Try Maneet Chauhan’s Clever Hack for Perfect Meatballs

When my colleagues returned from the Food & Wine Classic in Charleston last month, they gave me the full debrief on what they’d learned (and tasted). After listening to dozens of chefs share their best advice, they were most excited to tell me about the gem of a tip celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan shared during one of her segments. What was the tip, you ask? How to get the perfect meatballs using a tool most of us already own: an ice cream scoop.  

As an Italian-American living in the great state of New Jersey, making meatballs was a rite of passage in my family. One of my favorite food memories is when I used to watch my dad scoop them from the bowl on a Sunday afternoon. He’d line up perfect succulent rounds one by one using an ice cream scoop — a tip chef Chauhan and I can clearly get behind. Even today, as a pescatarian, I still make my own vegetarian meatballs the same exact way with the same tool: a simple $18 scoop from OXO. 

OXO Large Stainless Steel Scoop 

While you can use a standard ice cream scoop with an open design, this OXO option will give you consistently even and round meatballs, which is important, according to Chauhan. This means they’ll cook evenly on the inside at the same rate, and they’ll brown more evenly on the outside, resulting in a much better final result. 

It’s all in the design: The scoop has a perfectly round cavity that fills up with your meatball mix. I find that scooping and scraping it on the side of the bowl or with a butter knife packs the mixture in just the right amount without creating a meatball that is too dense. You can form the meatballs into a complete round from there, which just involves a quick smoothing of the bottom where the scoop didn’t envelop the meat. I like to scoop all of them onto a sheet tray, then smooth them quickly one by one as I drop them into my pan. 

OXO Medium Stainless Steel Scoop 

Another extra-helpful perk? Because it’s designed to be used for ice cream or cookie dough, this scoop has a stainless steel wiper on the inside to help release ingredients easily. Thanks to this, I don’t struggle to get the entire meatball out in one piece, which makes the process faster and prevents me from overworking the mixture. The handle of the scoop is also very comfortable to hold and it doesn’t require much effort to push the wiper. 

Typically, meatballs have some fragrant ingredients in them like garlic or even spices, depending on the type of meatball you’re making. So, I love that this scoop is made from stainless steel, meaning it will not stain or absorb flavors over time.  It comes in three sizes: I use the large 3-tablespoon scoop most often, which makes a pretty standard-sized meatball. But I also own the medium 1.5-tablespoon scoop and the small 2-teaspoon scoop, which are helpful to have, too, especially if you want to make mini meatballs for soup or lasagna. 

OXO Small Stainless Steel Scoop 

One thing I will say is that these take a bit more effort to clean because of the wiper, but it’s well worth it. I like to rinse them in piping hot water, soak the scoop in hot soapy water, then use the handle to move the wiper in the soapy water, which really helps. I also use a flexible straw cleaner to get into tougher spots whenever I need to. Back when I was using them for meat before I became a pescatarian, I had two on hand for the sake of food safety.

With comfort cooking at the top of our minds this fall and winter, this nifty hack will come in handy. Think soups, stews, spaghetti and meatballs, and other types of meatballs like Swedish versions or rounded koftas…the list goes on. 

Shop More of My Essential Kitchen Tools: 

Earlywood Wooden Spatula 

OXO Bench Scraper 

GIR Silicone Spatula 

Escali Digital Scale