This dish, a combination of two beloved family meals, is sure to please everyone: loaded mashed potatoes and meatballs casserole! Marinara-marinated meatballs that are soft and topped with mozzarella are baked over rich and creamy mashed potatoes.
Marinara and flavorful meatballs paired with loaded mashed potatoes
Busy family will love this simple casserole dish of meatballs and potatoes! It’s a simple, comforting dish that can be prepared quickly, even on a weeknight.
My favorite homemade marinara sauce, cheese, and juicy homemade meatballs are the toppings for loaded mashed potatoes. This casserole is a great way to combine two of your favorite foods and bake it till bubbling.
The fact that this dish doesn’t need to be made entirely from scratch is just another fantastic feature. You can decide the ingredients in this recipe to create yourself or to buy from the shop.
The choice is yours! In order to save time, I use store-bought, chilled mashed potatoes (that we customize with all the ingredients), but you could also use marinara sauce from a jar and frozen meatballs. Simple!
You’ll need the meatball, potato, and sauce components to make this meal. Each recipe is straightforward and mostly consists of refrigerator and pantry ingredients. This is the entire list:
About the Meatballs
Meatballs with a tasty, flavorful combination of lean ground beef and ground pig are made.
Use fine, fresh breadcrumbs while making breadcrumbs. Panko is not the best ingredient for this dish.
Onion: For a more subdued flavor, coarsely slice or dice the onion.
Eggs: The concoction is bound together by large, entire eggs.
Garlic with salt and pepper: Crush or mince the garlic using a garlic press.
Parsley: You can use parsley flakes or freshly minced parsley.
Parmesan cheese: Either fresh or in a jar will do.
Mashed Potatoes: You can prepare your own or buy store-bought. If you have the time to make my Garlic Mashed Potatoes from scratch, I highly recommend them for this dish!
Again, you can use dried or fresh parsley, depending on what works best for you.
Bacon: These potatoes get a great taste boost from chopped, cooked bacon.
Garlic: You can either mince it, press it, or use garlic powder.
Eggs: eggs are not necessary, but they do enhance the flavor.
Cheese: A small amount of grated cheese gives these the traditional “loaded” flavor.
Pepper and salt
For the Vinegar
Olive oil: used for frying.
Diced or finely chopped onion.
Minced garlic.
Tomato Sauce: The foundation of this tasty sauce is plain tomato sauce from a can or box. Otherwise, you can use strained tomatoes.
Fresh basil is my favorite for this sauce, but dried works just as well.
To balance the sauce, add sugar, salt, and pepper.
Oregano and thyme: Italian seasoning blend might work well too.
When it comes to the mozzarella topping, slices work better than shreds since they will adhere to the meatballs. But if you’d rather, you may use shredded mozzarella.
