Chicken Parmesan Meatball Casserole

For the marinara sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, basil, oregano, parsley, pepper and cheese. Rinse out the tomato can with a little water and add it to the pot of sauce. Cover and simmer over very low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

For the meatballs, preheat the oven to 450 F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg, breadcrumbs, milk, chopped parsley, minced garlic, onion powder, granulated garlic, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Stir until well mixed. Add the chicken and mix gently until all the ingredients are well combined.

Form the meatball mixture into forty-four 1″ meatballs. I use my small Pampered Chef cookie scoop for this—it makes the perfect size meatball with very little rolling. Also, the chicken mixture is very moist so dampening your hands will make it easier to roll the meat and not have it stick to your hands.

Place the meatballs on a broiler pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through and no longer pink in the center. An instant read thermometer should read 165 F. Remove the meatballs from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350 F.

Place the meatballs in a bowl and stir in some of the marinara sauce—just enough to coat the meatballs. Set the bowl aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some salt to the water, then stir in the pasta. Cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggests. Drain the pasta and return it to the cooking pot

Add the remaining marinara sauce to the pasta and stir until the pasta is evenly coated with sauce.

Place half of the pasta in a 13×9-inch baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Top the pasta with 22 meatballs, evenly spacing them over top. Sprinkle the meatballs and pasta with half of the mozzarella cheese and half of the Italian seasoning.

Top with the remaining pasta and the rest of the meatballs. Scrape any marinara sauce that is in the bottom of the bowl out and drop it onto the pasta and meatballs. Sprinkle the remaining half of the mozzarella cheese and Italian seasoning over top.

Place the baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet larger than the baking pan just in case something bubbles over. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until everything is heated through and the cheese is melted. Remove from oven.

Sprinkle the basil “ribbons” over the top of the casserole, if desired. Serve immediately. 8 servings.

Homemade Marinara Sauce adapted from Chef Steve Whiting, chef/instructor of Culinary Arts at Nashoba Regional Technical High School and casserole recipe slightly adapted from Buns in My Oven.

Note: One 24 ounce jar of marinara sauce can be substituted for homemade marinara sauce.