Celery Free Sunday Sauce with Herb-Spiced Meatballs
This is the kind of slow-simmered, deeply savory Sunday sauce that makes the whole house smell incredible for hours. The meatballs are a blend of ground beef and pork, seasoned with fennel seeds, turmeric, parsley, and garlic — then roasted at high heat before they ever touch the sauce, which gives them a gorgeous browned crust and locks in their flavor. The sauce itself is built on San Marzano tomatoes, tomato paste, and layers of aromatics that simmer down into something rich, glossy, and completely irresistible. Celery is a surprisingly common addition to classic tomato sauces and meatball mixes, but this recipe skips it entirely without sacrificing any depth — the onion, garlic, and herbs carry more than enough weight. Almond flour stands in as the binder for the meatballs, keeping everything tender and cohesive without any filler you'd need to second-guess. After a long, gentle simmer, the meatballs soak up the sauce and become impossibly soft at the center. Finish with torn fresh basil and a drizzle of good olive oil, and you've got a bowl that tastes like it came from a grandmother's kitchen.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
For the meatballs
- 1 lb ground beef (85% lean)
- ½ lb ground pork
- ½ cup almond flour
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
For the sauce
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 cans (28 oz each) whole peeled san marzano tomatoes
- 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
For serving
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, torn
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, almond flour, eggs, parsley, minced garlic, fennel seeds, turmeric, dried oregano, salt, and black pepper. Mix with your hands until just combined — stop as soon as no streaks remain.
- 2
Roll the meat mixture into balls about 1½ inches in diameter (roughly 24 meatballs) and arrange them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of the olive oil and roll to coat.
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