

3. 3

   Add the remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly using your hands.

4. 4

   Form the mixture into golf-ball sized balls using a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop or wet hands.

5. 5

   Cook the meatballs using one of the methods below until the meatballs have an internal temperature of 165°F or 75°C.

6. 6

   --- Pan frying ---

7. 7

   Place a frying pan on a medium to high heat and add oil. Add the meatballs when the oil is hot and fry for approximately 10 minutes, turning regularly until brown on all sides. Be careful not to crowd the pan. You might need to do this in two batches.

8. 8

   --- Oven baked ---

9. 9

   Bake the meatballs at 400°F or 200°C for around 20 minutes, broiling for a couple of minutes to brown them if needed.

10. 10

    --- Air fryer ---

11. 11

    Spray the air fryer basket with olive oil, set the air fryer to 400F or 200C and cook for 7-10 minutes, turning halfway.