Spanish meatballs in tomato sauce

I love a good meatball. And these Spanish meatballs in tomato sauce are the latest iteration of my obsession. Meatballs are such an easy thing to make a big batch of and freeze. Read on for how you can store and serve these in all sorts of ways for midweek dinners and fancier dinners with friends.

You can take meatballs in any flavour direction really (here’s a previous, equally good meatball recipe I shared a while back) but the ones I’m sharing today are decidedly Spanish. If you’ve had albondigas when you’ve eaten tapas you’ll have an inkling of the way these are going. Those of you who follow my recipes and classes will know I’m a sucker for smoked paprika. It crops up in lots of my recipes as it is a quick way to get subtle smokey heat into things.

I use rice cakes in my spanish meatballs, not only does that make them gluten free – handy if you’re feeding a crowd – but it also acts as a brilliant way to get the flavour and moisture of the seasonings into the meatballs. As the meat cooks the rice cakes suck up the juices, holding them within the meatballs rather than them disappearing into the pan.