Meatball Ragù over Parmesan Polenta
Elevated Dinners, Impressively Easy
- Eggs
- Milk
- Wheat
Nonna always said there was nothing like homemade meatballs, but we have to say it: these come very close. Thanks to a few clever tricks from our chefs, you’ll enjoy tender pan-seared cooked meatballs simmered in a savory tomato ragú with fresh spinach, all spooned over creamy Parmesan-swirled polenta—in just 15 minutes. And we can attest that it tastes like you spent all day making it.
Ingredients
1 unit
Tomato Paste
1 unit
Precooked Polenta
5 ounce
Spinach
8 ounce
Fully Cooked Beef Meatballs
(Contains: Eggs, Milk, Wheat)
4 ounce
Cream Sauce Base
(Contains: Milk)
1 tablespoon
Italian Seasoning
3 tablespoon
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Tomato
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
5 ounce
Marinara Sauce
Not included in your delivery
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Olive Oil
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Dice tomato.
• Drizzle oil in a hot pan. Add meatballs; cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides and warmed through, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. TIP: While meatballs cook, start polenta. • To same pan, add marinara, diced tomato, tomato paste, garlic powder, ¾ cup water, ½ tsp Italian Seasoning, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper (1½ cups water, 1 tsp Italian Seasoning, and a large drizzle of olive oil for 4). (Be sure to measure the Italian seasoning; we sent more!) Stir to combine. • Stir spinach into pan with sauce; cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted, 1-2 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. (TIP: Add splashes of water if sauce is too thick or spinach needs help wilting.) Remove from heat.
• In a pot, mix polenta and ¼ cup water (1⁄3 cup for 4); heat over medium heat. Mash with a potato masher until mostly smooth. • Stir in cheese, half the cream sauce base (all for 4), and 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4); cook, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and polenta is combined, 1 minute (precooked polenta is ready in a flash!). • Season with salt and pepper to taste. TIP: As the polenta cools, it will start to thicken. Add a splash of water and give the polenta a stir before serving if needed.
• Stir meatballs into pan with sauce. • Top Parmesan polenta with meatballs and sauce. Serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the creamy polenta and savory sauce, though some found the premade meatballs bland or tough.
- Ease of prep: Quick and simple to make, but meatball packaging was difficult to open for many.
- Suggestions: Consider reducing water in sauce for thicker consistency; try adding extra herbs or cheese for more flavor.
- Portions: Some wanted more polenta or meatballs; others felt the sauce-to-polenta ratio was off.
- Texture: A few found the polenta grainy or soupy; meatballs were described as dense by some.
Reviews from our home cooks
A full no stress meal. Polenta was easy to do for my first try, and delicious. Meatballs were also easily warmed and great with the simply made but well flavored sauce.
Delicious and will become a regular favorite. Would recommend not adding the full 3/4 cup of water to the meatball sauce- it didn't cook down enough and the sauce was really watery. But the polenta was amazing and we loved the spinach.
I could have cut back on the spinach and added one other tomato. But overall, I loved the flavor, and it was super easy. The polenta with the red sauce was terrific, and the spinach was an excellent filler. So far, I have not been able to complete any of the recipes in the time allotted on the cards.
This recipe was so good! The flavors were outstanding. I will definitely purchase this one again. It was very easy to make especially because the meatballs were already made.
I hadn't made polenta before, & I hadn't seen this recipe on HF before, so it was fun to do something new. The protein/starch/veggie ratio was on point here too.
This was absolutely amazing. It was super easy to prepare and I loved that the meatballs were sent already formed. It was very yummy. I wish it was automatically paired with some garlic bread!!
The polenta was rich and flavorful! I did use the whole cream sauce base and an extra tablespoon of butter though. Highly recommend!
Please replace my blood with the cheese polenta, thank you. Honestly this is one my absolute favorites, extremely easy and quick to make. Super tasty.
This meal tasted really good but the cooking was annoying. The packaging on the cooked meatballs is terrible - each meatball was sealed individually and had to be opened individually. It's also MUCH easier to cook down the polenta if you cut it into cubes before putting it into hot water. Otherwise, we really liked this and would probably order again.
Perfect dish for cold weather, quick and easy, but definitely needed way more polenta
