Busy Weeknights? These Make-Ahead Baked Meatballs Have You Covered

These make-ahead baked meatballs in marinara sauce are perfect for easy weeknight dinners. Serve with mash or crusty bread and salad.

Who says meatballs have to hang out with pasta all the time? 

For something a little different, these cheesy, saucy balls bake beautifully in the oven and pair perfectly with mash, zoodles, or whatever easy sides you’ve got on hand.

What’s more – they can be prepped ahead, making them a weeknight dinner winner.

Put them in the oven. Timer on. And you can relax with a wine (ok, or fold washing, or answer emails, or help the kids with homework – we can dream, right?!) while the oven takes care of the rest.

Ingredients

This dish uses simple staples, frugal ingredients, and some strategically hidden veg to boost the 5-a-day quota.

But…if you’re short on time (or energy!), you can also ‘cheat’ with store-bought alternatives for an even quicker and easier meal. It’s still delicious (not as many veg), but less fuss and washing up.

Both the meatballs and the sauce can be prepped ahead and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days (just check the use-by date on the mince first) or frozen for another night.

Tips for Prepping Ahead

• Meatballs can be prepped ahead of time and frozen (see instructions in the dedicated post below).
• Marinara sauce can also be made in double or larger batches and frozen in meal-size portions.

Alternatively, you can make this dish the day before (except leave off the cheese), then top with cheese and bake in the oven.

How to Make Baked Meatballs

Make the sauce

Truth: I usually ‘cheat’ and use bottled pasta sauce from the supermarket.

But, if I’m feeling up to it, I make a large batch of marinara sauce and freeze for later – great for dishes like this.

And it’s easy to make from pantry staples.

Step 1: Sweat some onions in a pan, then once golden, add some chopped garlic and cook for a moment.

Step 2: Add tinned tomatoes, dried basil, salt, pepper, and a splash of water and simmer for 15 minutes or so to reduce.

Step 3: Maybe blend. Totally up to you – depends if you prefer smooth or chunky. Add some fresh chopped basil if you have it on hand – it really elevates the flavour but it’s ok to leave it out too.

Make the meatballs

Step 1: Grate the vegetables and squeeze out the excess moisture.

Step 2: Combine all the meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I find hands are the best tool for this job.

Step 3: Shape tablespoon amounts of the meat mixture into balls and place in a baking dish. A mini ice-cream scoop makes this job mess-free and fast.

Putting it all together

Step 1: Bake the meatballs for 10 minutes to brown.

Step 2: Add the marinara sauce and top with cheese.

Step 3: Bake until golden and bubbly and the meatballs are cooked through (another 10-15 minutes). Serve with your favourite sides – see ideas below.

Serving Suggestions

I like to serve these with mashed potatoes and salad or veggies as an alternative to pasta.

While I do sometimes make mashed potatoes from scratch, on weeknights I cheat –
I use frozen mash, which is almost as good as homemade and takes seconds to defrost in the microwave. You can also cook it on the stove, which doesn’t take much longer, especially if I’ve defrosted some in the fridge during the day.

Not a mashed potato fan? Other ideas include:

• Polenta (I make mine in the rice cooker)
• Zucchini zoodles
• Good crusty bread
• Garlic bread
• Baked potato or sweet potato
• Couscous

All served with some easy steamed greens or a green salad.

Leftovers: Storage and Reheating

Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for up to three days and reheated in the microwave.

Or you can reheat in the oven on low – covered with foil – until heated through.

Full recipe below + individual recipes with more details

Did you make this recipe? Let us know in the comments below. What are your meatball tips?