The Best Meatball Subs

These flavorful and delicious meatball subs are the absolute best! They’re flavorful and cheesy, and totally delicious!

Although I’m generally a cold sandwich kind of girl (turkey and cheese for life!), I have to admit that I also love a good hot meatball sub. The combination of flavors, the gooey cheese and marinara… it’s all just fantastic. They’re generally a huge mess to eat, but so worth it. Because I love them so much, I’ve been working on my recipe over the last few years. I think I’ve finally perfected them! These delicious homemade meatball subs are totally amazing, and my whole family loves when they’re on the menu!

Because I’m always a little extra, I like to make my own sub rolls to go with them. Rest assured, though, that is definitely not required. Store-bought sub rolls will work just as well too! This recipe is easy to prep in advance, to make dinnertime a cinch. You can bake the meatballs and make the sauce in the morning, or the day before, and just leave them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

The sauce and meatballs also freeze really well, both separately and combined. This is one of my favorite recipes for batch cooking! I usually double the recipe to make four meals’ worth of sauce and meatballs at a time, and freeze them for later. There are so many nights when I’m totally exhausted and just need something easy to make! I store the sauce and meatballs in quart-sized takeout containers, so it’s easy to just pull out the amount I need for one meal. The recipe as written below makes two quarts, which is enough for two meals for my family.

When you’re ready to make the sandwiches, they’re simple and quick to assemble. I usually heat the meatballs and sauce on the stove while the oven is preheating. Then it’s as simple as slicing open the rolls, adding some meatballs and sauce, and topping it all with provolone cheese. Bake them until the cheese is melted and gooey, and you’re all set!

Easy Meatball Subs

Print Recipe

Prep Time:20 minutes mins

Cook Time:40 minutes mins

Total Time:1 hour hr

Ingredients

for the meatballs:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 medium red onion finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

for the sauce:

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

for assembling:

• sub sandwich rolls
• sliced provolone cheese

Instructions

• To make the meatballs, preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, Italian sausage, bread crumbs, milk, and egg. Add the onion, parsley, garlic, salt, and parmesan, and mix until well combined. Scoop one inch meatballs onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.
• To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic to the pot and cook until fragrant. Add the beef broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt, basil, and Worcestershire sauce to the pot, and stir well to combine. Add the meatballs to the pot and bring the sauce to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer for 20 minutes, until the sauce is thickened.
• To assemble the sandwiches, spoon 4-5 meatballs onto one side of each sub roll, then top with two slices of provolone cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Servings: 8