Meatballs Alfredo
Meatballs Alfredo are an easy pasta recipe that makes the perfect comfort food. The whole family will love the juicy beef meatballs and al dente fettuccine.
Servings: 4
Calories: 798kcal
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 500 grams/16 oz beef mince (ground beef)
- ⅓ cup panko breadcrumbs Note 1
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder Note 2
- 1 teaspoon onion powder Note 3
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large egg free range
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
Alfredo Sauce
- 40 grams/3 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 tablespoon garlic chunky, minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup/250 ml heavy cream
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- ½ cup/125 ml reserved pasta water Note 4
- ⅓ cup parsley leaves only, stems trimmed, finely chopped
Garnish (optional):
- black pepper
- parmesan cheese
- parsley
Instructions
- Meatballs: add the beef mince, panko breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, salt, pepper and egg to a medium bowl. Use clean hands to combine. Then take a mini cookie scoop and portion out a small amount of the mixture onto a chopping board. Next, repeat to portion the rest of the mixture. Once done roll the portions into meatballs using the palms of your hands then place onto a chopping board. Repeat this process till all of the mixture is used up.
- Cook meatballs: place a large frying pan on the stove top. Turn the heat to high and add in the olive oil. Give it a swish and then place ⅓ of the meatballs into the bottom of the pan. Cook them using a pair of tongs and or wooden spoon to move and rotate as you go. The meatballs will take 8 - 12 minutes to cook. Once cooked, lift the meatballs up and out of the pan using a slotted spoon. Place them into a paper towel lined bowl.
- Alfredo sauce: use a couple of pieces of paper towel folded into squares to absorb the excess oil in the pan, then turn the heat back to high and add the butter. Allow this to melt and then add the garlic and salt. Cook for 1 minute, stirring as the garlic softens and turns golden brown. Next pour in the heavy cream and stir. Then turn the heat to low and add the cheese to the centre of the pan. Stir occasionally as the cheese melts.
- Fettuccine: place a medium sauce pan on the stove, fill with water and a pinch of salt and bring it to the boil. Read and follow the instructions on the package to cook the pasta. Moments before it is ready, use a heatproof jug to scoop out some of the pasta water. The use a colander to drain the remaining pasta and discard the water.
- Combine: add the drained pasta to the combined alfredo sauce. Then measure and pour in ½ cup (125 ml) of the reserved pasta water. Use a pair of tongs to toss and combine. Then add the parsley and give it a stir through the pasta. Next add the cooked meatballs back to the pan and gently toss them with the pasta and sauce. They will need a couple of minutes to heat through.
- Garnish: use a trio of black pepper, parsley and parmesan cheese to garnish the dish for serving. Provide bowls, spoons and forks.
Video
Notes
- Note 1 - Panko breadcrumbs: these bright white breadcrumbs are popular in Japanese cooking. If you can't find them in the cooking aisle of the supermarket look for them in the Asian foods section.
- Note 2 - Garlic powder: handy to have in the pantry and easy to use. This saves peeling chopped and mincing. It can, however dry out (even when the bottle is tightly sealed) if you haven't used it for a while. So double check this or add it to the shopping list.
- Note 3 - Onion powder: as above. Using this saves time peeling, chopping and crying when dicing an onion. Yet it too can dry out. So be on the safe side and check if you have it in the pantry that it is still in soft powder form before you do your shopping for the recipe ingredients.
- Note 4 - Pasta water: in the post I refer to scooping out 1-2 cups of pasta water, yet then I indicate that we only pour in ½ cup (125ml) when making the sauce. This contradiction is because it is a lot easier to simply scoop out a bit and then later then there is not as much splishing and splashing and you are not still trying to cook the pasta, measure the ½ cup from what you scooped out. So we only need the ½ cup my friend, not all of what we scooped out 😉👍.
- Portion size: will depend on how big the servings are. You can stretch this to 6 meals if the portions are smaller.
Nutrition
Calories: 798kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 70g | Saturated Fat: 34g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 26g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 241mg | Sodium: 1061mg | Potassium: 499mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1810IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 391mg | Iron: 4mg