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Easy Meatball Sub Recipe
This homemade, super easy Meatball Sub recipe is sure to be hit in your home. Use whole grain buns, our Healthy Meatballs, and our Marinara Sauce to make them extra nutritious.
Ingredients
- 12–16 fully cooked meatballs (like our Italian Baked Meatballs, Healthy Beef Meatballs, or Turkey and Veggie Meatballs)
- About 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce (or half of a store-bought jar)
- 4 whole wheat sub rolls (sub: hotdog buns)
- 4–6 slices Provolone cheese (sub: mozzarella cheese)
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Instructions
Make It Now:
- Prep: Place the meatballs and marinara sauce in a medium pot. Cover with a lid and warm over low to medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Preheat the broiler. Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil.
- Toast Bread: Split open the rolls (or hollow them out if using bolillos*) and lay the bread open on the sheet pan. Place sheet pan on the top rack under the broiler for about 1-2 minutes, until golden. Watch closely so they don’t burn.
- Build Sandwiches: To build sandwiches, add 3-4 warm meatballs to each sub. Top with enough warm marinara sauce, about 1/4 cup, to cover meatballs. Lay 1 to 1 1/2 Provolone slices over the top of the sauce, so sandwiches are entirely covered. If needed, cut slices in half to fit properly.
- Broil Sandwiches: Place the sandwiches under the broiler until cheese is melted, about 1-2 minutes. Watch closely so they don’t burn.
Freeze For Later:
Place cooked meatballs and sauce in one freezer bag. Place cheese and rolls in separate freezer bags. Freeze together as a kit. Be sure to remove as much air as possible from the bags.
Prepare From Frozen:
Thaw in the fridge overnight. Then, follow cooking instructions.
Notes/Tips
*What Kind of Bread to Use: We prefer using whole wheat (or at least partially whole wheat) rolls for extra nutrition. If you can’t find wheat sub rolls or wheat hotdog buns, another option is wheat Bolillo rolls. If you use this kind of bread, hollow out the center like a canoe and place the meatballs inside. This type of bread is handy because the meatballs won’t slip out as easily.
Where We Get Our Beef: We get our beef from ButcherBox. The beef is grass-fed and curated from trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat–like uncured bacon, chicken, and wild salmon–and have used it for years ourselves.
Gluten-Free Option: Use gluten-free ciabatta rolls or sandwich rolls. I like the Schar brand and can usually find those at Walmart or our local Hy-Vee store.
Dairy-Free Option: Use meatballs that have no cheese or milk in them. If you make one of our meatball recipes, follow the “dairy-free instructions” in the Notes section of the recipes. Then, either omit the Provolone cheese slices or use dairy-free cheese slices like Daiya brand.
