Make Your Most Flavorful Meatballs Ever with Geoffrey Zakarian’s Super-Easy Herby Trick

Cory Fernandez
Cory FernandezAssociate Food Editor
Cory is a New York City–based associate editor at The Kitchn, who covers food trends, lifestyle, wine, liquor, spirits, food-related travel, and food features. Before working at The Kitchn, he worked as an editor at Food Network Magazine and was a contributor to The Pioneer…read more
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published Dec 13, 2022
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Baked turkey meatballs in a gray bowl, with a green linen napkin at the bottom.
Credit: Tara Holland

One versatile dish that functions well as both a main protein and as a delicious appetizer is the beloved meatball. Meatballs are always great in a traditional red sauce along with pasta, but, when you make them just the right size, they’re also the perfect party snack.

Want to level up your own? Celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian has a super-smart technique for making the tastiest meatballs. Recently he posted a TikTok video in which he demonstrates a simple yet flavor-enhancing technique for cooking meatballs in a sauce for pasta or as an appetizer.

In the video, Zakarian pan-fries a few meatballs in a generous amount of olive oil along with a sprig of rosemary, occasionally turning the meatballs as they cook. Then, after getting a nice sear on the meatballs, Zakarian adds them to the sauce along with the cooking oil.

Zakarian explains that this method enables the meatballs to absorb the rosemary-infused oil, which is then transferred to the sauce. The technique is not only easy to follow, but it’s also a simple way to boost the flavor of any kind of meatballs you might be preparing in the kitchen. And if you don’t happen to have rosemary, you can pull the same trick with other sturdy herbs like sage or thyme.

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