Lightened Up Meatball Subs

Lightened Up Meatball Subs is lean homemade meatballs cooked in marinara sauce & topped with cheese are perfect between a sub roll! Weight Watchers friendly-10 SmartPoints!

Sometimes a girl craves a good meatball.  You have that craving sometimes too, right?  A good meatball goes great with spaghetti, on pizza, and as a sandwich of course!  My Lightened Up Meatball Subs are a fun and delicious way to enjoy healthy meatball subs at home.  Lean homemade beef meatballs cooked in a delicious marinara sauce and topped with cheese are perfect served between a hoagie roll!  This is a Weight Watchers friendly recipe and one sub is 10 SmartPoints.

A while back I posted a recipe for Meatball Stuffed Spaghetti Squash.  I got the inspiration to make that recipe because during football season my husband and I have an agreement that on Sundays, I would make him anything he wanted… that wasn’t Weight Watchers friendly.  We eat only Weight Watchers recipes during the week so the weekends are fair game for splurging a bit.  One particular football Sunday, my husband requested meatball subs.  I happily accepted the challenge and made him what he requested.

The week after that Sunday, I had a bunch of meatballs left over so I made Meatball Stuffed Spaghetti Squash because I had a particular craving for spaghetti and meatballs.  Spaghetti squash is such an interesting vegetable.  When cooked just right, it has the exact same texture as spaghetti noodles!!  Recently, I was remembering those amazing meatball subs and how good they were.  I knew there HAD to be a way to make those a bit more Weight Watchers friendly.  Meatball subs are a pretty hefty meal so it’s not often that I eat this type of sandwich.  This recipe is perfect if you are craving a meatball sub and want to stay within reason of your daily Weight Watchers SmartPoints!!

The meatballs in this recipe are so delicious and easy to make.  I like to make a huge batch and freeze the left overs for later!  In a large bowl, add lean ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, minced garlic, minced onion, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried parsley.

Mix all the ingredients until combined (be sure not to over mix!) and form into 20 balls.  Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

While the meatballs are kind of the star of the show, this recipe is even better because of the sauce.  While you can totally buy jarred marinara sauce, I always recommend making your own sauce.  Not only does it taste better, but making your own sauce allows you to know exactly what ingredients are in the sauce.  My Twenty Minute Marinara Sauce is packed with amazing flavor and it’s super easy to make.  While the meatballs are baking in the oven, make the sauce according to the instructions.

Once the meatballs have baked, add the meatballs to the marinara sauce and let cook for another 20 minutes.

To assemble the subs, cut a whole wheat sub or hoagie roll in half, scoop 4 meatballs with just a little bit of sauce onto the bottom half of the roll, and top with cheese.  Broil in the oven (or toaster oven) for about 2 minutes or so until the cheese melts!

Lightened Up Meatball Subs are a fun and delicious way to enjoy healthy meatballs at home.  Lean homemade beef meatballs cooked in a delicious marinara sauce and topped with cheese are perfect between a sub sandwich!  Great for a Friday night dinner in!  10 Weight Watchers SmartPoints for one sub!

I hope you enjoy these bites of flavor!

Serves 5, 1 Sub Per Serving

0

Lightened Up Meatball Subs

10 SMARTPOINTS per serving

5 minPrep Time

30 minCook Time

35 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 1 Cup Twenty Minute Marinara Sauce
• 4 Whole Wheat Sub Or Hoagie Rolls
• ½ Cup Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese
Meatball Ingredients:
• 1 Pound 95% Lean Ground Beef
• 1 Egg
• ½ Cup Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• ¼ Onion
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 2 Teaspoons Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 teaspoons Dried Parsley

Instructions

1. Make Twenty Minute Marinara Sauce according to instructions. Once the sauce is done, keep in a large pot on low heat. If you are not making that recipe, pour jarred marinara sauce into a big pot and heat over low heat.
Meatball Directions:
2. Mince garlic and chop onion. Add to large bowl.
3. To the bowl, add ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, parsley, and red pepper flakes.
4. Mix all ingredients and form into 20 meatballs.
5. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.
6. Add meatballs to marinara sauce and let cook for 20 minutes.
To assembly meatball subs:
7. Cut subs in half.
8. Scoop 4 meatballs onto sandwich and top with 1 ½ tablespoons cheese.
9. Place sub in toaster oven or oven and broil for 2 minutes until cheese melts.

Notes

Meatballs and sauce are freezer friendly!

Nutrition is based on the NEW Weight Watchers Freestyle Program guidelines. Nutrition calculated using Weight Watchers calculator.

NUTRITION: Serves 5- (10 SmartPoints Per Serving) CALORIES: 377 FAT: 8.8 SATURATED FAT: 3.3 CARBS: 43 FIBER: 9.6 SUGARS: 4 PROTEIN: 31.9

7.8.1.2

143

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