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5-Ingredient Dump-and-Bake Meatball Subs

For an easy 5-minute dinner in the oven or in the Crock Pot, just toss together these 5-Ingredient Dump-and-Bake Meatball Subs! Adjust the recipe to serve just one or two people...or make meatball subs for a crowd!
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Keyword meatball subs, meatball subs in crock pot, meatball subs in oven
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 4 subs
Calories 466kcal
Author Blair Lonergan

Ingredients

  • 10 ounces frozen or refrigerated, fully-cooked Italian meatballs (I used 20 meatballs total), thawed*
  • 1 cup marinara sauce plus extra for dipping
  • ½ cup grated provolone or mozzarella cheese
  • 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
  • 4 hoagie rolls split**

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  • While the oven heats, allow the thawed meatballs to sit on the counter and come to room temperature.
  • Place open hoagie rolls on a large rimmed baking sheet.
  • Toast rolls in the 425-degree oven for 2-3 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss together meatballs and marinara sauce.
  • Place meatballs and sauce on the bottom half of each hoagie roll. Top with shredded cheese and Parmesan.
  • Bake subs, uncovered, for approximately 3-5 minutes (or until meatballs are heated through, cheese is melted, and rolls are toasted).
  • Close subs and serve with additional marinara sauce for dipping.

Notes

*I used Rosina brand.
**For purposes of calculating the nutritional information, I used Arnold Italian rolls (which are 190 calories each).
CROCK POT METHOD:
Place a bag of meatballs and 1 jar of marinara sauce in a slow cooker. If you're using a Crock Pot, there's no need to thaw frozen meatballs before you dump them into the pot.
Cook meatballs in the sauce on LOW for 3-4 hours, or until meatballs are heated through. Assemble and bake meatball subs according to recipe instructions above.
COOK'S TIPS:
  • Use standard size frozen meatballs or bite-size frozen meatballs -- whatever you prefer.
  • Make a meatball hero with either turkey meatballs, beef meatballs, or meatballs that are made with beef, pork and veal.
  • Prepare the meatball subs in the oven or in the slow cooker -- both instructions are provided below.
  • Use homemade cooked meatballs if you have them! You can find my favorite recipe for homemade turkey meatballs HERE.
  • Pick your favorite cheese for topping! We like mozzarella, provolone, and/or Parmesan.
  • I should also note that the ingredient measurements are really just ballpark estimates. You can certainly add more sauce, more cheese, and more meatballs to get your meatball subs exactly how YOU like them!
  • You can adjust the ingredients to prepare just one sub (or more) at a time. The cooking instructions remain the same.

Nutrition

Serving: 1sub | Calories: 466kcal | Carbohydrates: 44.8g | Protein: 23.7g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 42.8mg | Sodium: 1234mg | Fiber: 2.3g | Sugar: 4.5g