With cheese and spices and a ricotta cheese topping, the LAVO One Pound Meatball is a MUST HAVE for any Italian meal!
LAVO One Pound Meatball is a visual showstopper for any meal. It also happens to be the best giant meatball you will ever eat.
Have you ever had the type of meal that sticks with you for years? About 3 years ago, I was in Las Vegas for my birthday and ate at LAVO in the Venetian Hotel.
Our party ordered a couple of the famous “LAVO ONE POUND MEATBALLS” as appetizers. I was instantly disappointed when they hit the table because I hadn’t ordered one as my entree.
The name is no joke. Yes, the LAVO One Pound Meatball is nothing but one pound of meat, some sauce, and a dollop of cool, fresh ricotta cheese. Pure heaven for this Italian girl.
That dish was seared into my memory. So much so that I had it written on my to-do list when I came across an article from FOX news with the exact recipe straight from the chef!
Here is what I learned from Chef John Deloach of LAVO New York’s about making the infamous LAVO One Pound Meatballs:
- Do not overwork the meat. Many cooks unintentionally overwork meatballs, meatloaf, and even hamburgers. Allow yourself to mix until just combined and then toss and pat to firm together instead of mixing and kneading.
- If the meat feels loose, add more breadcrumbs. Because of the massive size of this thing, you might need more than you’d usually add to hold it together.
- Since you can’t really slice one open, make sure you take the internal temperature to ensure the meatball is done. It should read 160 degrees.
I took the liberty of making a few changes to the original recipe for LAVO One Pound Meatballs. I hope you like them!
More delicious recipes:
LAVO One Pound Meatball Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground meatloaf mix (veal, pork, and beef)
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 cup fresh Italian bread no crust, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup dry Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup Romano cheese grated
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped, plus more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup yellow onion minced
- 4 large garlic cloves crushed
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil divided
- 4 cups of your favorite marinara sauce homemade or bottled
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
Instructions
- Soak fresh Italian bread cubes in milk for 10 minutes. Squeeze and drain milk, reserving the bread. Set aside.
- In a sauté pan, heat ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil. Saute down garlic and onions until soft. Season with fine sea salt and black pepper and set aside to cool.
- When onions and garlic are cool, squeeze out the excess liquid and combine with meat mixture and remaining ingredients except the additional virgin olive oil, marinara sauce, and ricotta cheese. Do not overwork mixture.
- Divide meat mixture into thirds. From each third, form meatballs into meatballs by tossing from hand to hand.
- Refrigerate meatballs for a minimum of one hour, but as much as overnight. This helps the flavors and meat to congeal.
- In an oven-safe sauté pan, brown meatballs in the remaining ½ extra virgin olive oil, rolling so all sides are browned. Remove from skillet to paper towel lined plate and discard extra fat and oil. Clean the skillet and return meatballs.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover meatballs with marinara sauce. Bring the skillet back up to a boil on your stove top and then immediately transfer to the hot oven. Continue to bake for 1 hour, or until centers reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. Top each meatball with ricotta cheese and freshly chopped parsley.
- Enjoy your GIANT LAVO One Pound Meatballs!
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
Wonderful!!!
That is one big looking meatball! My hubs would love if I made something like that for the family for dinner 🙂
totally digging this huge meatball! Thanks for the awesome ideas!
That is a huge meatball! I have never thought to make a 1 pound meatball- but I guess there is a time for everything, right?
Now that’s a big meatball! My husband would LOVE this!!
That is so HUGE! The flavors in it sound great so I’m sure it is delicious!
Oh, it does not disappoint!
Go big or go home. Awesome!
So true, Paula 🙂
Meatballs are my guilty please. A ONE POUND one?! Is it bad if I don’t want to share?
No worries- this recipe makes 3 one-pounders- so you can have a whole one all to yourself!
That is an amazing meatball! I would love to eat one right now. Thanks for sharing.
Holy moly! Those look amazing!
Can I have this with 1 lb of pasta too? This looks amazing!
If you can eat it, Christie, then surely!!!
This would probably get me some pretty big brownie points with the family. It’s huge!
It is pretty impressive when you set them on the table- even more brownie points when they bite in and realize that it is pretty amazing!
That is one serious meatball. You’ve got me seriously thinking about the ground turkey in my freezer. Maybe we can have a huge meatball with dinner tonight!?
Maybe! The only thing I would be careful is that turkey is healthier, but does not have as much fat- you might need to add more binder- egg and breadcrumbs- to make it stick together.
That’s by far the biggest meatball I have ever seen! Woah!!
There’s something here called a crab bomb and this makes me think of it! It’s this huge crab cake and so delicious. I think I could easily eat this huge meatball!
Where do you live, Kim? I’m in Baltimore (self-proclaimed home of the Crab Cake)- is it around here?
I love meatballs…the bigger the better, so this recipe is right up my alley. 🙂
Yummy! Love eating just meatballs anytime.
That looks so delicious! I love Italian food.