Olive Backyard Meatballs – CopyKat Recipes

February 22, 2025

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Rising up subsequent door to an Italian-American family, Sunday dinners all the time centered round meatballs. However once I first tasted Olive Backyard’s model, I used to be immediately transported again to my next-door neighbor’s kitchen. After years of testing and perfecting, I’ve lastly cracked the code to recreate these beloved restaurant meatballs at house. The most effective half? You may make a whole family-sized batch for lower than the price of a single restaurant portion.

copycat Olive Garden meatballs and marinara in a skillet.

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What Makes the Olive Backyard Meatballs So Scrumptious?

Olive Backyard friends love the chain’s meatballs on spaghetti or served as Meatball Parmigiana. They’re juicy, tender, and flavorful. However they’re additionally costly.

With this easy meatball recipe, you may make sufficient Olive Backyard-style meatballs to feed a whole household for the price of a single meal on the restaurant.

Why You Ought to Strive This Recipe

Not like many copycat recipes floating across the web, this model stays true to Olive Backyard’s precise meatball recipe, which makes use of solely beef (no pork!). The key lies within the excellent ratio of breadcrumbs to meat and a fastidiously crafted mix of Italian seasonings that creates that signature Olive Backyard taste.

Elements For Olive Backyard MeatballsFor the Meatballs:

Floor black pepper – Provides conventional Italian spice and depth
Floor chuck (80/20 mix) – Supplies the bottom protein and important fats for juicy meatballs
Plain bread crumbs – Acts as a binder and helps retain moisture
Shole milk – Provides moisture and helps create a young texture
Giant eggs – Binds elements collectively and provides richness
Italian seasoning – Supplies the signature Italian herb mix taste
Dried parsley – Provides coloration and contemporary, natural notes
Purple pepper flakes – Contributes a delicate warmth and depth of taste
Onion powder – Provides savory taste with out texture interference
Granulated garlic – Supplies important garlic taste with out uncooked garlic’s chunk
Salt – Enhances all flavors and helps proteins bind

For the meat, you need at the very least an 80/20 mix. Meaning a combination containing at the very least 20 p.c fats. For even juicer meatballs, you possibly can select to make use of floor beef with a fats content material of as much as 30 p.c because the bread crumbs will absorb any extra fats splendidly.

Olive Garden meatballs ingredients on a tray.

How To Make This Recipe For Olive Backyard Meatballs

Making the meatball combination for this copycat Olive Backyard meatballs recipe will be performed in certainly one of two methods, both all of sudden or in steps:

Every thing at As soon as Methodology:

Place all of the meatball elements in a big bowl.

Olive Garden meatballs ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Stir or combine gently along with your palms and don’t overwork the meat.

Steps Methodology

Or place the bottom beef and bread crumbs in a big mixing bowl. Evenly toss along with your fingertips to evenly distribute the bread crumbs.
Whisk collectively the entire milk, egg, Italian seasonings, dried parsley, onion powder, granulated garlic, purple pepper flakes, salt, and pepper in a measuring bowl with a spout.
Slowly add the milk and egg combination to the meat combination in phases. Evenly mix the meatball combination along with your fingertips, however don’t overwork it, or the meatballs can prove robust.

After the meatball combination is ready:

Cowl the meatball combination with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at the very least half-hour. Resting the meat will permit the flavors to meld and the bread crumbs to take in some additional moisture.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Grease a shallow baking dish with cooking spray or line a roasting tray with parchment paper.
Moist your palms and type 1-1/2 inch diameter meatballs. Place the meatballs on the tray or within the baking dish.

Bake for 10 to fifteen minutes. Flip the meatballs halfway via the cooking time. Use an instant-read thermometer to test that the meatball’s inside temperature has reached at the very least 165°F.
If desired, serve the meatballs in heat marinara sauce and/or sprinkle contemporary parsley, oregano, or parmesan cheese on prime of the meatballs.

copycat Olive Garden meatballs and marinara sauce in a skillet.

Olive Backyard Meatballs – CopyKat Recipes

Recipe Variations

Baked is the popular technique for getting ready these meatballs. You too can make pan-fried meatballs by cooking them in a big skillet. First over medium-high warmth to sear them, then reducing to medium warmth to prepare dinner till performed.

What To Serve With Italian Meatballs

The basic option to serve Olive Backyard’s Italian meatballs is in a wealthy marinara sauce over spaghetti and topped with grated cheese. A backyard salad or steamed broccoli is nice for a facet dish. Breadsticks are the right addition to this meal together with a glass of purple wine, reminiscent of an Italian Chianti.

Olive Backyard Spaghetti and Meatballs often is the most meatball merchandise on the menu, however you should utilize these meatballs for extra than simply pasta. Listed here are just a few concepts:

Meatball Sub – Brush a sub roll with melted butter and garlic powder. Toast and prime with meatballs, marinara sauce, and contemporary mozzarella. Place the sandwich again within the oven till the cheese melts.
Meatballs and Sauteed Broccolini – Blanch the broccolini in salted water and drain. Saute the broccolini in a pan with butter, olive oil, minced garlic, and purple pepper flakes. Season the broccolini with salt and pepper. Serve the meatballs on prime of the broccolini with any additional pan drippings drizzled on prime.
Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes – Make your favourite mashed potatoes or, higher but, Irish Champ and serve with the meatballs. Drizzle home made beef gravy on prime for much more deliciousness!

How To Retailer the Leftovers

Enable the meatballs to chill to room temperature. Place them in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as three to 4 days. For longer than that, strive freezing them:

Place the meatballs on a baking tray and put them within the freezer till frozen stable, about three hours.
Wrap the meatballs individually in plastic wrap and retailer them in a freezer-safe container or heavy-duty freezer bag for as much as three months.

What Is the Finest Method to Reheat Meatballs?

Let the meatballs thaw within the fridge in a single day. One of the best ways to reheat the meatballs is within the pasta sauce on the stovetop. However if you’re not serving them with sauce, strive the oven:

Preheat the oven to 300 levels F.
Place the thawed meatballs on a baking tray and sprinkle them with water or beef inventory.
Cowl the baking tray with aluminum foil.
Reheat the meatballs for 15 to twenty minutes or till heat.

overhead view of copycat Olive Garden meatballs and marinara in a skillet.

Extra Olive Backyard Copycat Recipes

Make certainly one of these Olive Backyard drinks to go along with your meal.

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Try extra of my straightforward Italian recipes and one of the best copycat Olive Backyard dishes on CopyKat!