Ina Garten's Secret Ingredient For Flavor-Packed Meatballs

Meatballs may be most commonly associated with spaghetti, but there are plenty of other ways to enjoy this homey dish. You could stack them on a meatball sub, or toss them into Italian wedding soup (which has a different origin than you may think). However you enjoy meatballs, make sure to elevate the experience by using a secret salty ingredient. For next-level meatballs that will shine in any dish you add them to, make them with a bit of prosciutto.

This tip comes courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten. She uses ground turkey for her meatball recipe, but you can use pork, chicken, or beef instead. You don't need a lot of prosciutto to transform the recipe, just enough to be evenly dispersed throughout the rest of the ground meat. If you have two and a half pounds of ground meat, for example, four ounces of prosciutto should be plenty to make a difference. To incorporate the prosciutto, simply mix it in with the rest of the ingredients before forming the meatballs, and continue the recipe as normal. If you want to further improve your dish, be sure to avoid this common mistake so you don't ruin your meatballs.

Prosciutto is an Italian cured meat made by salting, seasoning, and dry-aging ham over a long period of time. It's usually sliced very thinly, has a salty yet balanced and complex flavor, and can be used to put a twist on classic bacon and eggs. As part of a meatballs recipe, prosciutto provides moisture to the rest of the meat so it doesn't dry out as it might otherwise. As a bonus, if you opt for prosciutto that has been heavily pre-seasoned with different herbs and spices, your meatballs get the benefit of that extra flavor boost.

The downside of prosciutto is that it contains a lot of salt that can overwhelm the meatballs, but this can be easily avoided by simply adding less salt to your usual recipe. These umami-packed meatballs are delicious as is, but if you want to capitalize on prosciutto's Italian flavors, add Italian sausage or an Italian cheese like parmesan or pecorino romano to the meatball mix. When you're done cooking, take a page from Ina Garten's book and serve the prosciutto meatballs with pasta, bread, or anything else that can use a perfectly seasoned, wonderfully moist serving of protein.