Small Batch Meatball Subs
Easy Meatball Subs is one of our favorite easy dinner meals made just for two! Juicy meatballs, a quick homemade sauce, toasty sandwich rolls, and two cheeses come together to make the best little homemade subs. Try them and find out!
One thing we love about these subs is that you can actually pick them up and eat them rather than using a fork and knife. The double toasting of the rolls gives them the strength they need to hold up as a handheld sandwich.
Are you making a casual dinner tonight? Here’s a reminder on how to set the table.
About Those Meatballs
These subs start with premade frozen meatballs which is the key to making them simply and quickly. If you have homemade frozen meatballs on hand, you can absolutely use those instead of the Costco brand.
If you’ve made homemade mega meatballs, you might want to adjust how many you use in the recipe. Big old meatballs can be cooked and cut in pieces to fit in the sandwich as needed.
Want vegetarian subs? Try using frozen vegetarian meatballs. Gardein and Impossible brand both make vegetarian meatballs. Gardein has never let me down in the past when I needed a good vegetarian meat sub. I don’t have any intel on the Impossible brand yet.
What You Need to Make Meatball Subs
When you’re meal planning, be sure to add these ingredients to your shopping list.
- frozen meatballs
- tomato sauce
- water
- Italian herbs
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- salt
- red pepper flakes (optional!)
- sugar
- shredded mozzarella cheese
- parmesan cheese
- sandwich rolls, mine were labeled as “outdoor” rolls, which, thinking about it now, seems weird, but they probably meant rolls for grilling outdoors…right?
How to Change Up These Subs
We already talked about the meatballs so you can change them up that way. If you want you can make little meatball sliders by subbing in that size of buns for the rolls. Preparation is similar, and also more fun to eat.
Change up the cheese! Use sliced provolone or sliced fresh mozzarella on top of the sandwiches instead of the shredded mozzarella cheese. And you can added fresh parmesan over the top of the sandwiches.
Make More
Do you want to make it for more than two subs? Toggle the 1X, 2X, and 3X switches on the recipe card, and it will automatically adjust the ingredient amount.
Got leftovers?
Store leftover subs in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Once reheated these sandwiches are really best eaten with a fork and a knife. The bread will get very soft, making it impossible to hold and eat.
Meatball Subs
Ingredients
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning dry herbs
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- pinch salt
- pinch sugar
- pinch red pepper flakes optional
- 2 TBSP water
- 10 frozen meatballs use any meatballs you like or have on hand
- 2 sandwich rolls
- 1/3 shredded mozzarella
- 1 TBSP grated parmesan
Instructions
- preheat the oven to 400°
- mix the tomato sauce with the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, sugar, red pepper flakes (optional) and water together in a small sauce pan
- place the saucepan over low heat
- add the meatballs to the pan, stir to combine
- cover and cook on low for 10-15 minutes or until the meatballs are hot through, don't let them burn, stir as needed
- open the sandwich rolls slightly and place them on the baking sheet
- toast them lightly in the preheated oven
- when toasty sprinkle a pinch of the shredded mozzarella in each roll and toast again just until melted
- when the meatballs are hot turn off the heat
- place 5 meatballs in each sub-roll
- spread the extra sauce on top of the meatballs
- sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese
- toast in the oven until melted
- sprinkle each with a pinch of parmesan
- serve hot
Notes
- If you want to use pasta sauce in place of the tomato sauce and the spices/herbs go ahead and do that. Do add the water because it helps loosen up the sauce and cooks off.
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