Give Meatballs An Extra Layer Of Flavor With 2 Tablespoons Of This Pantry Staple

When you've got a great meatball recipe, scribbled on a sauce-stained index card and passed down from generation to generation, novel adaptations can start to seem pretty goofy. But when you are not the beneficiary of such a gem, or maybe even on those nights when only a shortcut will do, you'll take any quick, delicious tips that you can get. And adding a bit of the Italian seasoning mix that you might already have nearby will really get your meatballs rolling down the expressway to dinner in no time.

The seasoning mix that you might be more familiar with from semi-homemade salad dressing has plenty of other applications in the kitchen. It makes an easy rub or marinade for your weeknight Italian-style pork chops, for example. And the usual combination of garlic, onion, oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, and salt that you'll find pulverized together in plenty of packets probably mirrors a lot of what you'd have rolled into your meatballs anyway. Using a bit of the pre-blended mix just saves you a little bit of the time that it would have taken to tap in each of those seasonings individually. A couple of tablespoons, and maybe a few cracks of the black pepper that might otherwise be missing from the formula, create a convincingly considered flavor profile for a preparation that you can probably breeze through on cruise control. Taking the scenic route through the typical meatball binders can help you arrive at an even more balanced finish.

With so many meatball recipes in circulation, riffs abound. But one thing that many will have in common is some kind of binder. And said binder is often going to include things like eggs, milk, and breadcrumbs. That first ingredient is immutable, and the second only varies by incrementally increasing fat content. But the third can taste totally different between store-bought packs or even homemade breadcrumb batches. And plain breadcrumbs are best when combining with Italian seasoning mix.

Plenty of store-bought breadcrumbs come in different flavors, and those scratch batches might amplify certain herbs or seasonings, too. Popular Italian-influenced breadcrumbs are highly likely to double up on at least some of the flavors already present in your seasoning mix. Skipping them will help avoid ending up with a meatball that's just way more parsley- or onion-forward than intended. That's also to say nothing of the potentially competing ingredients in the tomato sauce or gravy that often joins meatballs in all of their forms. Choosing a more basic breadcrumb will guard against that possible overload. 

You're also usually going to want to go a little easier on the extra salt when using premade seasonings, which are often already packed with the stuff. You can, however, also always just add a few more shakes of any elements that you might want to pop. It only takes a second to incorporate more garlic powder or oregano in your preferred proportions. Together with the Italian seasoning mix, you might even find this proprietary tinkering worthy of your own index card.