Quick & Easy Meatballs with Chicken & Pork in a Light Tomato Sauce (Polpette di Pollo e Maiale)

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Meatballs. Who doesn’t love meatballs? Anyone? Meatballs are scrumptious little balls of comfort and joy. Kids and adults love them and, personally, I’d take a meatball over a steak any day. These quick & easy meatballs are a bit different from the Italian meatballs you might know. They are inspired by my recent travels to Molise. Prepared with chicken and pork, they are light, tender, delicate, have balanced flavor, are lower in fat, and come together in about 30-35 minutes total! All of that and they are absolutely delicious.

San Martino in Pensilis

If you have been following me here or on Instagram for a while, you’ll know that I went to Molise this past summer. It was a new region for me to discover. We had a glorious time due to the incredibly warm people, beautiful landscapes, wonderful, high-quality culinary products and wine, and heavenly food.

The Ristorante al Castello

On our visit, we stayed in a small town called San Martino in Pensilis where I also learned how to make Pampanella Molisana. While in town, we ate at a restaurant called the Ristorante al Castello. We liked it so much that we went there twice. On our first night, we tried their house antipasto. It was massive and full of delectable things such as luscious stracciatella cheese, wedges of frittata, freshly sliced cured meats, pampanella, sauteed local green peppers, chunks of excellent bread, and, lastly, these glorious meatballs.

They blew me and my husband away. They were so delicate! The simple and sparse tomato sauce, consisting mainly of chunks of Italian peeled tomatoes, had a light hint of dried oregano in the background and perfume of garlic. The meatballs themselves were seasoned with a light touch. To me, they exemplified the balance and restraint that you find in authentic Italian cooking.

Our hosts, Giuseppe and his wife Mariella could not have been nicer. I hounded the poor things with questions about everything we ate! Kindly, Mariella, the goddess in the kitchen, gave me an outline for this dish and I took notes so that I could attempt to reproduce these at home. Grazie Mariella!

Polpette goodness…

I finally tested my version of her recipe for these quick & easy meatballs two days ago. If I may say, I nailed it on my first try. They were just as delightful as the ones we had in Molise. My daughter, who is not a big eater, liked them so much that she shoved seven of them down her throat! Seven! I would have been happy if she had eaten only two. Three would have been a triumph, but seven?! This is unheard of in our household. I tested the recipe twice and she did the same thing with the second batch that I prepared last night. I think that I can safely say that the recipe is kid-friendly! (I’m still stunned. She wanted one for breakfast this morning, and scarfed down six more tonight at dinner!!)

How to make these lovely quick & easy meatballs

This recipe is rather straightforward and there is little effort or prep work involved. (Hurrah!) Amazingly, all you do is put all of the sauce ingredients in a pot. Then, you make and form the meatballs, and put them in the pan with the uncooked sauce. Finally, you bring it all to a light simmer, lower the heat, cover the pot, and in about 20-25 minutes, your dish is done! Voilà!

Fantastic, right? Normally, you have to cook the sauce first, there is more to chop and prep, and you usually fry or roast the meatballs first before adding them to the sauce. This dish, on the other hand, is unbelievably simple. It is less messy and lighter since you are not frying and are using half chicken versus beef or veal.

I recommend that you try it as written so that you can taste the subtle flavors involved. You might be tempted to add things to create more oomph but Italian cooking is all about simplicity and good ingredients. This dish really highlights that. I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Italian peeled tomatoes

To make the sauce, you use Italian peeled tomatoes (pomodori pelati). For this recipe, you use only the tomatoes, not the juice from the can. In the interest of encouraging zero waste, here are some suggestions for how to utilize the extra juices:

• Add them to a different tomato-based sauce
• Uova in Purgatorio – a dish consisting of eggs poached in a tomato sauce
• Use them in a soup such as my Italian Lentil Soup or something like pasta e fagioli
• Braise vegetables in the juices such as green beans braised with garlic, onion, & tomato (I used my juices to braise some friggitelli peppers with garlic and chili

I hope that helps you not waste beautiful Italian tomatoes! Also, please use canned whole tomatoes versus already chopped. The quality is generally much higher. If you can find DOP San Marzano tomatoes, they are the best. (Or if you can tomatoes yourself, use those of course!) This dish is very lightly sauced. If you prefer more liquid, you can use the Italian trick of washing out your can of tomatoes with a touch of water and add the tomato infused water to the pot if you find things are drying out. (Your heat might be too high if that’s the case.)

Ingredient notes

The recipe calls for the interior of hearty Italian bread to help bind the mixture. Try to find the best, crusty, Italian bread that you can find. Squishy supermarket Italian bread will not do. Meatballs are a great way to use up stale bread and will give you tender, moist, and heavenly meatballs. I have left a range on the bread quantities because every loaf of bread is different and eggs vary in size. You might need more bread to bind the meat mixture and make it firmer if necessary to help the meatballs keep their shape. Adjust it to your tastes. In my instructions, I suggest that you take out a teaspoon portion of your meat mixture to cook and test before forming all of your meatballs. This will enable you to check for consistency and seasoning.

As always, parmesan is no substitute for freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Parmesan is another product altogether and has nothing to do with the real deal. Nor should you use Pecorino Romano for this recipe. It will be too sharp and salty. If you must make a substitute, use Grana Padano cheese.

For the dried oregano, try to find it on the branch as it usually has more flavor. The oregano from Sicily and Calabria is excellent. Greek oregano is also wonderful.

Lastly

For all of you meatball lovers out there, you may want to check out my recipe for baked pasta with little meatballs. In that recipe, you will find a more traditional southern Italian meatball. In other words, yum.

If you are interested in the Molise region of Italy, check out Molise Cuisine. Lori De Sanctis gives custom tours of the area with a focus on good eats and local products. Further, please take a look at my recipe for Abruzzese Spaghetti alla Chitarra with Tiny Meatballs.

Enjoy the recipe folks! If you make it, I’d love to hear from you.

Quick & Easy Meatballs with Chicken & Pork in a Light Tomato Sauce (Polpette di Pollo e Maiale)

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cooking Time: 25-30 Minutes 25-30 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 4 voted )

Ingredients

• For the sauce:
• 800 grams (28 oz) can Italian peeled tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled and halved
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, optional, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• For the meatballs:
• 250 grams (8 oz) ground pork
• 250 grams (8 oz) ground chicken, preferably dark meat
• 1 tablespoon, chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 100-120 grams (3.5-4 oz) crusty Italian bread, weighed after the crusts have been removed, about 3 slices
• 2 large eggs
• 40 grams (1/2 cup) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2-3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, to shape & test meatballs

Instructions

1. Lightly drain the tomatoes, reserving the juices for another use. Cut the tomatoes with a pair of kitchen shears into large pieces and place them in a large pot that will fit 16-18 meatballs in one layer.
2. Add the extra virgin olive oil, halved garlic clove, salt, oregano, and pepper to the pot and stir.
3. Soak the bread in a bowl of water for a few minutes to soften and squeeze out the excess water. Crumble it into a large bowl along with the rest of the meatball ingredients (excluding the extra virgin olive oil). Mix well with your hands until thoroughly combined. In a small skillet, cook about a teaspoon of the mixture in a touch of oil to check for seasoning. Adjust the seasonings as necessary, then shape into 1 1/2-inch meatballs, rubbing your hands with the olive oil when needed to keep the mixture from sticking to your hands. (I use an ice-cream scoop to speed up the process.) You should have 16-18 meatballs. Gently add them to the pot with the sauce ingredients.
4. Bring the ingredients to a light simmer, which should take only 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat to low then cover the pot with a lid. Shake the pot now and then to prevent the meatballs from sticking. Once the meatballs have firmed up a bit, you can carefully turn them once or twice during the cooking process. They should be cooked in 20-25 minutes. Taste the sauce for seasoning and serve the meatballs as a main course or appetizer.