Baked Meatball Subs
Meatball subs with homemade beef and pork meatballs, marinara, and melted provolone on toasted garlic butter rolls. Six sandwiches in about an hour.
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Meatball subs are worth making from scratch, and the whole thing takes about an hour. Beef and pork meatballs bake in the oven while a pan of marinara warms on the stove, then everything gets piled into a garlic-buttered roll under two slices of provolone and run under the broiler until the cheese blisters.
The secret to a tender meatball is a panade, which is a fancy word for bread soaked in milk. Mixing that soggy paste into the meat keeps the proteins from tightening into a rubber ball as they cook. Skip it and you get meatballs that bounce.
The other thing that saves this sandwich is a slice of provolone laid down first, under the meatballs. Cheese is a moisture barrier. The sauce hits melted cheese instead of bare bread, and the bottom of the roll holds together through the last bite.
Why You’ll Love This Meatball Subs Recipe
- Tender all the way through. A milk-soaked panko panade keeps the meatballs soft instead of springy.
- The rolls stay together. Toasted garlic butter and a slice of provolone underneath keep the sauce out of the bread.
- Meatballs freeze perfectly. Make a double batch, freeze half, and the second round of subs takes 20 minutes.
- A guaranteed clean plate. Meatballs, red sauce, and melted cheese in a roll clears the table with no negotiating.
Meatball Subs Ingredients
Use 85/15 ground beef, not the lean stuff. Fat is what keeps a baked meatball juicy, and 93/7 comes out dry and crumbly no matter how careful you are with the panade.
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 lb ground beef (85/15)
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 (32 oz) jar marinara sauce
- 6 hoagie rolls, split
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 clove garlic, grated, for the butter
- 12 slices provolone cheese (about 12 oz)
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped, for garnish
Recipe Variations
- Use ground turkey. Swap both meats for 2 pounds of ground turkey and add 2 extra tablespoons of milk to the panade, since turkey is leaner. Turkey is poultry, so bake these to an internal temperature of 165°F, not 160°F.
- Start with frozen meatballs. Skip ahead to the sauce with a 26-ounce bag of frozen fully cooked meatballs. Simmer them covered in the marinara over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring a few times, until they’re hot all the way through and read 165°F in the center.
- Swap the provolone for low-moisture mozzarella. Use about 3 cups shredded, a half cup per sandwich. It’s milder and stretchier and it browns a little faster, so pull the subs at 2 minutes under the broiler.
How to Make Meatball Subs
- Soak the panko: Stir the panko and milk together in a large bowl and let it sit 5 minutes, until the crumbs have drunk up all the milk and look like wet sand. Heat the oven to 400°F and line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment.
- Mix and roll: Add the ground beef, ground pork, egg, parmesan, minced garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to the soaked panko. Mix with your hands just until you can’t see streaks of egg anymore, then stop. Roll into 24 balls about 1 1/2 inches across and space them out on the sheet pan.
- Bake the meatballs: Bake for 20 minutes, until browned on top and a thermometer pushed into the center of the biggest one reads 160°F. Ground beef and ground pork are both safe at 160°F.
- Simmer in the sauce: While the meatballs bake, warm the marinara in a large skillet or pot over medium-low heat. Slide the baked meatballs in, spoon sauce over them, and let them simmer gently for 10 minutes so they soak it up.
- Toast the rolls: Mash the softened butter with the grated garlic and spread it on the cut sides of the rolls. Set them cut side up on a sheet pan and broil 1-2 minutes, until the edges are golden. Watch them closely.
- Build and broil: Lay one slice of provolone in the bottom of each roll. Add 4 meatballs with sauce, then top with a second slice of provolone. Broil 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling with a few browned spots. Scatter the basil over the top and serve.
Recipe FAQs
How Do I Keep Meatball Subs from Getting Soggy?
Toast the rolls and put a slice of cheese down before the meatballs. Toasting firms up the surface of the bread and the melted cheese makes a barrier the sauce can’t get through. Lifting the meatballs out with a slotted spoon helps too.
Can I Make the Meatballs Ahead of Time?
Yes. Bake them, cool them completely, and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months. Reheat them right in the simmering marinara until they reach 165°F, about 10 minutes from the fridge or 20-25 minutes from frozen.
Why Did My Meatballs Come out Tough?
Almost always overmixing or overpacking. Mix with your hands only until the ingredients disappear into each other, and roll the balls lightly instead of compressing them. Skipping the milk-soaked panko does it too.
What Rolls Are Best for Meatball Subs?
A soft hoagie or Italian sub roll about 6 inches long, sturdy enough to hold up but not so crusty that the filling squeezes out when you bite. Skip baguettes, the hard crust shreds the roof of your mouth.
Can I Use Jarred Marinara?
Yes, and this recipe is written for it. Pick one with a short ingredient list and no added sugar near the top. Simmering the meatballs in it for 10 minutes gives the sauce plenty of meaty flavor.
Cooking Tips
- Use a cookie scoop to portion the meat. Even-sized meatballs finish at the same time, which means the thermometer reading from one of them actually tells you something about all of them.
- Wet your hands with cold water before rolling. The meat stops sticking to your palms and the balls come out smooth instead of raggedy.
- Bake on parchment instead of a bare pan. The bottoms brown just as well and the meatballs lift off in one piece rather than leaving their crust behind.
Storage and Freezing
To store: Refrigerate the meatballs in their sauce for up to 4 days. Store the rolls separately at room temperature and build the sandwiches fresh, since an assembled sub goes soggy within an hour.
To freeze: The meatballs freeze beautifully for up to 3 months, cooked and cooled, either bare or in sauce. Freeze them in a single layer on a sheet pan first, then bag them so they don’t fuse into one block.
To reheat: Warm the meatballs in sauce over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or 20-25 minutes from frozen, until they reach 165°F. Then toast fresh rolls and build the sandwiches.
How to Serve Meatball Subs
Meatball Subs are heavy enough that they don’t need much beside them. Kettle chips, a handful of pepperoncini, or a green salad with Italian dressing all work. If you’re feeding a crowd, build them all on one sheet pan, broil them together, and cut each sub in half so six sandwiches stretch to twelve.
Loved This Recipe?
Meatball Subs made from scratch take an hour and beat the sub shop by a wide margin.
Leave a star rating in the comments below, it helps other people find this recipe. Made it? Tag @allwellfed on Instagram, I love seeing this one in other people’s kitchens.
Baked Meatball Subs
Equipment
- Instant-Read Thermometer Take it to 160°F in the middle. The edges get there long before the center does.
Ingredients
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 lb ground beef 85/15
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 (32 oz) jar marinara sauce
- 6 hoagie rolls split
- 3 tbsp butter softened
- 1 clove garlic grated, for the butter
- 12 slices provolone cheese about 12 oz
- 2 tbsp fresh basil chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Soak the panko: Stir the panko and milk together in a large bowl and let it sit 5 minutes, until the crumbs have drunk up all the milk and look like wet sand. Heat the oven to 400°F and line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment.
- Mix and roll: Add the ground beef, ground pork, egg, parmesan, minced garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to the soaked panko. Mix with your hands just until you can’t see streaks of egg anymore, then stop. Roll into 24 balls about 1 1/2 inches across and space them out on the sheet pan.
- Bake the meatballs: Bake for 20 minutes, until browned on top and a thermometer pushed into the center of the biggest one reads 160°F. Ground beef and ground pork are both safe at 160°F.
- Simmer in the sauce: While the meatballs bake, warm the marinara in a large skillet or pot over medium-low heat. Slide the baked meatballs in, spoon sauce over them, and let them simmer gently for 10 minutes so they soak it up.
- Toast the rolls: Mash the softened butter with the grated garlic and spread it on the cut sides of the rolls. Set them cut side up on a sheet pan and broil 1-2 minutes, until the edges are golden. Watch them closely.
- Build and broil: Lay one slice of provolone in the bottom of each roll. Add 4 meatballs with sauce, then top with a second slice of provolone. Broil 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling with a few browned spots. Scatter the basil over the top and serve.
Notes
If you made this, leave a star rating down in the comments. It takes about ten seconds, and it’s how other cooks decide whether a recipe is worth trying.
