The Godfather Meatball Sub
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The Godfather Meatball Sub is the ultimate meatball sub with giant meatballs, smothered in sauce and cheese, in a toasted ciabatta bun with pesto sauce. A meatball sub worthy of The Godfather!
Well ok, I never said this was a healthy blog, though if you ask me this sub isn’t so bad for you, because let’s face it, we’re talking meatballs, marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese on a toasted ciabatta bun that’s smeared with homemade pesto.
And if you ask me, at 736 calories for one of these babies, it’s well worth it. Although I served these for lunch, this would make a fabulous dinner that’s worthy of the Godfather himself.
I mean look at these giant meatballs, and this is coming from someone who loves making small meatballs, but I figured that a meatball sub that had to be worthy of the Godfather, had to have some big balls.
The meatballs themselves are pretty simple to make, we’re talking ground pork and ground beef with some spices and I threw in some Sriracha sauce for some heat. But then I just wasn’t happy with them, something was missing. That something was mozzarella cheese, so I stuffed a piece of cheese in each meatballs. Yeah, baby, now we’re talking.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- Meat – Today I used ground beef and ground pork.
- Egg – The binder for our meatballs, if you’d prefer to go egg free you can substitute 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese per egg.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
- Sauce – Maple syrup and sriracha sauce are called for – yes I know they sound weird but just trust me on this one, sweet and spicy, baby, sweet and spicy.
- Garlic – We’re just using garlic powder today, uncommon for one of my recipes!
- Cheese – Now this in the magic in the dish, the ooey gooey center of our meatballs. Cut into bite sized cubed pieces to be placed in to the middle of each meatball.
Pesto
- Nuts – Walnuts are going to act as the base of our sauce in place of pine nuts.
- Basil – Fresh is a must, there’s just no ifs ands or buts about it.
- Garlic – Use as much or little as you like.
- Cheese – Parmesan cheese, again fresh is definitely best for adding that extra little something.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
- Olive oil – Use your high quality olive oil for this, trust me it’ll make a difference.
Other
- Broth – Chicken broth, low sodium so as to control the salt content of our dish.
- Sauce – Let’s not make this dish too complicated so just used jarred marinara sauce.
- Cheese – Mozzarella cheese to add ooey gooey cheese pulls.
- Buns – Ciabatta buns, be sure to grab something high quality and big enough to stuff full of fillings.
Can I Use Other Kinds Of Meat?
You can use any type of ground meat that you prefer:
- chicken
- turkey
- pork
- beef
- Feel free to combine as you wish.
How To Make A Great Meatball Sub
- Preheat oven: To 500 F degrees.
- Prepare the meatballs: Add all the meatball ingredients to a large bowl and mix well, use your hands. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls (or as large as you wish) sticking a mozzarella cube in each meatball. You should get around 18 meatballs.
- Bake the meatballs: Place the meatballs in a casserole dish, then pour the cup of chicken broth over them. This will keep them from going dry and keep them moist. Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes.
- Combine the pesto: In the meantime, prepare the pesto. Add all the pesto ingredients (minus the olive oil) to a blender, and pulse for about 10 seconds, with the motor running pour in the olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified. You will not be using all this pesto, see notes for how to store leftovers.
- Toast the buns: Cut the ciabatta buns in half crosswise then toast them only on the inside, not the crust side, on a grill or under the broiler until golden.
- Assemble the subs: To assemble the subs, spread some of the pesto on each bottom part of the bun, then spoon about 3 tablespoons of marinara sauce, sprinkle with some mozzarella cheese. Add 3 meatballs, 3 more tablespoons of marinara sauce, then more mozzarella cheese. Spread some more pesto over each top part of the ciabatta bun, before placing on top of the subs. You can place these in the oven for about 3 to 5 minutes at 400 F degrees until the sauce warms up and cheese melts.
- Serve immediately.
Can I Eat These Meatballs All On Their Own?
Of course you can! You could even hold onto a few to serve with some spaghetti and red sauce, believe me they’re just that good. I baked these meatballs, but not like I normally bake them. I put them in a casserole dish, then I poured about a cup of chicken broth on them, to keep them nice and moist. You’ll love these.
Invest In Quality Buns
If we’re going to go through all this trouble to make a quality sandwich, why would we skimp out on the bread? I used some nice ciabatta for this recipe that I picked up at the bakery so do yourself a favor and go that extra mile with this dish. You can even make your own following my recipe from the blog.
Toast Your Nuts
Your walnuts that is, before adding them to your pesto. Believe me toasting nuts before incorporating them into pesto will add an entirely new flavor profile to this dish, unlike any you’ve ever tried before. Just toast them up in a dry hot pan and be sure to keep an eye on them to prevent them from burning.
Storing Pesto
You can store the leftover pesto in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Storing Leftover Meatball Subs
To store any leftover meatball subs, place them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days. Before serving, place them on a baking sheet and bake them for about 5 minutes at 400 F degrees or until heated through.
More Must Try Recipes:
- Knockout Chicken Salad Sandwiches
- French Dip
- Leftover Turkey with Pistachio Pesto and Arugula Sandwich
- Loaded Chicken Salad Sandwiches with Guacamole
- Hawaiian Cola Turkey Sandwiches
- Meatball Parmesan
- Hawaiian Ham And Cheese Stromboli
- Meatball Sliders
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The Godfather Meatball Sub
Ingredients
For Meatballs
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 cups mozzarella cheese (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
For Pesto
- ½ cup walnuts (chopped)
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- 12 leaves basil
- ¼ cup olive oil
Other
- 1 cup chicken broth (low sodium)
- 1 cup marinara sauce (store bought)
- mozzarella cheese
- 6 ciabatta buns
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 F degrees.
- Add all the meatball ingredients to a large bowl and mix well, use your hands. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls (or as large as you wish) sticking a mozzarella cube in each meatball. You should get around 18 meatballs.
- Place the meatballs in a casserole dish, then pour the cup of chicken broth over them. This will keep them from going dry and keep them moist. Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the pesto. Add all the pesto ingredients (minus the olive oil) to a blender, and pulse for about 10 seconds, with the motor running pour in the olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified. You will not be using all this pesto, see notes for how to store leftovers.
- Cut the ciabatta buns in half crosswise then toast them only on the inside, not the crust side, on a grill or under the broiler until golden.
- To assemble the subs, spread some of the pesto on each bottom part of the bun, then spoon about 3 tablespoons of marinara sauce, sprinkle with some mozzarella cheese. Add 3 meatballs, 3 more tablespoons of marinara sauce, then more mozzarella cheese. Spread some more pesto over each top part of the ciabatta bun, before placing on top of the subs. You can place these in the oven for about 3 to 5 minutes at 400 F degrees until the sauce warms up and cheese melts.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- You can use any type of ground meat that you prefer- chicken, turkey, pork, beef. Feel free to combine as you wish.
- You can store the leftover pesto in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- To store any leftover meatball subs, place them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days. Before serving, place them on a baking sheet and bake them for about 5 minutes at 400 F degrees or until heated through.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Easily the best meatball recipe I’ve made yet. Delicious!
We’re so glad you loved it!
Love this recipe! Baking resulted in very flavorful meatballs! Great family and friends dish to make at the lake. Have also substituted store bought pesto on a few occasions.
Is there a good substitute for pesto as I can’t have nuts…
You make me hungry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interesting way of cooking the meatballs, never heard of it before, I definitely have to try it!
I know, this is the first time I made them like this, usually I just bake without the broth or fry them, but I was quite happy with the result. 🙂
Everything about these look amazing!
Joanna, do you think this would work with ground turkey or chicken meat?
Yes it would, you could mix the two if you wanted to!
Let’s just not even discuss “healthy,” OK? I’m sure if you sum up all the information out there, eating is an of itself not healthy. Instead, let’s just talk about the cheese-stuffed meatballs! Yeah!
LOL, I’m with you Jeff!
Oh my goodness! The cheese in the middle looks amazing! What a great sandwich!
Hope you try it Roxanna, it’s yummy!