Yesterday, I told you about my 20-lb purchase of ground beef, and what I did with it all. In the comments, I was asked how to keep them from sticking. There are a few tricks with meatballs, some of which really help with the sticking aspect. Here's how I make mine.
I use bread torn into small pieces, soaked in 1 beaten egg. I mash up the egg/bread, then add seasonings (for Italian, I add garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes and salt). I mix the seasoning/egg/bread with the ground meat, and knead it all together with my hands. (Not my favorite thing to do with raw meat, but it gets everything incorporated well.)
Working on a large sheet of waxed paper on the counter, I make 1-ounce meatballs. To decide how big to make each, I take the total ounces of the meat used, divide the meat into that many portions on the sheet of waxed paper, and form into balls. Keeping the balls uniform in size ensures even cooking of all meatballs. An easy way to do this is to pat out the meat mixture into a rectangle, about 1-inch thick. Then use a knife to cut the meat into equal squares (the number of squares being the number of ounces of meat you are using). Each square should be a 1-ounce portion of meat to form into a ball.
As I make the balls, I set them into pyrex baking dishes. I refrigerate all of the uncooked balls for at least 1 hour. Refrigeration does two things. It allows the flavors of the seasonings to develop. And it firms up the balls, so when baked or cooked in a skillet, there isn't too much flattening of the underside. A lot of flattening of the underside means a lot of surface contact with the baking sheet, which in turn leads to more surface which can stick.
While the balls are chilling, I grease an insulated jelly roll pan (I use butter, but any solid fat will work). A jelly roll pan is a large baking sheet with raised edges all around. Using an insulated baking sheet prevents over-caramelization on the bottoms, which lessens sticking. And greasing the baking sheet helps the balls release from the pan.
I preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
After the balls have chilled, I transfer all of them to the greased baking jelly roll pan. I bake for about 20 minutes, and check for all over browning and clear juices. If you have an instant-read meat thermometer, the internal temp of the balls should be about 160 degrees F.
After taking the baking sheet from the oven, I prop up one long end, and pile all of the meatballs along the high end, to drain excess fat.
Next, I wrap a clean baking sheet in plastic wrap. After the meatballs have cooled and drained for about 10 minutes, I transfer each ball to the plastic-lined tray/baking sheet. (Silpat would also work for freezing.) I freeze for about 30 minutes, then transfer all to a zippered bag. Freezing separately prevents the balls from glomming onto one another in the freezer, and I can use however many I want at a time, with ease.
So, that's how I make meatballs and keep them from sticking to the baking sheet.
If you regularly bake with a silpat or parchment, you could also bake meatballs on pans lined with either of those.
