Cheesy Meatball Casserole – 🧀🎉👏🏻 An EASY comfort food casserole that’s made for meat and cheese lovers! Loaded with juicy baked meatballs and topped with both mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses for a true family FAVORITE casserole! No noodles, no problem. My homemade meatballs are incredible but you can use frozen meatballs to save time on busy weeknights when you need to get dinner on the table in 45 minutes!
Table of Contents
- Easy Meatball Casserole Recipe
- Shortcut Alert: Use Frozen Meatballs
- Ingredients in Meatball and Cheese Casserole
- How To Make Homemade Meatball Casserole
- what to serve with baked cheesy meatball casserole
- Make-Ahead – Two Ways
- Storage Recommendations
- Recipe FAQs
- Cheesy Meatball Casserole Recipe
- More Easy Meatball Recipes:
Easy Meatball Casserole Recipe
Calling all meat lovers, this one’s for you! And if you like cheese, even better. This is an easy, family favorite casserole recipe that’s sure to please picky eaters of all ages!
That’s because this meatball casserole is comfort food at its finest, complete with homemade all-beef seasoned meatballs that are baked to golden perfection. They’re tender, juicy, and just begging to be devoured.
After baking the meatballs for 15 minutes, transfer them to a casserole dish, top them with marinara sauce and add so much luscious cheese. When it comes to cheese, I am a firm believer that more is definitely better!
I use a mixture of mozzarella to give the ooey-gooey cheese pull effect along with Parmesan which adds sharper flavor. After adding the cheese, your protein-rich meatball casserole only needs about 10-15 minutes in the oven to make sure the cheese melts to perfection.
Even though this recipe may seem a little complicated, it’s not! And you can have it ready from start to finish in 1 hour.
Ingredients in Meatball and Cheese Casserole
To make the homemade meatballs you’ll need:
- Ground beef – wondering if you can use a mixture of ground beef and ground Italian sausage? You can. See the FAQs below for more info
- White or yellow onion
- Egg
- Garlic (or garlic powder to taste)
- Italian breadcrumbs
- Italian seasoning
- Salt
- Pepper
- Cayenne pepper or crushed chili flakes, optional for heat
For the casserole assembly, you’ll want to have on hand:
- Marinara sauce
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil or parsley, optional for garnishing
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Homemade Meatball Casserole
Here is an overview of how to make a cheesy meatball casserole. I’ve also seen this called a keto meatball casserole since it’s pretty low carb.
Consult the recipe card for full instructions. If you want to make it in advance, make sure to see the tip box below.
Make sure to see the video in the recipe card section below! 🎥
- Meatballs – To a large bowl, add all the ingredients, and using clean hands or a wooden spoon, gently combine all the ingredients making sure NOT to overmix or the meatballs can become tough.
- Using a small cookie scoop, or clean hands, form approximately 32 meatballs.
- Bake them in a preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, noting that the exact baking time will depend on the exact size of the meatballs.
- Casserole Assembly – Transfer the cooked meatballs to a 2.5 to 3-quart baking dish or 9×13-inch pan and spray it with cooking spray.
- Place the cooked meatballs inside the casserole dish before topping the meatballs with marinara and both types of cheeses.
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is lightly golden browned.
- Optionally garnish with fresh herbs and serve immediately with garlic bread or any of your fave sides or salads!
what to serve with baked cheesy meatball casserole
Recipe FAQs
To save time and energy, if you want to use store bought meatballs, you can. Thaw them, add them to the casserole dish, and bake them for about 10-15 minutes. The majority of frozen meatballs have already been cooked, so you’re just reheating them here – not actually cooking them. Add the pasta sauce, cheese, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted, which is the same as you’d do at this point if you had made scratch meatballs.
If you have a scratch meatball recipe that you love, by all means use it. I have plenty on meatball recipes on my site too including this Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe which is a 50-50 beef and pork meatball. I have Ground Chicken Meatballs, and then other meatballs like these Italian Meatballs or Tex-Mex Meatballs which are mostly ground beef with some ground pork or ground Italian sausage. Make what you know you love. I suggest using 2 pounds of ground protein though so your yield is in line with mine.
If you want to spruce up any leftover meatball casserole you have, I would boil some penne pasta, rotini pasta, or make zucchini noodles using spaghetti squash – and then top it with the leftovers. You can also make meatball subs with your leftovers. Get some bread and pile in the juicy meatballs, cheese, and enjoy.
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Cheesy Meatball Casserole
Ingredients
- Meatballs
- 2 pounds extra lean ground beef, I use about 90-93% lean
- 1 small yellow or white onion, finely diced
- 1 large egg
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ½ cup Italian breadcrumbs, or seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional and if a bit of heat is desired
- Casserole
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- 2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 cup finely shredded or grated Parmesan Cheese
- Fresh basil or parsley, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Meatballs – Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with foil for easier cleanup and spray with cooking spray, or spray the baking sheet.
- To a large bowl, add all the ingredients, and using clean hands or a wooden spoon, gently mix together all the ingredients. Tip – Do not overmix or overwork the meat mixture because the finished meatballs will be tougher.
- Using a 1 to 2 tablespoon scoop (often labeled as 'medium' size), form approximately 32 meatballs.
- Evenly space them on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until done. Baking Tips – Being that the meatballs are fairly small, they likely won't take more than 15 minutes to bake through, but all ovens vary, and if your meatballs are slightly larger, they may take up to 20 minutes to bake. Bake until done, whatever that means in your oven and situation.
- Casserole – Spray a 2.5 to 3-quart casserole or baking dish (or 9×13-inch pan) with cooking spray and place the cooked meatballs into the dish. Make-Ahead Tip – If you're making this in advance, this is the most logical place to stop, cover well, and refrigerate for up to 48 hours before continuing on with the rest of the recipe and baking it off fully.
- Evenly drizzle the marinara sauce over the top.
- Evenly sprinkle both the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the top.
- Bake uncovered for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is as lightly golden browned as desired.
- Optionally garnish with fresh herbs and serve immediately.
- Storage – Leftover casserole will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat leftovers for about 30 seconds in the microwave, or as desired.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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