Heart Shaped Meatballs are a cute and delicious way to turn a simple pasta dish into a romantic meal for two. They are easy to make by hand and look lovely. This easy Valentine’s Day pasta is quick to make leaving you with more time to spend looking lovingly into each others eyes.
I love food and Valentine’s Day is a perfect day to share your love of food with the one you love.
I have teamed up with OXO Good Grips to create a lovely three course meal. Yes I made heart shaped meatballs. Any excuse to make things into hearts with me.
For the main part of the romantic meal I went for meatballs. I have to admit I was inspired by Lady and the Tramp for this. I decided to put my own Valentine’s Day spin on it though.
Why you’ll love this recipe for heart shaped meatballs
Every romantic knows the scene, two dogs, looking lovingly into one another’s eyes, sharing a plate of meatballs.
This recipe takes it to another level of romance, with heart shaped meatballs.
It’s super easy to make and the trust chopper made an appearance for safe and simple onion dicing.
Top Questions for heart shaped meatballs
What is the secret to good meatballs?
Is it Better to Bake or Fry Meatballs
Why are my Meatballs Falling Apart?
Ingredients for heart shaped meatballs
Heart shaped meatballs
- mince beef or meat free alternative
- breadcrumbs
- white onion
- eggs
- garlic
- dried parsley
- dried basil
- salt and pepper
Tomato Sauce
- onion
- garlic
- Fresh chilli
- tomato puree
- chopped tomatoes
- salt and pepper
- fresh basil
How to make heart shaped meatballs – step by step
- In a blender make the breadcrumbs and add them to the mix with the herbs, salt and pepper.
- Add the eggs and mix together and form one big meatball. You’ll probably need to use your hands.
- To make the hearts I rolled the mix into a ball.
- Then squashed it flat a bit. I then cut into the meatball just shy of half way down.
- I then finished shaping the heart. It was so quick and I think they looked adorable.
- Then I fried them until cooked all the way through.
- You can see the 4 stages of meatball to heart in the photo below. I made a lot so I could freeze some!
Top Tips
If you would like a vegan/ vegetarian alternative then swap out the mince Beef for a meat free alternative.
Make them as big as small as you want! Just be sure to keep them all similar sizes so they cook evenly.
The sauce will keep in an airtight container for a few days and can even be frozen for up to 6months. Even the meatballs can be premade and frozen. Ensure they are thawed thoroughly before cooking.
Serving Suggestions
I of course recommend that you serve these heart shaped meatballs with the tomato sauce in the recipe below and on a bed of spaghetti. This creates a beautiful Valentine’s Day pasta.
Grated parmesan is the perfect topper to this valentine’s day meal, but any cheese will work. Personally, I am a big fan of stringy mozzarella.
Equipment
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- Optionally – OXO chopper – The wonderful chopper in action! It’s so pleasant to use. The results are stunning. I love how safe it is with it’s easily removable pot you can cut into it. It also comes apart very easily for washing. Of course the blades are sharp so please be careful.
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Frying pan
Storing / Making ahead of time options
The sauce will keep in an airtight container for a few days and can even be frozen for up to 6 months.
The meatballs can be premade and frozen. Ensure they are thawed thoroughly before cooking. This might aimed as a Valentine’s day pasta but heart shaped meatballs are good all year long.
Substitutions and variations for valentine’s day pasta
Add fresh herbs to your breadcrumb mix for extra flavour.
As mentioned before, you can easily adapt this recipe to your own dietary preferences, just swap out ingredients.
Add extra chilli. I love spicy pasta so I will definitely add a bit more when I make this for me.
FAQs
What is the secret to good meatballs?
The best meatballs are 50 percent meat and 50 percent breadcrumbs. However, the best kept meatball secret is day-old bread, soaked in milk or water, old breadcrumbs never go tough.
Is it Better to Bake or Fry Meatballs?
EIther works! But for anyone wanting a low fat option then baking is a great way to keep the fat content down.
Why did my Meatballs Fall Apart?
Usually, this is an issue with your binder (the egg) or the amount of breadcrumbs you have.
Try reducing the amount of breadcrumbs as too many can cause it to be loose. (but not enough means they won’t hold together. You need to find the golden amount).
If you want to make a small batch of these meatballs you can whisk the egg in a cup and add a little at a time until the metballs are wall
Using an OXO mini chopper
The wonderful chopper in action! It’s so pleasant to use. The results are stunning. I love how safe it is with it’s easily removable pot you can cut into it. It also comes apart very easily for washing. Of course the blades are sharp so please be careful.
I used the chopper to cut the onion. It worked so well and for once the meatballs looked neater. It’s nice not having a huge bit of onion sticking out! I need to work on my knife skills to do this better by hand.
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Check out my other Valentine’s Day recipes
Other recipes you might like…
Recipe
Heart Shaped Meatballs for Valentine’s Day Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 500 g (2 ⅕ cups) mince beef
- 150 g (1 ⅖ cups) breadcrumbs
- 1 large (1 large) white onion
- 2 medium (2 medium) eggs
- 2 (2) garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) dried basil
- salt and pepper
Tomato Sauce
- 1 (1) onion (chopped up with the chopper so it’s nice and fine)
- 2 (2) garlic cloves (chopped up too)
- Fresh chilli (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) tomato puree
- 1 tin (1 tin) chopped tomatoes (approximately 400g)
- salt and pepper
- 1 handful (1 handful) fresh basil
Instructions
Meatballs
- In a large mixing bowl pull apart the mince.
- Chop up the onion as fine as you can and add it to the beef.
- In a blender make the breadcrumbs and add them to the mix with the herbs, salt and pepper.
- Add the eggs and mix together and to form one big meatball. You’ll probably need to use your hands.
- Divide into mix and roll in your hands to create the meatballs. I make them about two heaped tablespoon of mix each so they don’t take ages to cook and then defrost later.
- To make the hearts I rolled the mix into a ball. Then squashed it flat a bit. I then cut into the meatball just shy of half way down. I then finished shaping the heart.
- In a frying pan with a little oil on a medium heat and cook the meatballs a few at a time until they cooked through.
Tomato Pasta Sauce
- Soften the onions, chilli and garlic in a pan with a little oil on a low/medium heat. Keep stirring.
- Add the tomato purée and mix in.
- Add the tins of tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, along with a handful of lightly chopped basil leaves too.
- Bring to a simmer.
- Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack.
- Normally I would put the meatballs into the sauce but as they are so cute and I wanted to show them off so I presented them on top so they were kept warm in another frying pan until the sauce and pasta was ready.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
Even though they’re meat, your heart shaped meatballs look simply adorable – what a lovely idea. Chocolate pudding is of course very much appreciated. The egg separator sounds like a jolly good idea – I do sometimes make a bit of a mess when trying to get pure egg whites.
Thank you so much Choclette! I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t separate eggs x
I had to chuckle about heart shaped meat balls – but I think most meat eating men would LOVE it! love that!
I’m glad you liked the post 🙂 The meatballs were so much fun. I don’t think I can go back to regular shaped ones now.