We all have that friend or family member that is constantly sharing recipes they love. Personally, I LOVE getting recipes from others that are amazing (hence, my website name….Recipes Worth Repeating). I love the variety of recipes I get and I love to try new foods, so I’m super thankful for my aunt Sondra who sends me recipes and for my aunt Elaine who shared a lot of her recipes with me before she passed away to be with the Lord. Gosh, I need to post some of her recipes on here. I have some classics sitting in my recipe book!! My friend Lindsay is another person who is always sharing a lot of yummy recipes with me, like this Feta and Sun-Dried Tomato Turkey Meatloaf and these Turkey Tots, but I think this Italian Marinara with Meatballs recipe is my all-time favorite of all the recipes she has shared. With this recipe came the story about how her Italian family has been making this dish for years! Ya’ll…let me tell you, this authentic Italian Marinara with Meatballs dish is a classic! Look at those meatballs!
This dish features a lot of fresh basil and fresh oregano, mixed with other Italian spices. I think that’s why I love this recipe so much. It’s screaming authentic flavor with every single bite! Plus, this dish is made in a slow-cooker so that makes it super convenient and super tasty because all these Italian ingredients have time to meld and marinate together. Is your mouth watering yet?! To make the sauce, you literally throw in the marinara ingredients into the crock pot.
From there, you’re going to mix up the ingredients to make and roll your meatballs. Before adding the rolled meatballs to the slow-cooker, you’ll first need to brown them on the stove. You’ll add 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil (use flavored oil if you have it on hand) to a skillet and brown the outsides of the meatballs. This step is crucial! If you don’t do this step, the meatballs will fall apart in the sauce while everything is cooking. The intent is to brown both sides of the meatballs, not cook them all the way through. They will finish cooking in your slow-cooker. Once the meatballs are browned, you’ll spoon them out of the skillet and place them on top of your sauce.
You’ll then gently spoon some of the sauce on top of the meatballs before placing the lid on and letting the slow-cooker do all the work. You’re going to let this recipe slow-cook for 5 hours. About 20 minutes before the sauce and meatball are scheduled to be done, I make my gluten free spaghetti noodles. I drain the noodles and make my plate!
This recipe can be made gluten free if you use gluten free noodles and gluten free breadcrumbs. Oh and by the way…Lindsay add a Young Living Essential Oil called “Taste of Italy” that contain basil leaf oil, Oregano (Origanum vulgare)† aerial parts oil, Oregano (Origanum minutiflorum)† aerial parts oil, Oregano (Origanum onites)† aerial parts oil, Oregano (Origanum majorana)† aerial parts oil. This add is optional, but adding it really enhances the taste of this dish! You guys, I’m telling you…you are really going to enjoy this recipe! It’s a repeater for sure!! And if you just can’t get enough of my pasta recipes, you have to check out these favorites like my Garlic Basil Chicken Pasta with Alfredo Sauce, Penne Pasta with Italian Marinara Sauce and my Chicken Florentine with Sun Dried Tomato Pasta…so yummy!!
