Despite the “that’s a spicy meat-a-ball” stereotype, there are traditionally no spicy meatball recipes in Italy. In fact, spicy food is almost unheard of in traditional Italian cuisine, excepting the food of Calabria. Even Calabrians never make their meatballs spicy (sausages and salami are another story).
That doesn’t mean that the idea of a spicy meatball isn’t good, though. It sounds delicious, in fact, which is why we decided to tackle the project of trying to create the ultimate spicy meatball recipe. To do this, we combined a few different techniques for spicing up polpette…
Spicy Meatball Techniques
Any and all of the following techniques can be used to make spicy meatballs, although we recommend combining them all to make the ultimate version.
First, we made a spicy meatball mix by adding Calabrian chili pepper powder to our regular recipe. The only tricky thing here is that you can’t really add chili pepper to raw meat by taste, so go easy because there will be more spice added in the sauce and stuffing. If you really want to, you can always cook a little bit of the meat in a small pan to see how it tastes before making the meatballs.
Next, we stuffed the meatballs with Calabrian ‘nduja. ‘Nduja is a spicy, spreadable pork salami. It has an incredibly unique taste and makes a perfect meatball stuffing. Be careful to avoid very poor imitations which have flooded the market. If you live outside the US, look for imported Calabrian ‘nduja (“made in Italy” does NOT count). In the American market, where most European meat imports are banned, there is only one good option we’ve found from ‘Nduja Bella USA.
The ‘nduja-stuffed meatballs will leak if cooked directly in tomato sauce, so we first fried them in order to seal everything in. Please note that if you decide to skip the filling and frying, the meatballs will need to cook much longer in the tomato sauce. See our full guide to cooking meatballs here.
Finally, we finished the meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce. The sauce should be spiced up with some dried chili pepper (ideally Calabrian to stick with the Italian theme, but any kind of spicy pepper you like will work). For some extra zing, we also recommend melting a spoonful or two of ‘nduja into the sauce.
Meatball Basics
Before tackling this spicy meatball recipe, we highly recommend checking out our “normal” Italian meatball guide so that you have an understanding of how to make the mixture, how to choose the right bread crumbs (fresh, not dry!), how to add eggs and cheese to taste, etc.
Watch the Pasta Grammar video:
THE ULTIMATE SPICY MEATBALL RECIPE
Makes: About 20 meatballs
Cook Time: 90 minutes
For this recipe, you will need:
1 lb. (450g) ground beef, pork, veal or combination of any of them
Fresh bread crumbs to taste (about 1 to 2 cups, or 150 to 300g)
1 or 2 large eggs, adjusted to taste
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino cheese, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
Fresh black pepper
Salt
Calabrian chili powder, to taste
‘Nduja, to taste
28 oz. (800 g) canned whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup (250 ml) water
3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 whole garlic clove, peeled
2 or 3 dried crushed chili peppers, or to taste
Oil for frying (preferably extra-virgin olive oil, although any oil of your choice will work)
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground meat with 1 cup (about 150g) of fresh bread crumbs, 1 egg, a very generous grating of cheese, the chopped parsley, a big pinch each of pepper and salt, and a dash of chili powder.
Mix the ingredients thoroughly by hand. The mixture should be soft enough that it can be rolled into very smooth balls, but not wet and sticky. Add more breadcrumbs if the mixture is too wet, or another egg if it’s too firm and crumbly.
Roll small balls of ‘nduja to place inside each meatball. They should be about ½ to 1 inch (1.25 - 2.5 cm) in diameter, depending on how much stuffing you want. Scoop up a small palmful of meatball mix, place an ‘nduja ball in the center, close the meat around the stuffing and roll it into a smooth ball. The finished meatball should be about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. Set the meatball aside on a plate and repeat to make stuffed meatballs with all of the mixture.
In a large saucepan, add the tomatoes, water, garlic, olive oil, a generous pinch of salt and crushed chili pepper to taste. If you like, you can also add a spoonful or two of ‘nduja directly into the sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. At this point, you should be able to mash the whole tomatoes with a fork. Do so, then partially cover the pot and let the sauce simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, fill a frying pan with 2 inches (5 cm) of frying oil and heat to a high temperature (about 350° F or 175° C, although there isn’t much need to be precise). Working in batches, carefully drop the meatballs in and fry until lightly browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel to drain.
Taste the tomato sauce and add more salt/chili pepper, if needed. Drop the meatballs into the tomato sauce. Keep simmering the sauce, swirling the pot occasionally to stir the meatballs, for at least another 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to your liking.
Serve the meatballs immediately, topped with plenty of sauce.
Buon appetito!