Meatballs for party

[Anonymous]

Hi, We are having about 30 guests, several kids though, I want to make ziti and meatballs in a crock pot and get rolls, should I bake the meatballs in the oven first or fry them? Recipe? How many lbs of beef do I need and where should I get it, especially the rolls?

[Anonymous]

For 30 guests, I would just buy frozen meatballs, put them in the crockpot with your sauce, and set it on low for several hours. It will be so much easier Thames making that many meatballs yourself. Costco has good frozen meatballs that I've used for large parties before - have done them with traditional marinara & with BBQ and they were a hit both ways.

[Anonymous]

Thames?! I wrote "than.". Stupid autocorrect!

[Anonymous]

Yes to the Costco frozen meatballs. They are good. However, 30people need more than a crock pot full of meatballs and sauce. I would borrow a big vat-sized pot, throw the meatballs, minced garlic, parsley, and basil in with the sauce, cook for a few hours, then put it in big steamer trays with foil pans for the party with Sterno underneath. Some browned Italian sausage thrown into the pot with the meatballs will help with flavor.

[Anonymous]

NP here:I was thinking of using the frozen meatballs as well. Can anyone recommend a good sauce for the mini meatballs?

[Anonymous]

jelly and heintz 57 chilli sauce. (do a google search for that on this forum)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:jelly and heintz 57 chilli sauce. (do a google search for that on this forum)

FYI -- this is really gross. I suggest you try it before making it for a party. I recently tried it for my family and none of us liked it.

[Anonymous]

1. cranberry sauce and bbq sauce
2. chili sauce and grape jelly
3. cranberry sauce and tomato/marinara sauce

I make the meatballs with ground beef, eggs and breadcrumbs and then bake them, covered, for 2 hrs. Refridgerate and all the fat will rise to the top and you can scoop it off so they arent greasy.

You need a lot of meatballs for 30 adults. We just had a dinner for 22 and used 4.5 lbs of meat and 3.5 lbs of chicken with lots of side dishes and everything was gone.

[Anonymous]

Costco frozen meatballs are gross. You can do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:jelly and heintz 57 chilli sauce. (do a google search for that on this forum)

FYI -- this is really gross. I suggest you try it before making it for a party. I recently tried it for my family and none of us liked it.

yes, you should try it, but I have made this many times before and it is always a hit. Sounds gross, but tastes good!