Bread balls

09/15/2025

Today, together with our Cesarina Anna Maria from Matera, we’ll discover the importance of saving stale bread by preparing traditional Bread Balls.
Bread balls are a simple, inexpensive, and flavourful dish born from the traditions of Italian peasant cuisine (cucina povera). They were originally made to use up stale bread that might otherwise have gone to waste. Now as then, they represent true comfort food — a recipe rooted in the culture of not throwing anything away.

Preparing these bread balls today means embracing more sustainable and mindful habits, in line with the growing focus on reducing food waste.

Whether baked or fried, enriched with herbs, cheese, or vegetables, bread balls are like a warm hug for the palate. They’re the perfect recipe for taking real action against waste, without giving up the joy of good food.

"These are the same bread balls my aunt Tina, from Puglia, used to make every Sunday with meat sauce. I still remember arriving at my maternal grandparents' house, and the smell of fried polpette would hit me as soon as I opened the front door. Before Aunt Tina could even get them into the sauce, I had already eaten nearly half — hot, crispy, and straight from the pan."

Bread balls

A simple and tasty dish born from the need to waste nothing: bread balls tell the story of old-fashioned home cooking

DifficultyEasy

Preparation time30m

Cooking time10m

€

CostLow

Ingredients

300 g of Matera bread crumbs
200 g of grated pecorino cheese
100 g of grated Parmesan cheese
6 whole eggs
Lemon zest
Ground black pepper to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Finely chopped parsley (optional)

Method

For the brad balls:

In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs (do not soak them with any liquid—neither milk nor water—at least at this stage) with the whole eggs, one at a time, mixing well.
Add the grated cheeses and continue to stir.
If the mixture feels a little dry, add a tablespoon of milk, but only if necessary.
Grate the zest of one lemon into the mixture, then add a generous amount of nutmeg and ground black pepper, preferably a mix of peppercorns.
Scoop out the mixture with two spoons, shaping it into irregular forms, and place it in hot oil (olive oil or peanut oil).
Once the meatballs float to the surface and turn a nice golden color, remove them from the oil and let them drain on paper towels.
You can enjoy them hot as they are, or serve them with a dressing made from red and yellow cherry tomatoes.

For the dressing:

In a saucepan, sauté the chopped onion in oil.
Add 500 g of red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved.
Add a generous bunch of basil, salt, and half a glass of water.
Let it cook for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes have softened.
Turn off the heat and blend the mixture with an immersion blender until you get a creamy consistency.
Serve the meatballs on a plate and pour the dressing into a separate bowl. The best way to enjoy them is to "dip" the meatballs into the sauce.

Anna Maria

Food Waste: an urgent challenge for our future

Food waste is one of the most pressing issues of our time, with consequences not only on the economy but also on the environment. In fact, reducing waste is one of the key themes of Earth Day, celebrated every year on April 22.

At the heart of public debate for some time now, this issue has also gained international recognition: the United Nations included the reduction of global food waste among the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, aiming to halve it worldwide.

It is therefore essential to pay greater attention to this phenomenon and, whenever possible, avoid throwing away food that — with a little creativity — can be recovered and transformed into new, delicious dishes.

Discover more zero-waste recipes

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