15 Minute Sausage Meatballs

Here’s how to make Sausage Meatballs in just 15 minutes – and still have time for a glass of wine. It even comes with a homemade tomato meatball sauce!

JB’s debut recipe was always going to be a hard act to follow….so I decided not to even try! Instead, I’m going for something that’s speedy, low effort with maximum reward – golden brown juicy sausage meatballs smothered in an Italian tomato sauce, on the table in 15 minutes flat.

My trick is to chop up sausages into small bite size pieces. At first, they look a bit smeary and wonder how on earth this is going to work – but please have faith! Because when cooked, they magically fry up into meatball-like shapes. OK, so they might not all be perfect round balls but nor have you had to tediously roll them one by one!

Now, pour yourself a wine while you see how to make these Sausage Meatballs so quickly, and tomorrow, you can sip one while you make them. Because this is a recipe you really can actually, leisurely make in 15 minutes – yay!

Ingredients in 15 Minute Sausage Meatballs

Just 5 ingredients – your favourite sausages, tomato passata, garlic, chicken stock and Italian herbs. Basil and red pepper flakes are optional, oil and salt don’t count!

Sausages – The pre-seasoned meat inside the sausages also flavours the sauce, so get good ones! As a general rule, sausages where you can see little meat and fat bits are better than the uniform economical pink ones used for fundraiser sausage sizzles (and we love them!).

Sausage meat.- Use what you want! Pork is classic, beef sausages brown up extra nicely (this is what I used in the photos), and chicken sausages are just tasty, tasty tasty! I use all three.
Tomato passata – This is pureed, plain tomatoes which is a brilliant way to make smooth tomato based sauces fast, no simmering time needed to break down chunks of canned tomatoes. It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces and no more expensive than canned tomatoes.

Sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti tomato passata sold at Walmart), substitute with Hunt’s Tomato Sauce (or equivalent). More on tomato passata here.
Chicken stock/broth – Adds a bit more flavour to the sauce than using water so it’s tasty with just a 5 minute simmer. Essential, it makes up for not simmering this sauce slowly for 40 minutes. 🙂
Dried Italian herbs – Just a regular Italian herb mix from a regular grocery store, for a touch of flavour into the sauce. Substitute with dried oregano, parsley, thyme, or a general dried herb mix.
Red pepper flakes / chilli flakes – 100% optional, for a hint of warmth in the sauce. Omit for not spicy.
Sprig of basil (optional) – You know fresh basil adds a little za-za-zoom into everything! I use the leaves for garnish plonk the stem into the sauce to infuse with gently flavour.

How to make Sausage Meatballs in 15 minutes

This isn’t the first time I’ve shared a quick meatballs recipe made using chopped-up sausages – and it definitely won’t be the last. It’s not just convenient, I love how much flavour the pre-seasoned meat adds to the sauce. This is why the sauce is so tasty even though we aren’t simmering for ages!

Cut the sausages into even size pieces so they are roughly as wide as they are long, so they will cook into balls rather than cylinders! So if your sausages are thin, you’ll have more smaller meatballs. Whereas if you have fat sausages, you’ll have larger but less meatballs. Both are food situations!

Sausage casing stays on! This is what holds the sausage meat together so they cook into “meatballs” rather than like crumbly mince / ground meat.
Brown (3 – 4 minutes) – Use a large non-stick pan, the one pictured is 30cm/12″ wide. Heat the oil on high heat then add the sausages and cook, stirring fairly regularly, until the surface is nicely browned but the inside is still raw. This will only take about 3 – 4 minutes (caveat: if you used a large pan and you’re not using a tiny weak burner!)

Meatballs! See? That pile of smeary sausage chunks has magically transformed into meatballs!!
Sauce (5 minutes) – Add the garlic and stir for just 15 seconds until very light golden (careful, it will burn fast). Add the chicken stock, simmer rapidly for 1 minute to reduce by about half. Then add the tomato passata, Italian herbs, chilli flakes (if using), salt and basil stem, if using (we’ll use the leaves for garnish).

Simmer – Stir and simmer fairly rapidly for 4 minutes on medium high. The sauce will thicken and the sausage seasoning will add flavour into the sauce. <- Sip wine during this stage. See, I told you the recipe factors that in!!
Ready! And look at that – tasty sausage meatballs smothered in a flavourful tomato pasta sauce, ready to get in your belly!

All the ways to eat Sausage Meatballs!

I can picture these stuffed into crusty rolls for epic Sausage Meatball Subs. No idea why I haven’t tried it yet – finger-licking, messy comfort food is 100% me! Also – fast and effortless. 🙂 Not man handling big steamy pots of hot pasta!!

For the pasta option – pictured, and shown in the video – toss the hot cooked pasta with the meatballs and sauce before dividing between bowls. This way, the tasty sauce will cling to the pasta which will make every bite that much tastier – rather than having to slop up sauce pooled in the base of your pasta bowl.

Else, serve over a bed of something creamy and starchy – mashed potato, polenta (pictured – I used 1 minute polenta), even cauliflower mash (the flavour is actually very neutral). There’s always something extra appealing about coddling a bowl of food you can eat with your spoon rather than battling sauce-splatters-and-spaghetti-twirls!

How else could this be served? Share your ideas! Oooh – inside a jaffle?? With a slice of cheese! 😮 So many possibilities!! – Nagi x