Italian Spicy Meatballs Made Easy

Italian spicy meatballs turns up the heat on a traditional meatball recipe. Bursting with warming spice and flavor, these spicy meatballs pair well with spaghetti and sauce or make delicious sandwiches!

Post may contain affiliate links. As a member of the Amazon affiliate program, I may earn a small commision from qualifying purchases. To read my affiliate policy, click here.

Italian spicy meatballs bring the heat!

You know like in that song Miami? Bringing the heat.

Ok, this 90s kid will sit back down now.

These spicy meatballs are a kicked up version of my traditional Italian meatballs.

They have pretty much the same set of ingredients you’d find in a traditional meatball recipe but with more garlic and a healthy helping of red pepper.

On a scale of mild to make your face sweat, these spicy meatballs are more of a warming heat than raging inferno.

In other words, they are pleasantly spicy without being overpoweringly so.

And of course if you really want them hot and spicy you could always add even more peper and garlic.

Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies

You don’t need much to make spicy Italian meatballs. You probably have a lot on hand already.

Here’s the list:

• Ground Beef – You want to use 80 to 85 ground beef. If you use a fattier beef, the meatballs will shrink more and be sort of greasy. Too lean and they could be sort of tough. You can also add a mix of ground beef, veal, and pork, which is a common combination for meatballs.
• Breadcrumbs – Breadcrumbs help to absorb moisture and helps to keep the flavor in the meatballs where it belongs.
• Milk – Milk helps to prevent the meatballs from drying out as they cook. No one likes dry, tasteless balls.
• Parmesan cheese – Parmesan cheese adds some salty flavor to the meatballs.
• Egg – For binding
• Spices – A blend of garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning blend, dried basil, and salt.
• Red pepper flakes – This adds the heat to the spicy Italian meatballs. You could also add in black pepper or other pepper to increase the heat. You’ll notice there’s a full tablespoon here and that’s what gives the meatballs most of their heat. Adjust the amount to your liking.
• Garlic – Lots of fresh garlic which gives flavor and also a little heat.

Kitchen tools and equipment you’ll want:

• pan with a lid or an oven safe pan if you know you are going to finish them in the oven
• mixing bowl
• garlic press
• large cookie scoop to make sure your meatballs are equal sized

Tips Before You Start Cooking

• Decide if you are going to freeze these meatballs. If you know you want to freeze them, that will change how should finish cooking them (no sauce!).
• If you want to finish the meatballs in the oven and have one available, use an oven safe pan or cast iron skillet.
• You can substitute actual bread for breadcrumbs. To do this, just rip the bread up into tiny little pieces first. Stale bread works really well for this!

How to make Spicy Meatballs

Here’s what you need to do to make Italian spicy meatballs.

1. Mix and shape the meatballs

Add the ground beef, seasonings, egg, milk, breadcrumbs, cheese, and crushed or minced garlic to a large mixing bowl.

Using your hands (or a sturdy spoon if you don’t like getting your hands dirty), mix the ingredients until well-incorporated.

The mixture will be a bit loose, but should hold together.

Use your hands or a cookie scoop to form small to medium sized balls out of the mixture.

2. Sear the meatballs

Just like a roast, you need to sear the meatballs to lock in moisture and flavor and help to ensure that the meatballs fully cook.

To sear the meatballs, heat a pan over medium heat.

If you are not using a non-stick pan, you can add a bit of olive oil or cooking spray.

Once the pan is hot, add the meatballs and listen to the sizzle.

Flip or rotate the meatballs every 2 to 3 minutes.

You want at least 2 sides to have a nice, seared “crust,” but ideally you will get most of the outer surface seared.

3. Finish cooking the meatballs

You have a few options to finish cooking the spicy meatballs:

• finish cooking the meatballs in spaghetti sauce on the stovetop
• bake the meatballs in the oven
• fry them all the way through on the stovetop without sauce

Option 1: Continue cooking the meatballs in sauce.

Italian spicy meatballs with sauce is the absolute best! You get the heat from the meatballs plus all the flavors from the sauce when they finish cooking in a sauce.

Once you sear the meatballs, turn the heat to low and pour homemade sauce into your skillet (or use storebought if you must).

Bring the spicy meatballs with sauce to a low simmer and let it slowly simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees (about an hour or so).

Pros

Spicy Itallian meatballs cooked in sauce become tender, help to flavor the sauce, and pick up the sauce’s flavors too.

Cons

This is the longest cooking method as the sauce needs to come up to low simmer and cook for about 1 to 2 hours.

Option 2: Finishing Spicy Meatballs in the Oven

If you think you want to finish off the meatballs in the oven, I highly recommend using an oven safe skillet or pan (cast iron is perfect!) to sear them.

To finish the meatballs in the oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F while you are searing them.

Then pop them right into the oven and cook them for 20 to 25 minutes or until their internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Tip: If you aren’t using an oven safe pan to sear them, use tongs to transfer them to a foil lined baking sheet you’ve sprayed with nonstick spray.

Pros

Finishing the spicy Italian meatballs in the oven is a relatively fast option.

Cons

Baking them can dry them out a bit.

Option 3: Continue to cook on the stovetop without sauce.

Once seared, you can continue to cook Italian spicy meatballs on the stove top with a lid placed over the skillet, basically frying them.

The lid helps to trap the heat as they cook.

Turn the heat down a bit and continue to rotate the meatballs from time to time as they cook.

The meatballs are ready when they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

How you store spicy meatballs depends some on how you finished cooking them.

Pros

This is a tasty way to finish cooking the meatballs if you don’t want to serve them with sauce.

Cons

• It will take about 15 to 20 minutes to cook them through and unlike finishing them in the stove or the oven, you need to be closely watching the meatballs and turning them every so often.
• You may need more olive oil in your pan so this method is probably not for you if you don’t want fried meatballs.

Freezing Spicy Meatballs

If you want to freeze the meatballs, you want to cook the meatballs in the oven or pan without sauce.

You can then place cooled meatballs in an airtight container or zipper bag and freeze for up to 6 months.

You can reheat frozen meatballs in the oven, microwave, or preferrably in a sauce set on low on the stove top or slow cooker.

Storing Leftovers

If you make spicy Italian meatballs using sauce, you can store the sauce and meatballs in the fridge in an airtight container for about 3 to 4 days.

You can reheat the sauce and spicy meatballs on the stove top in a pot or in the microwave.

Tips and Tricks

Authentic Italian meatballs are pretty easy to make, but you may find these tips and tricks helpful.

• You can make the meat mixture ahead of time. You can mix the meat and other ingredients in the morning and make the meatballs for night. Or, once you cook the meatballs, you can store them in the freezer and reheat with your favorite tomato sauce.
• Do not skip the milk or the searing process! These help to ensure the meatballs come out moist and tender.
• Though you can finish the meatballs in the oven, spicy meatballs taste best when you finish them in sauce. This makes the meatballs tender and helps to flavor the sauce.

FAQs

What to Make with Italian Spicy Meatballs

Spicy Italian meatballs are a great starter for a lot of different meals.

Here’s a few suggestions to get you started:

• Serve with a traditional tomato sauce with sauce over spaghetti
• As a side dish for lasagna or baked ziti
• In a meatball sandwich with meatballs, sauce, and loads of ooey gooey melted cheese!

If you want something green on the table with them try these parmesan brussel sprouts or Garlic Roasted Green Beans.

You could also serve it with fettuccine alfredo as a nice spicy contrast to the cool creaminess of the pasta.

And of course don’t forget the garlic bread!

Did you make this? Let me know!

Did you make this authentic Italian meatballs recipe or any other recipe on my site? Leave me a comment below and let me know how you liked it.

Make sure you follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram to see everything we’ve got going on.

Stay in the know! Sign up for our newsletter that contains the latest recipes and tips.