#meatballs

#meatballs

Olive Garden's side dishes usually take a backseat to the main meals, and when you consider that most entrées come with a certain side by default, customers are even less likely to peruse that section of the menu. But if do you decide to take a look, you'll discover something exciting: You can order three of the chain's meatballs as a side dish for around $4. The only catch is that when ordered to-go, the dish might be missing a rather crucial component: The sauce.

The star of the show, the meatballs, get seasoned with a mix of crumbled feta, smoked paprika, and cumin, resulting in a tender, flavorful meatball that tastes far more complex than its trim ingredient list might suggest. The rice underneath is just as fun. Speckled with salty pistachios and plump golden raisins, and perfumed by a cardamom pod and a stray cinnamon stick, it strikes the ideal ratio of salty to sweet, contrasting with the savory meatballs.

If you love meatballs and you're an adventurous cook, there's no better way to hone your skills than by trying different meatballs from around the world. Frikadeller, or Danish meatballs, is a savory, easy-to-prepare dish that uses two unique ingredients. The addition of sage and nutmeg sets this recipe apart from other meatball recipes that you might be familiar with.

but for those of us who prefer a less obvious fishy flavor, fish sauce - made from fermented anchovies and salt - is a far better option. In an exclusive Tasting Table interview about some of the most creative ways to use fish sauce, Irena Macri, recipe developer at Cooked & Loved, shares that she likes using fish sauce in both meatballs and beef burgers for its umami notes, even if its fishy flavor is undetectable.

You can make a flavorful, fuss-free dinner by cooking everything in one skillet with this tasty meatball dish. Parmesan cheese and panko breadcrumbs give the meatballs a rich flavor and texture. To elevate a store-bought pasta sauce, I added a touch of garlic, then paired it with frozen green beans and sweet potatoes for a colorful, well-rounded meal ready in minutes.

These aren't just any breadcrumbs. 4C Foods has been around for nearly a century (since 1935!), and contrary to other brands or types, these particular breadcrumbs are seasoned with Pecorino Romano cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, and other spices (it doesn't list exactly what they are, but I see flecks of dried parsley). I'm no stranger to 4C Foods Seasoned Bread Crumbs. My dad has actually long used them to bread his chicken cutlets, but I never, ever thought about using them in meatballs.

While both spaghetti and meatballs are quintessential Italian dishes, they aren't traditionally served together in Italy. The combination of meatballs, called polpette, with tomato sauce and spaghetti stems from an influx of Italians immigrating to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, where they found meat to be much more affordable and began to use it more liberally in their cooking.

There are no strict rules for meatballs, as my 15 years of professional cooking experience at various magazine test kitchens and cooking for food photography shoots have showed me. Meatballs, in essence, are just meat, seasonings and a binder. They can be mixed delicately or vigorously, made from a meat substitute, flavored with a variety of ingredients (herbs, spices, cheeses) and cooked any number of ways. But while there's no single formula, there are a few principles for ingredients and techniques that,

These Asian-spiced meatballs combine ground turkey, ginger, cilantro, and garlic, creating a spicy-sweet blend that pairs perfectly with a sweet-and-sour chili sauce.

According to Chef Fabio Viviani, to make meatballs flavorful, soft, and juicy, the key is to use ricotta and parmesan cheese instead of traditional milk-soaked bread.