Easy spaghetti and meatballs
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
These moreish meatballs are super easy to make, top them with a simple tomato sauce and stir in some spaghetti for a quick midweek meal. Make the meatballs ahead for an even quicker cook on busy weeknights.
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 250g/9oz beef mince
- 1 medium free-range egg
- 2 tbsp fresh or dried breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 1 garlic clove, grated or crushed
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- salt and pepper
For the sauce
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 garlic clove, grated or crushed
To serve
- 150g/5½oz spaghetti
Method
Put the beef, egg, breadcrumbs, herbs and garlic into a large bowl. Work the mixture together with your hands until thoroughly mixed. Season with salt and pepper. Roll the mixture into 10 equal-sized balls.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the meatballs in batches for 8 minutes until golden-brown all over. Return all the meatballs to the pan then stir in the chopped tomatoes, mixed herbs, sugar and garlic. Cook over a medium heat for 8–10 minutes.
While the meatballs are cooking, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cook for 10–12 minutes or according to the packet instructions. Just before the spaghetti is ready, add a ladleful of the pasta water to the tomato sauce to thin it down, if necessary.
Drain the spaghetti and add to the pan with the meatballs. Toss to combine then divide between two serving bowls.
Recipe tips
You can freeze the meatballs, in their sauce, for up to a month. When reheating, make sure they are piping hot all the way through.
Adding a little of the starchy pasta water in step 3 helps make the sauce silky as well as thinning it down.
