Heart Shaped Meatballs for Valentine’s Day Pasta

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.

Heart Shaped Meatballs for Valentine's Day

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

making heart shaped meatballs for a valentine's day pasta dish
  • 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

the finished Heart Shaped Meatballs on a bed of tomato pasta sauce

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.

heart shaped meatballs how to make onion chopper

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.

Follow me on instagram to see what I’ve been making recently. www.instagram.com/sewwhite

Check out my other Valentine’s Day recipes

Other recipes you might like…

Rose Elderflower Prosecco Cocktail
Heart shaped strawberries
Valentine’s Day French Toast
Strawberry gin and tonic
Strawberry Prosecco Cake
Strawberry truffe tart

Recipe

Heart Shaped Meatballs for Valentine’s Day Pasta

Sisley White
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.
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American, British, International, Italian
Servings 2 people
Calories 845 kcal

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

Make the meatballs ahead and freeze them before cooking.
To defrost I remove them from the freezer container and put them in a bowl and cover it and leave it out for the day in a cool place. If I forget to take them out earlier enough I use the microwave defrost setting.

Nutrition

Calories: 845kcalCarbohydrates: 69gProtein: 61gFat: 58gSaturated Fat: 22gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 24gTrans Fat: 3gCholesterol: 341mgSodium: 789mgPotassium: 1150mgFiber: 6gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 340IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 263mgIron: 10mg

Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Keyword Heart shaped food, Heart Shaped Meatballs, Valentine’s Day Breakfast ideas, Valentine’s Day dinner, Valentine’s Day Meal, Valentine’s day pasta
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4 thoughts on “Heart Shaped Meatballs for Valentine’s Day Pasta”

  1. 5 stars
    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.

    Reply

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