Chicken Free Sunday Sauce with Herb-Spiced Meatballs
Few things hit the way a slow-simmered tomato sauce does on a Sunday afternoon, and this one earns every minute on the stove. The meatballs are a beef-and-pork blend seasoned with fennel seeds, turmeric, fresh parsley, and garlic — a combination that smells incredible as they roast in the oven and tastes even better once they've been nestled into the sauce for the long simmer. Almond flour stands in as the binder, keeping the texture tender without any breadcrumbs in the mix. The sauce itself is built on San Marzano tomatoes, a deeply caramelized tomato paste, and layers of aromatics that cook down into something rich, glossy, and deeply savory. Because every component here is made from scratch — no store-bought shortcuts, no mystery proteins hiding in a jar — you have complete control over what goes into the pot. Serve it over pasta, a grain, or straight from the bowl with torn fresh basil and a drizzle of good olive oil, and it genuinely tastes like something that took all day. Which, honestly, it kind of did — and that's exactly the point.
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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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