This Is Ree Drummond's Secret For Perfect Meatballs

Ree Drummond, creator of cooking blog The Pioneer Woman, has been offering up cooking tips and techniques, as well as her trademark humor, for years. She shares modern twists on classic recipes on her blog, as well as on her aptly titled Food Network show, "The Pioneer Woman."

Whether Drummond is explaining how to make your own mozzarella sticks or how to perfect homemade meatballs, she loves to share what she's learned in the kitchen so fans can have better recipe results. Drummond's accessible, easy-to-follow recipes have garnered her countless fans who can't get enough of her cooking suggestions.

Making meatballs may seem simple enough, but it's not exactly a straight shot. That's why Drummond offers up her secret for ensuring your meatballs come out just right. Drummond's secret meatball trick involves an ingredient that's probably already a part of your meatball recipe — but are you using enough of it?

If you've tried your hand at making homemade meatballs, you may have discovered that they aren't as straightforward as they seem. Ree Drummond explained her secret to the perfect meatballs during a 2017 LiveSigning video to promote one of her cookbooks. "So, I think the secret to good meatloaf, or meatballs, or anything in that category, is to add plenty of bread filler," she said. 

Drummond has a specific kind of bread in mind, too. "When I make meatloaf, I literally use white Wonder Bread. And I know that sounds crazy, but it has such an amazing, oh, I don't know, Wonder Bread taste to it," she added in the LiveSigning video. "I think the biggest mistake you can make is not adding enough bread relative to the amount of meat that you use. So, really throw it in there." Drummond added that she uses eight slices of bread for every two-and-a-half pounds of ground beef in her meatloaf. She didn't share a specific amount of bread for meatballs, but her All-Purpose Meatballs Recipe (via Food Network) calls for one-and-a-half cups of breadcrumbs for five pounds of ground beef.

Now that you have Drummond's secret for making the perfect meatballs, you might have a new favorite recipe to make each week.