Cozy Spaghetti & Meatballs Bar
One recipe—endless ways to enjoy!
- Milk
- Wheat
Get ready to make everyone at the table as happy as can be with a spread of spaghetti, meatballs, and two sauces: marinara and creamy garlic, plus green peas, roasted zucchini, and plenty of Parmesan. Boom—everyone makes their own perfect plate. Order broccoli for more veggies, or add baguettes to make (and be!) a saucy meatball hero!
Ingredients
1 unit
Veggie Stock Concentrate
1 unit
Zucchini
8 ounce
Broccoli
4 ounce
Peas
4 ounce
Cream Sauce Base
(Contains: Milk)
½ tablespoon
Italian Seasoning
3 tablespoon
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
¼ cup
Panko Breadcrumbs
(Contains: Wheat)
10 ounce
Ground Beef
6 ounce
Spaghetti
(Contains: Wheat)
½ teaspoon
Garlic Powder
5 ounce
Marinara Sauce
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Olive Oil
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Adjust rack to top position (top and middle positions for 4 servings) and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and dry produce. • Trim and halve zucchini lengthwise; slice crosswise into 1⁄2-inch-thick half-moons. TIP: If you added any other items to your meal (apps, sides, and/or dessert), you can get started on them now!
Adjust rack to top and middle positions. Cut broccoli into bite-size pieces if necessary. Toss on a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper. Roast on middle rack until browned and tender, 15-20 minutes.
• Toss zucchini on one side of a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper (for 4 servings, spread zucchini out across entire sheet).
Use a second baking sheet here.
• In a medium bowl, combine beef*, panko, half the Italian Seasoning, 1 TBSP water, salt (we used 1⁄2 tsp; 1 tsp for 4 servings), and pepper (all the Italian Seasoning and 2 TBSP water for 4). Form into 10-12 11⁄2-inch meatballs (20-24 meatballs for 4). • Arrange meatballs on opposite side of baking sheet from zucchini (spread meatballs out across a second sheet for 4). Roast on top rack until zucchini is browned and tender and meatballs are cooked through, 14-16 minutes (For 4, roast on top and middle racks, swapping rack positions halfway through.)
• Once water is boiling, add spaghetti to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. • Drain spaghetti; transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with a drizzle of olive oil. Cover to keep warm.
• Meanwhile, in a small microwave-safe bowl (medium bowl for 4 servings), combine marinara, stock concentrate, and 2 TBSP water (4 TBSP for 4). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave until warmed through, 2-3 minutes. • In a separate small microwave-safe bowl (medium bowl for 4), whisk together cream sauce base, half the garlic powder, and 1 TBSP water (all the garlic powder and 2 TBSP water for 4). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave until warmed through, 2-3 minutes.
• Place peas in a third small microwave-safe bowl; season with salt and pepper. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave until warmed through, 1-2 minutes.
Halve baguette lengthwise (stopping before you get all the way through) and toast on top rack until golden.
• Carefully uncover red sauce, creamy garlic sauce, and peas (watch out for steam!). • Serve family style with spaghetti, zucchini, meatballs, and Parmesan.
Serve broccoli alongside spaghetti and meatballs bar.
Halve toasted baguette widthwise; serve alongside spaghetti and meatballs bar.
Ground Beef is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 160°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Feb 2026- Flavor: Many enjoyed the variety, with some preferring the creamy garlic sauce over marinara. A few found both sauces bland or lacking flavor.
- Ease of prep: Simple to make, though some noted more work than expected. Microwaving sauces caused splattering issues for several customers.
- Suggestions: Consider pan-frying meatballs for better texture. Try mixing sauces together for a delicious combo, or add extra seasonings to boost flavor 🍲.
- Portions: Several felt sauce quantities were insufficient. A few mentioned not enough pasta for two servings.
- Meatballs: Some found meatballs dry or bland; adding more moisture or seasoning could improve them.
Reviews from our home cooks
Pasta bar like normal just with extra sides (which were yummy). Meatballs turned out overdone because I was sharing a pan like instructed but my zucchini just would not complete like the photo. Willing to try again and hopeful this time when I get to the serving part everything will be warm because last time half my meal was cold. But everything tasted amazing, even if I had to microwave for 30sec.
My family and I loved this idea! Gave us options if we wanted one or the other or both! The meatballs and sauce were our favorite part, as the flavor was outstanding!
This was great and a lot of fun to make. I enjoyed the different sauces for the spaghetti. And the garlic bread was very good.
Great family meal with different choices for picky eaters. The Alfredo needs to be thicker, it was extremely runny.
Meatballs were dry but the white sauce was amazing
This was such a nice surprise! The flavors were delicious and I would get this again in a heartbeat! So simple, but so GOOD!
This is the first "Build a plate" meal we've ordered from Hello Fresh, and I'm not sure the concept works for just 2 people. My kid just ate the spaghetti with the garlic cream sauce and peas, none of the other items including the meatballs. I tried to create 2 little portions, 1 with cream sauce, 1 with marinara, both with meatballs and zucchini, but only wound up being able to eat the better part of one. So I have lots of leftovers. We've got the grilled cheese "build a plate" meal coming up in a few weeks, so we'll see how it goes.
I like this meal and the variety it offers. I like how HelloFresh is experimenting a little bit with allowing more choice in their meals.
Not a fan of the 'Alfredo' sauce. Needs something to add taste besides just garlic powder. Marinara was very good.
I like the cream based sauce and my family likes the marinara so we all win
