What to do with leftover meatballs?

[luvnwdwgal]

Freeze them

 

[Skippyboo]

Make Italian wedding soup

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Aside from making meatball grinders with the leftover meatballs from the spaghetti dinner (which we already do) What are some other ideas for using them up?

Like others - freeze them in smaller serving sizes. You can cook up some rice and warm up some sweet & sour sauce for a meal later.

Or make sub sandwiches.

Spaghetti works also

Swedish meatball sauce poured over is also a good option.

 

[amcnj]

No new ideas, as if there were ever leftover meatballs, they usually went as part of a subsequent night’s dinner of pasta, a sandwich, or even just parmigiana style on the dish. Around the holidays some might be frozen for later use.

As far as sandwich names, when I was growing up in North Jersey they were always heroes or subs. Heroes seems to have faded with time though, maybe because there are more chain type stores now and they use the word sub instead.

I had one uncle who used to call the boardwalk sausage, pepper and onion sandwiches grinders. My high school called their cold sandwiches hoagies, but everyone said that was because the cafeteria director was from either South Jersey or Philadelphia.

With the proliferation of Wawa’s in the area, the term hoagie is now more common too.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

If the meatballs are in marinara, melt cheese over them in the oven & served them with garlic bread.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Weirdos

I resemble that remark!

 

[barkley]

I would just have leftover meatballs or chop them up and make meat sauce, which could be frozen. If the meatballs aren’t in marinara or another Italian-style sauce, I might use them for tacos, chili, or cottage/shepherd’s pie.

my youngest HATES meatloaf BUT loved meatballs (autistic-very picky food wise) SO.....he would get 'meatball loaf sandwiches' which were sliced meatballs on bread with jarred pasta sauce. "meatballs" in our house mean italian seasoning.

 

[leebee]

No new meatball ideas here; assuming they are in red sauce, we'd use them in sandwiches or chop 'em up and make a meat sauce, or slice them and put them on pizza.
Regarding the "name" of the sandwich, I lived 20 miles north of Boston for 30 years, and now have lived in Maine for 22 years; we call them "subs" which is short for "submarine sandwiches" due to their shape.

 

[ibob52]

SoCal in the 60's at our house . it was a Torpedo it was shorter than a Submarine

 

[Frozen Canuck]

To chime in, we also either freeze leftover meatballs or use them in meatball subs,

BUT...we also like to cut/break them up and put them on pizza. The marinara on the meatballs just goes right along with the pizza sauce on the pizza and mini meatballs are often a pizza topping that is available when you order. My family loves them this way.

 

[John VN]

a Classic --

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We always do meatball parm sandwich.

Or just make fresh pasta and it’s a fresh batch of spaghetti and meatballs.

South Jersey/Philly here and it’s a hoagie.

 

[maslex]

Guess I didn't really explain what I was looking for LOL........Usually on Sundays my husband will make a big pot of spaghetti sauce and make homemade meatballs (he cooks them raw in the sauce). Once dinner is done, I will keep a few of the meatballs out to make grinders later in the week and I will freeze the rest for the following Sunday's spaghetti dinner.

I was just looking for other ideas beside meatball grinders and spaghetti to use some of the meatballs for. These meatballs definitely have spaghetti sauce on them, so I can't use them with rice/sweet sour sauce or tacos or anything else that "spaghetti sauce" doesn't go with.

So beside the normal spaghetti, meatball grinders, baked ziti, meatball pizza, calzones, stromboli..........is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

 

[BrianL]

It's a sub. I'm from New England and we call them grinders

Homer: "I wanna watch TV in a different time zone. I wanna visit strange, exotic malls. I'm sick of eating hoagies. I want a grinder, a sub, a foot-long hero."

Marge: "Your boyhood dream was to eat the world's biggest hoagie and you did it at the county fair last year, remember?"

 

[Mysterian]

Here's the thing (for me): I grew up mostly in southeastern CT. However, we did live for 5 years outside of Boston. In addition, all my dad's family lived just outside of Boston, and we visited often (big Italian family, every major and minor holiday was celebrated). So, grinders could be my CT coming through, or the MA, I can't always tell. I don't have a Boston accent, but I do say "wicked". My cousins would laugh at my non-accent (I can pronounce R's!). They also call soda, "tonic" (pronounced TAW-nick). Weirdos! But, we were vastly outnumbered.

Soda's obviously another one that gets called different things in different regions--soda, pop, coke, tonic, etc.)

In any event, a sub and a soda make a tasty lunch, wherever you're from.

Po' Boys use a different bread than most subs. Up North we called them "Italians" cuz our family and extended family just got Italian subs. The bread on those was pretty bland though.

One of the few things the North could borrow from the South is Po' Boy bread. They should have just taken those recipes when the Union was formed. The South are still stung about that whole war anyway, so it'd make no difference. I actually have nothing to say about meatballs!

 

[QueenIsabella]

Guess I didn't really explain what I was looking for LOL........Usually on Sundays my husband will make a big pot of spaghetti sauce and make homemade meatballs (he cooks them raw in the sauce). Once dinner is done, I will keep a few of the meatballs out to make grinders later in the week and I will freeze the rest for the following Sunday's spaghetti dinner.

I was just looking for other ideas beside meatball grinders and spaghetti to use some of the meatballs for. These meatballs definitely have spaghetti sauce on them, so I can't use them with rice/sweet sour sauce or tacos or anything else that "spaghetti sauce" doesn't go with.

So beside the normal spaghetti, meatball grinders, baked ziti, meatball pizza, calzones, stromboli..........is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

The only other thing that comes to mind is maybe a nice minestrone, if they're smaller meatballs.

You would have more options if he would bake at least some meatballs separately from the sauce, but I hate to stand in the way of a man making dinner.

Growing up, my mom would have a pot of meatballs and sauce on the stove--by dinnertime, she'd be lucky to have enough meatballs left for dinner. Four kids, each stealing a couple meatballs...

OTOH, I never had issues getting rid of leftover meatballs. Maybe you need to borrow some teenagers? I could sell you some cheap...

 

[QueenIsabella]

Po' Boys use a different bread than most subs. Up North we called them "Italians" cuz our family and extended family just got Italian subs. The bread on those was pretty bland though.

One of the few things the North could borrow from the South is Po' Boy bread. They should have just taken those recipes when the Union was formed. The South are still stung about that whole war anyway, so it'd make no difference. I actually have nothing to say about meatballs!

I live in North Carolina now, and the seafood market sells po'boys at their to-go food part. Everywhere else here uses the word "subs". TBH, I never noticed a difference in the po'boy bread--now I'll have to pay closer attention when I get a fried oyster po'boy.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Guess I didn't really explain what I was looking for LOL........Usually on Sundays my husband will make a big pot of spaghetti sauce and make homemade meatballs (he cooks them raw in the sauce). Once dinner is done, I will keep a few of the meatballs out to make grinders later in the week and I will freeze the rest for the following Sunday's spaghetti dinner.

I was just looking for other ideas beside meatball grinders and spaghetti to use some of the meatballs for. These meatballs definitely have spaghetti sauce on them, so I can't use them with rice/sweet sour sauce or tacos or anything else that "spaghetti sauce" doesn't go with.

So beside the normal spaghetti, meatball grinders, baked ziti, meatball pizza, calzones, stromboli..........is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

If you wanna get really creative, a more Italian version of shakshuka could be really awesome. No recipe from me, but something I could envision, whether the meatballs (with their sauce) get diced or kept together (served like the suggested falafel way or meat way)...

https://veenaazmanov.com/eggs-poached-tomato-sauce-shakshuka/ Like this recipe is almost what you would have, and then you add red peppers (if not in your sauce), two paprikas, cumin, and parsley and top with whatever cheese you want to work with your meatballs...

For some more straightforward options - you could serve a cheesy polenta with your meatballs - http://www.ouichefnetwork.com/2013/10/classic-meatballs-on-cheesy-polenta.html - just do the polenta part b/c everything else is done.

Or make a loaded Italian baked potato or loaded roasted potatoes (dicing the meatballs and serving with all sorts of Italian toppings - jarred roasted peppers, banana peppers, carmelized onions, roasted mushrooms, cheese of any type, parsley/basil, fresh spinach or roasted broccoli rabe, balsamic vinegar, etc)...

 

[barkley]

Guess I didn't really explain what I was looking for LOL........Usually on Sundays my husband will make a big pot of spaghetti sauce and make homemade meatballs (he cooks them raw in the sauce). Once dinner is done, I will keep a few of the meatballs out to make grinders later in the week and I will freeze the rest for the following Sunday's spaghetti dinner.

I was just looking for other ideas beside meatball grinders and spaghetti to use some of the meatballs for. These meatballs definitely have spaghetti sauce on them, so I can't use them with rice/sweet sour sauce or tacos or anything else that "spaghetti sauce" doesn't go with.

So beside the normal spaghetti, meatball grinders, baked ziti, meatball pizza, calzones, stromboli..........is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

an italian restaurant near us makes smaller meatballs and makes lasagna with them. i imagine you could half or quarter larger ones and do the same.

 

[AppleDumpling]

So beside the normal spaghetti, meatball grinders, baked ziti, meatball pizza, calzones, stromboli..........is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

Sloppy Joes? Chop the meat, different kind of rolls, maybe doctor the sauce a bit with extra seasonings.