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    Home » Italian Meat Recipes

    Italian Fried Meatballs Recipe

    Published: Apr 27, 2020 · Modified: Mar 2, 2024 by Silvana Nava · This post may contain affiliate links

    Italian Fried meatballs are soft and crispy balls, made with a selection of fine meats ranging from beef, veal to chicken, turkey and pork.

    Meatballs recipes have their roots in Italian cucina povera, as it was a smart way to repurpose leftovers: for example the meat leftover from the day before, of a roast chicken, rather than a turkey, mixed with stale bread, milk, eggs.

    Simple but nutritious foods like other famous Italian dishes such as Chocolate bread cake and the Tuscan Pappa al Pomodoro.

    fried italian meatballs ingredients

    Jump to:
    • Italian Fried Meatballs Recipe
    • Ingredients
    • Instructions
    • How to Store Fried Meatballs
    • Fried Italian Meatballs Variants
    • Curiosity and Origin of the Italian Name Polpetta (Meatball)

    Therefore, authentic Fried Italian meatballs recipe is made partly with meat leftovers, partly with ground beef (if you have no meat leftovers, you can use ground beef only or mix it with minced chicken, turkey or pork for the same weight), stale bread soaked in milk, Grana Padano or Parmigiano cheese, parsley and eggs.

    In meatballs recipes, eggs are necessary: they bind meat, bread, cheese and herbs so that, once cooked, meatballs turn out soft and airy.

    One of the optional ingredients that you will find below is mortadella ham. It's a typical salami of northern Italy, made with pork. You can replace it with cooked ham or, in case of difficulty in finding the ingredients, do without it.

    Almost every region in Italy has its own meatballs recipe. This is a famous recipe in Italy, particularly in the north, together with Saffron risotto, Osso Buco and Veal Milaese.

    So now here is Fried Italian meatballs recipe from scratch! You can eat them hot, right off the pan, or warm, or even cold as an appetizer (in this case just be sure to make their shape a little bit smaller).

    Read also:

    • Italian Eggplant Meatballs | Polpette di Melanzane
    • Zucchini Meatballs | Polpette di Zucchine
    • Italian Meatballs in Tomato Sauce | Polpette al Sugo

    Italian Fried Meatballs Recipe

    • Prep Time: 20 min
    • Cook Time: 10 min
    • Servings: 8

    Ingredients

    • 300 g (about 10 oz) of meat leftovers or minced pork
    • 300 g (about 10 oz) of ground beef
    • 100 g (3,50 oz) of stale bread
    • 1 cup of whole milk
    • 50 g (1,7 oz) of Mortadella ham(optional)
    • 1 medium egg
    • fine salt and black pepper
    • 1 lemon zest
    • a bunch of parsley
    • 1 small garlic clove
    • 150 gr (about 5 oz) of Grana Padano cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano
    • vegetable oil for frying
    • 1 cup of bread crumbs

    Instructions

    Fried Italian Meatballs step 1

    Step 1) - The authentic recipe of Italian fried meatballs is made with roast or boiled meat leftovers. If you do not have meat leftovers and mortadella ham, you can make the recipe with minced pork for the same weight. You only have to skip the first step.

    So in a food processor mince meat leftovers, mortadella ham, Grana padano (or Parmigiano cheese), 1 small garlic clove and parsley. Then, in a bowl mix a whole egg with ground beef, a pinch of salt and ground black pepper.

    Fried Italian Meatballs step 2

    Step 2) - Meantime, in a bowl, soak the stale bread in the milk for about 10 minutes. Once the bread is soaked, squeeze it with your hands to let the excess milk out. Add it to the ground meats.

    Fried Italian Meatballs step 3

    Step 3) - Now add the grated lemon zest and mix all together with a wooden spoon. Now, take a little bit of the mixture and make a ball with your hands with a diameter of about ¾ cm (1 inch and a half). Meatballs can be round or slightly oval, as you prefer.

    Fried Italian Meatballs step 4

    Step 4) - Roll and cover the meatballs in bread crumbs (no batter them in eggs, it's not necessary).

    Fried Italian Meatballs step 5

    Step 5) - When ready fry them in a frying pan for about ten minutes, turning them frequently, with frying oil (even if the authentic recipe wants butter, nowadays it's better frying with a proper oil). Cover with a lid if you want to be sure they are cooked inside.

    Serve fried Italian meatballs with a side dish of fresh green salad, Italian roasted potatoes or try Red Potatoes and Green Apples Recipe.

    How to Store Fried Meatballs

    You can keep fried meatballs in the refrigerator for a maximum of 2-3 days in an airtight container. You can even freeze them.

    Fried Italian Meatballs Variants

    Being a popular recipe, the variants to the basic recipe are endless. Let's see some of them:

    Meat leftover used in the recipe can be roasted or stewed. For example we could make meatballs with leftovers of roasted chicken, mixed boiled meats or roasted veal;

    If you are using boiled meat, you can add the vegetables in which it was cooked, such as carrot, potato and onion;

    You can even add a little chopped onion to the mixture with the garlic;

    You can add sausage in place or with other ingredients such as mortadella ham or meat leftovers;

    In place of stale bread, you can add a medium boiled potato.

    Fried Italian Meatballs

    Curiosity and Origin of the Italian Name Polpetta (Meatball)

    In Italian language meatball is called polpetta; but, while in Italy the name polpetta refers to a predominantly round preparation based on minced meat, in Milan this same type of preparation is indicated with the term mondeghili.

    Mondeghili is one of the words that one hundred and fifty years of Spanish domination have left in the Milan dialect. In this regard, Francesco Cherubini, in his work Milanese-Italian Dictionary (Milan 1839), writes: "Mondeghili: species of meatballs made with ground meat, bread, egg, and similar ingredients".

    The word mondeghili actually comes from the Arabic "al-bunduc". It's in fact these people who taught the Spanish one the use of packing a sphere of minced meat and then frying it.

    Spanish people called this preparation "albondiga". From this name was born the word albondeguito which, subsequently, became albondeghito, to eventually become "mondeghilo/i" in the city of Milan.

    More Italian Meat Recipes

    • meatloaf with hard boiled eggs
      Meatloaf with Hard-Boiled Eggs
    • cotoletta alla milanese
      Cotoletta alla Milanese (Italian Breaded Veal Cutlets)
    • Pork Tenderloin with Pomegranate Sauce Recipe
      Pork Tenderloin with Pomegranate Sauce Recipe
    • Italian stuffed chicken rolls (involtini di pollo)
      Italian Stuffed Chicken Rolls (Involtini di Pollo)
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    Comments

    1. Cindy Jackson says

      November 16, 2018 at 11:21 pm

      I have roll the meatballs size of golf balls. NOW what do I batter them in to deep fry and how long? Tried one in deep fryer outside to done inside cold and not done?

      Reply
      • Barbara Lucchini says

        December 02, 2018 at 11:28 am

        Hi Cindy,
        yes, the size of meatballs is right. Cook them on medium heat in a rather large pan for about 10 minutes, with oil or butter following the doses of the recipe, turning them often. The oil/butter must be about a half inch high, do not use too much, the meatballs must not be submerged. While they are cooking, cover them with a lid, so you are sure they will cook even inside.

        Reply
        • Debra says

          June 19, 2020 at 1:10 am

          My meatballs came out great. Nice touch with lemon zest.

          Reply

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    Barbara & Silvana

    CIAO! Barbara & Silvana here! We are the authors of these amazing Italian recipes. Living in Italy, they are part of our culture, tradition and everyday life. And we want to share them with you all, straight from Italy! Learn more about us! Read our story!

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