This meatball sub recipe is an incredible meal for any day of the week and any season. Delicious, flavorful meatballs are placed on rolls smothered with sauce and cheese, and toasted until they reach melty, saucy bliss.
If you want the ultimate crowd pleasing meal, this is it! I promise, you won’t hear one complaint. How could anyone complain when you hand them juicy homemade meatballs in a rich tomato sauce, topped with melty cheese, nestled in a fresh homemade sourdough sandwich roll. Yum!
Making your own meatballs from scratch makes for the best flavor that makes these Italian meatball subs more incredible than anything you could get at a sandwich shop.
Serve these delicious meatball sandwiches alongside a simple side salad with homemade ranch or crispy potatoes for the perfect simple lunch or dinner. A great way to make this recipe even more efficient is to double the meatball recipe. Use half for this recipe and use the other half for homemade pasta with meatballs. Or just make these meatball subs for a couple nights in a row, I know I wouldn’t mind having these tasty sandwiches more than once!
Why You’ll Love This Meatball Sub Recipe
Easy – This meatball sandwich recipe comes together so quickly and makes a super easy dinner, especially if you opt to use store bought sandwich rolls and pasta sauce.
Crowd pleaser – Juicy meatballs covered in pasta sauce and melty mozzarella cheese on fresh sandwich rolls is a meal that everyone will be sure to love!
Double for later – Double this tender meatball recipe to make a large batch. Freeze the extra meatballs for later, or use for dinner a different night. The sky’s the limit when it comes to different ways to use homemade meatballs!
Ingredients
Sandwich rolls or hoagies – I prefer to make these sourdough sandwich rolls from scratch. Store-bought rolls or hoagies also work great.
Shredded mozzarella cheese – I’ve also done this with sliced mozzarella instead of shredded. You can substitute with a different milk cheese if needed, but there is just something about the gooey, melty, mozzarella cheese that is perfect for meatball sandwiches. Learn how to make your own mozzarella cheese here.
Ground beef – Always make sure to buy the best quality you can afford. Pasture raised-and-finished beef is the healthiest option and has higher levels of omega 3’s and CLA.
Flour or bread crumbs – Einkorn flour also works great in place of all purpose flour in this recipe.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Meatball Sub
Step 1: To make the meat mixture, In a large bowl, add the ground beef, eggs, parmesan cheese, salt, diced onion, seasonings, and flour. Mix well with your hands until completely combined.
Step 2: Roll meatball mixture into 1″ balls, or balls weighing about 33 grams each, and place in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 3: Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. The edges should start to turn brown and the internal temperature should read 165 degrees.
Step 4: Add pasta sauce to meatballs in a cast iron skillet and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Step 5: Cut hoagies in half using a sharp serrated knife, brush them with a little bit of olive oil, and toast them (cut side down on a hot cast iron skillet) for about one minute.
Step 6: Add hoagies to a parchment lined baking sheet. Smother buns with some pasta sauce and top with meatballs and shredded mozzarella cheese.
Step 7: Broil meatball sub for about 2 minutes with the top bun off. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Once the cheese melts, remove from the oven.
Step 8: Place the top bun back on top, and serve.
Tips
- This recipe can easily be made ahead of time. Make the rolls and meatballs the day before, then the next day all you have to do is heat the meatballs in the sauce and assemble the sandwiches.
- Starting with wet hands when rolling the meatballs helps prevent them from sticking, and makes it a cleaner process.
- Make sure to watch the meatball sub in the oven while it is broiling. It is easy to forget about it and burn the sandwiches.
Recipe FAQs
There are three essentials for a meatball sub: meatballs, cheese, and sauce. You can add other ingredients, but these make the sandwich what it is!
In this recipe, I love to use fresh mozzarella cheese, but provolone cheese also makes for a delicious classic topping to this sandwich.
Zucchini, spinach, kale, arugula, onion, sliced tomatoes, fermented jalapeños, or sautéed mushrooms would all be delicious to top your meatball sub and add some extra flavor.
To store your meatball subs, place leftover meatballs in an airtight container separate from the rolls. Refrigerate for up to 3-4 days or freeze in a freezer bag up to 2 months. Reheat the meatballs and assemble the sandwiches when ready to serve.
More Dinner Recipes from the Farmhouse
- The Best Chicken Marsala Soup Recipe (Easy!)
- Easy Homemade Hamburger Helper Recipe
- Skillet Pork Chops With Garlic And Butter
- The Best Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
- Round Steak With Caramelized Onions And Mushrooms
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
The Ultimate Homemade Meatball Sub Recipe
Ingredients
For The Meatballs
- 2 pounds extra lean ground beef
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 onion, very finely diced
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour, you could also use 1/2 cup bread crumbs, if you have some leftover or stale sourdough bread
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
For The Sandwich
- 6 hoagies or rolls
- 25 ounces prepared pasta sauce, or 3 cups homemade sauce
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- To make the meat mixture, in a large bowl, add the ground beef, eggs, parmesan cheese, salt, diced onion, seasonings, and flour.
- Mix well with your hands until completely combined.
- Roll meatball mixture into 1″ balls, or balls weighing about 33 grams each, and place in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. The edges should start to turn brown and the internal temperature should read 165 degrees.
- Add pasta sauce to meatballs in a cast iron skillet and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Cut hoagies in half using a sharp serrated knife, brush them with a little bit of olive oil, and toast them (cut side down on a hot cast iron skillet) for about one minute.
- Add hoagies to a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Smother buns with some pasta sauce and top with meatballs and shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Broil meatball sub for about 2 minutes with the top bun off. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Once the cheese melts, remove from the oven, place the top bun back on top, and serve.
Notes
- For these sandwiches, I prefer to make these sourdough sandwich rolls from scratch.
- This recipe can easily be made ahead of time. Make the meatballs the day before, then the next day all you have to do is heat the meatballs in the sauce and assemble the sandwiches.
- Starting with wet hands when rolling the meatballs helps prevent them from sticking, and makes it a cleaner process.
- Make sure to watch the meatball sub in the oven while it is broiling. It is easy to forget about it and burn the sandwiches.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We had these tonight for dinner and my entire family loved them. I made the sourdough rolls too. The dough was very wet and I thought they were not going to turn out– but they did! I think bread is more forgiving than I realize. I will be making these again. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
I am so happy to see this recipe. Since my granddaughter wants meatballs every day… I will add this recipe to the mix;) meatball subs, meatball pizza, meatball stew, meatball …..
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing the recipe!