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    Home » Recipes » Sandwiches

    Easy Baked Meatball Subs

    Published: May 23, 2020 · Modified: Jul 26, 2023 by Tiffany Dahle · This post may contain affiliate links.

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    The photo collage shows the baked meatball sub on a plate next to the photo of it on the baking sheet for the oven.

    Easy baked meatball sub sandwiches are a perfect quick dinner idea for a busy weeknight. Start with frozen Italian meatballs and add a jar of marinara. Once they're baked in the oven, the sub rolls get nice and crispy and you can make a big batch for a family-style dinner.

    A blue plate has a long baked meatball sub with tomato sauce and melted cheese.

    Do you make your own homemade meatballs? 

    I have a few different meatball recipes I love, but I still keep several bags of frozen meatballs in the freezer. They are such an easy dinner solution when you're caught in a pinch and need to get food ready fast.

    One of our family's favorite ways to enjoy them is to toss them in a jar of tomato sauce and pop them into a delicious roll to make down-and-dirty meatball subs.

    Fun Fact: This is one of the easy dinners I make during our annual family trip to the beach. Get all the details on the week of beach house recipes here.

    Jump to:
    • Why This is the Best Recipe
    • Ingredients
    • Frozen Meatballs or Homemade Meatballs?
    • How to Bake Meatball Sandwiches
    • Make Ahead Tips
    • Variations
    • Serving Suggestions
    • More Baked Sandwiches
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    Why This is the Best Recipe

    A warm sandwich is such a cozy family dinner idea but I think this is the best baked meatball sub recipe because:

    1. Fresh or Frozen Meatballs: You can use whichever you prefer! Beef, pork, or turkey meatballs all work great.
    2. Jarred Sauce or Homemade: You can use prepared marinara or mix up your own easy homemade marinara from a can of tomato sauce in seconds.
    3. Crispy Rolls: I love the texture of the sub rolls once they've been baked.
    4. Family Style Dinner: No fussing around with single sandwiches, bake an entire sheet pan of sub sandwiches all at once!

    Ingredients

    The ingredients to make the meatball subs are on the counter.

    There's lots of room to play with this recipe, the ingredients list is very simple but could be tweaked for your family quite easily:

    • Meatballs: You can use fresh or frozen. Beef, Turkey, Pork, Italian style or plain.
    • Tomato Sauce: I think marinara works great here. I love a good jarred sauce. You could use any flavor or brand your family loves or mix up a homemade marinara from canned tomato sauce in seconds.
    • Shredded Mozzarella: You could use shredded parmesan, a pizza cheese blend, Italian style blend, or even provolone slices.
    • Sub Sandwich Rolls: The BEST buns come from the bakery department and are 6 - 8 inches long. Can't find them? Use packaged hot dog buns or long rolls from the bread aisle.
    • Olive Oil

    Frozen Meatballs or Homemade Meatballs?

    When I'm in a hurry, I love to use a bag of frozen meatballs from the grocery store.

    They make this meal something that is perfect to cook with so little effort.

    However, if I'm feeling a little fancy and want the best tasting meatball sub, I'll start with my favorite homemade Italian meatballs in tomato sauce recipe.

    They don't take that long to roll together and could be prepped ahead of time and frozen for your own homemade frozen meatballs, too.

    • A skillet filled with meatballs and tomato sauce sprinkled with Italian herbs.
      Best Italian Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

    How to Bake Meatball Sandwiches

    Preheat the oven to 400°F.

    The secret to the BEST meatball sub sandwich is to start with browning the meatballs in a skillet.

    It may seem like a fussy extra step but if you use the frozen meatballs straight from the freezer, the centers will not get hot enough fast enough and your sandwich buns will burn. 

    If you want to heat the meatballs even faster, you can defrost the frozen meatballs in your fridge earlier in the morning so they take less time to brown up in the skillet.

    Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and let them cook and brown on all sides.

    The frozen meatballs have been browned in a large skillet.

    Add the marinara sauce and about 1 cup of water. Stir it all together and let it simmer until the sauce gets nice and bubbly and starts to thicken back up.

    The tomato sauce has been poured over the meatballs.

    Slice the long rolls and place them open face on a large baking sheet.

    The sub rolls have been split open and laid on a sheet pan.

    Once the meatballs are warmed through, spoon them into the open sandwich rolls.

    How many you can fit in each roll will depend on the kind you purchased.

    The meatball subs have been filled.

    Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top and bake the sandwiches for 8 - 10 minutes or until the bread is crispy and the cheese has melted completely.

    The meatball subs now have melted cheese over the top.

    Make Ahead Tips

    This is already a really quick recipe but if you wanted to shave off even more time from your diner prep you could consider:

    Browning the meatballs and tossing with sauce in advance. Store in a covered dish in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

    Simply reheat the mix in the microwave before spooning into the rolls.

    OR you could brown the meatballs in advance and add them with the sauce to a Crockpot.

    Put them on a keep warm setting for several hours. Then they'll be ready to add to the rolls and baked when you're ready to make dinner.

    Variations

    As I mentioned, there are so many easy ways to tweak this recipe for your family:

    Spicy Meatball Subs: Use a spicy arrabiata sauce instead of marinara or add crushed red pepper flakes to the marinara.

    Meatball Subs with Onions and Peppers: Add a chopped onion and bell pepper to the skillet and saute them before you add the tomato sauce.

    Creamy Meatball Subs: Use a creamy tomato sauce like a rosa sauce instead of plain tomato.

    Meatball Parm Sliders: You could make a bite-sized version of this sub recipe by using meatballs instead of chicken tenders in my chicken parm sliders recipe.

    Serving Suggestions

    The baked meatball sub is on a blue plate next to some potato chips.

    These easy sandwiches are such a big hit with my family. Every time I make them, I hear: "Why don't you make them MORE OFTEN??"

    We use them for simple family dinners with easy sides on busy nights.

    I recommend serving them with potato chips and dip. You could add some raw veggies and my dill dip, too.

    Or you could do a simple Caesar salad or Air Fryer green beans for a healthy side.

    Want an easy dessert that keeps with the Italian theme?? Don't miss my 10-minute cannoli dip with butter cookies for dipping.

    • A bowl of dill dip has a baby carrot dipping in it. Cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs are on the platter behind it.
      Dill Dip for Veggies
    • A salad spinner basket holds freshly washed lettuce leaves.
      Caesar Salad Dressing & 3 Variations
    • A white plate has a pile of freshly roasted green beans hot from the air fryer basket.
      Air Fryer Green Beans
    • A ruffled bowl of cannoli dip has mini chocolate chips and chopped pistachios on top. A waffle cookie is being dunked into it.
      Best Cannoli Dip

    More Baked Sandwiches

    If you love hot sandwiches as much as I do, don't miss these other easy oven baked sandwich recipes:

    • A white platter of mini slider sandwiches.
      Cuban Sliders {Easy Recipe for Kids}
    • An oven baked turkey burger sits on an open faced bun and is topped with fresh tomato slices, green arugula leaves, and a melted slice of cheese. Tater tots sit next to it for a side dish.
      Juicy Baked Turkey Burgers in the Oven
    • A filled baking pan of mini ham sliders with butter dripping off the top and a sprinkle of poppyseeds on each one.
      Gooey Hawaiian Roll Ham and Cheese Sliders
    • A white platter of chicken parm sliders shows the tomato sauce and melted cheese.
      Easy Chicken Parm Sliders

    📖 Recipe

    A blue plate has a long baked meatball sub with tomato sauce and melted cheese.

    Baked Meatball Subs

    5 from 46 votes
    This delicious and heart meatball sub recipe is perfect for a busy weeknight. You can have a hearty meal on the table in just minutes.
    TOTAL TIME 25 minutes minutes
    PREP TIME 15 minutes minutes
    COOK TIME 10 minutes minutes
    YIELD 8 sandwiches
    PIN RECIPE FOR LATER PRINT RECIPE NOW

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 (18 oz) pkg frozen Italian-style meatballs
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 1 (24 oz) jar prepared tomato sauce
    • 8 long sandwich rolls sliced in half only partway
    • 1 (8 oz) pkg shredded mozzarella

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 400°F.
    • In a large skillet, heat the meatballs and olive oil over medium-high heat until they are toasted and heated through. Stir and toss the meatballs so they brown on all sides. About 10 minutes.
    • Pour the jar of tomato sauce in with the meatballs and stir until just heated through.
    • Add 3-4 meatballs to each long roll and place them on a large cookie sheet. Top each roll with 1 - 2 tablespoon shredded mozzarella.
    • Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the bread is warm.
    COURSESandwiches
    CUISINEItalian-American
    AUTHORTiffany Dahle

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    The photo collage shows the baked meatball sub on a plate next to the sub on a baking sheet for the oven.

    More Sandwich Recipes

    • The baked turkey brie sandwich has been sliced in half so you can see the layers of turkey, apple, brie, and arugula.
      Turkey Brie Sandwich
    • A white platter has several of the chicken bacon ranch sliders with melted cheese and golden brown tops.
      Chicken Bacon Ranch Sliders
    • A pile of sausage and egg english muffin sandwiches are ready to be wrapped for the freezer.
      Frozen Breakfast Sandwiches
    • A white platter is filled with shredded chicken sliders with a pesto sauce.
      Pesto Chicken Sliders

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      Recipe Rating




    1. boxnovel

      July 10, 2020 at 2:20 am

      How to make a large tray of meatballs easy for family is simple and effective. I appreciate your doing this.

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. How to cook a week of easy vacation recipes at your beach rental - Don't Just Fly says:
      June 11, 2020 at 5:53 pm

      […] Get the baked meatball subs recipe here. […]

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Tiffany!
    I believe a great family recipe is one that makes everyone at the table happy, not just the kids. I'm the author of two bestselling cookbooks for kids that are chock full of recipes everyone in your family will love. I'm also the hostess of the best online book club for women.

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