We’re back with another easy meal prep! These protein packed Ricotta Meatballs can be made multiple ways, take only a few minutes to prep, are made with simple ingredients, and will last you the whole week!

To make these meatballs add 2 cups of a part skim ricotta cheese and 1 1/2 cups of your choice bread crumbs into a large mixing bowl.

Mix those together.

Diet tip? If you’re watching your carbs or have dietary restrictions you can leave the bread crumbs out, they’ll still turn out great! I’ll put the nutritional information for both variations below in the recipe card.

Continue with 3 large whole eggs, 3/4 cup of parmesan cheese, 5 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1/2 chopped up onion, 1 1/2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon of parsley, 1 tablespoon of basil, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 2 pounds of a 93/7 lean ground beef or turkey.

Mix all of those ingredients together, using your hands or a mixer will help speed this step up.

Keep in mind when making these that you can easily adjust the recipe to your liking. Here are some of my favorite ways to change these up…

Meatball Substitutes & Variations

• Want a substitute for bread crumbs? Use Rolled Oats!
• Don’t like ground beef or turkey? Try ground chicken!
• No parmesan? Use another cheese.
• Hate onion? Remove it or use another chopped up vegetable like bell peppers.
• Want them spicy? Add in some crushed red pepper and/or hot sauce!

The base recipe is the ricotta, optional bread crumbs, eggs, parmesan cheese, and meat. Use this and substitute or build off of it to make your own favorite ricotta meatball recipe.

Now for the fun part, shaping our meatballs! To do this, choose how big you want to make them and roll them up. Yes, I made them big today.

Repeat until all of your mix is gone.

Stovetop Ricotta Meatballs

The is my preferred method but also the longest to prep.

Start by adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large stovetop pan and turning your burner on medium heat.

Add in your meatballs once it heats up and let them brown on all sides for a couple minutes.

Once browned, turn your burner on low heat and add in a jar of your favorite pasta sauce. Put your cover on and let them cook for around 30 minutes or until they reach 165F/73C.

The bigger they are, the longer they’ll take to cook.

Oven Ricotta Meatballs

To make them in the oven put them all on a baking sheet or in a baking dish and cook them on 375F/190C for around 30-40 minutes.

Optionally flip them halfway through cooking and remove them when your meatballs reach 165F/73C.

Slow Cooker Ricotta Meatballs

To make them in the slow cooker simply add your pasta sauce in followed by your meatballs and let them cook on low heat for around 4-6 hours.

Remember that depending on the size you made them, they may take more or less time to cook so keep an eye on them.

I guess I should also shoutout a food thermometer here, I use one for almost everything. No specific brand, it’s the cheapest one I could find on Amazon and I’ve been using it for years. I’ll throw a link to it below in the recipe card if you don’t have one.

Ready for dessert? How about some 3 Ingredient Protein Cookies!?