Unless I’m making meatballs for a party or get-together, I have leftovers. I mean who makes small batches of meatballs? Cause the thing about meatballs is that they’re usually better the next day. And this is coming from a person who doesn’t enjoy leftovers. Am I the only one who feels that way about leftovers? Because in most situations, the food isn’t going to be as good as it is freshly cooked. Exception: meatballs. So what are you to do with leftover meatballs? Well, you could just heat them up. Or you could make this Not Your Average Meatball Sub…
Typically when I make meatballs, I have them with pasta the first night and then make these subs the next day with the leftovers. Now, I could go out and just buy a nice package of sub rolls and call it a day. But I feel like that’s not worthy of these meatballs. These meatballs have sat overnight, flavors intensifying in their marinara. No, I’m going to do these meatballs justice. I’m going to serve them on homemade garlic Texas toast.
But first, you need meatballs before you get started on the toast. You could use just about any meatballs- leftover or fresh. Homemade or store-bought. Whatever you got. Of course, I’m partial to my meatballs. For the Not Your Average Meatball Sub recipe, I used my Secret Ingredient Meatballs. I’ll link them below…
And now that you’ve got the meatball portion taken care of, let’s start building the sub.
Let me show you how I made this Not Your Average Meatball Sub 👇🏻
For this meatball sub, we’re going to be making Texas toast garlic bread from scratch. You could buy the garlic bread at the grocery if you’re short on time (or energy), but believe me when I say that making it from scratch is soooo much better. And it is SO simple.
Start by preheating your oven to 375 and lining a baking sheet with foil. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup melted butter, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, and 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley. Stir everything together.
Lay 8 slices of Texas toast (you can find a loaf of Texas toast bread at any grocery) onto the baking sheet and brush the garlic butter onto both sides of the bread.
Bake the bread until it is golden and toasty, but still soft in the center, about 10-15 minutes. Flip the bread halfway through to ensure even toasting. Be careful not to burn in the last few minutes.
While the bread is toasting, warm your meatballs. They don’t need to be piping hot because they will cook in the oven with the garlic toast, but they need to at least be warm to give them a head start.
Slice the meatballs in half and place 2-3 meatballs onto one piece of garlic toast. Spoon some marinara over the meatballs and top the meatballs with some of the freshly shredded smoked mozzarella cheese (each sandwich should have about 1/4 cup). Sprinkle some of the cheese onto the top and bottom halves of the sub.
Note about Cheese: Now, you may have noticed that I suggested freshly shredded smoked mozzarella. I promise that I didn’t say that to be obnoxious. There’s actually two reasons… One that’s because you’re going to be hard-pressed to find SMOKED mozzarella that is pre-shredded for you. It’s probably going to come in a small block and you’ll have to shred it. And I really do recommend the smoked mozzarella. It gives the sub so much flavor. And second, freshly shredded cheese melts so much nicer than bagged, pre-shredded cheese. The reason being, that a block of cheese is going to have so much more moisture than pre-shredded. Once it’s shredded for you, it dries out a little. Or a lot depending on how old the bag is.
Repeat these steps until half of the garlic toast slices are topped with just cheese and the other half of the toast slices are topped with meatballs, marinara, and cheese.
Place the baking tray back into the oven and bake until the meatballs are hot and the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5-10 minutes.
Place the top half of the garlic toast onto the bottom half, slice it in half and admire it.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
Now enjoy!
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| Prep Time | 20 Minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 Minutes |
| Servings |
Servings
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- 8 Slices Texas Toast Bread
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, melted
- 2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 1/2 Tsp Dried Oregano
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley, chopped
- 8-12 Secret Ingredient Meatballs (and extra marinara) Or substitute with other meatballs
- 1 Cup Smoked Mozzarella, freshly shredded
Ingredients
For the Texas Toast Garlic Bread-
For the Sub-
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- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Lay the Texas toast slices onto the baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, salt, garlic powder, oregano, and parsley. Brush the garlic butter onto both sides of the bread and bake until the bread is golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Flip the bread half way through, be sure not to over-toast the bread (you still want it soft in the middle).
- Heat the meatballs up in a skillet or in the microwave. You don’t need them all the way hot, as they will cook in the oven on the bread as well, but you at least need them warm to give them a head start.
- Slice the meatballs in half and lay them on one side of the toast, about 2-3 meatballs depending on size. Spoon a little of the marinara over the meatballs as well.
- Sprinkle a little of the smoked mozzarella over top of the meatballs and some over the top half of the other piece of toast as well. Use about 1/4 cup of cheese per sub.
- Bake the meatballs (open-faced) for about another 10 minutes until the meatballs are hot and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Put the cheesy top half of the toast over top of the meatball half and slice in half and admire. Then enjoy!
Welcome to Cupcakes and Sarcasm! My name is Maggie and I am the creator of C & S. I am a wife and mom of two beautiful kiddos. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and now live in Northeast Ohio with my family. I have been cooking and baking since I was a kid. I decided in 2017 that I wanted to share my passion (and recipes) with all of you! On this site, you’ll find easy and delicious recipes- both savory and sweet. I’ll also sprinkle in some stories of parenting and our adventures along the way.
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