Martha Stewart Uses This Surprising Hack for Quick and Consistent Meatballs

There’s no question that spaghetti and meatballs are craved year-round. Martha Stewart, the queen of home cooking, has been making delicious meatballs for years, and her secret to producing a consistent size and texture every time may surprise you. In this clip from an old episode of her show, Stewart recommends using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop rather than your hands to shape meatballs without over-squeezing them. Grab her clever hack for just $16.

Gorilla Grip Ice Cream Scoop

This ice cream scoop is great for forming meatballs; its stainless steel head has a scraper that smoothly releases each scoop. Then, to finish it off, just roll the ball with your hands (or plop it straight into the pan if you really want a mess-free experience).

“If you make them too big, they might fall apart,” Stewart warned in the video. Over-squeeze them, and you’ll “get a tougher meatball,” she continued. This ice cream scoop is the perfect solution: Its 3-tablespoon capacity ensures you never make them too big or too small. “You don’t want it dense, you want it light and airy,” she said as she placed another meatball into a sizzling pan.

Amazon shoppers also love using this ice cream scoop for meatballs, with one happy buyer exclaiming that it “cuts time in half to form meatballs.” They also appreciated that “the mechanism works smoothly,” thanks to the scooper’s grippy handles that easily compress the built-in spring. The scoop has over 3,800 five-star ratings and can also be used to scoop cookie dough, melon balls, and — of course — ice cream. Best of all, the tool is dishwasher-safe for quick cleanup.

If our Marry Me meatballs recipe is on the docket for your next weeknight dinner, grab this Martha Stewart-approved ice cream scoop for a faster, more consistent way to make them. It’s a steal at $16.

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At the time of publishing, the price was $16.