When I heard about the movie “Nonnas” on Netflix, premiering on May 9, 2025 (ahead of Mother’s Day on May 11), I had to write about it. It’s inspired by the true story of a real restaurant in Staten Island that hires Italian grandmothers (nonnas) as well as grandmothers from other countries, to be the chefs at the restaurant. What appealed to me is the convergence of food and travel in New York, with authentic cuisine from Italy and all over the world. The producers were kind enough to share a recipe from Joe Manganiello, one of the stars of the movie which we made in our home and loved! I suggest making some of these recipes to enjoy while watching the movie. Maybe even share this recipe article with someone out of state (or out of the country) so you can simultaneously dine and watch. 

Save this family recipe for Joe Manganiello’s Sauce & Meatballs, provided by the movie Nonnas on Netflix. Photo courtesy of Canva. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

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Nonnas, debuting on May 9, 2025 on Netflix, is the story of a man who, after the loss of his mother, risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with a group of local grandmothers as the chefs. Nonnas stars Vince Vaughn, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro, Joe Manganiello, Drea de Matteo, Campbell Scott, Michael Rispoli, with Linda Cardellini and Susan Sarandon. It is written by Liz Maccie and is inspired by the life story of Jody Scaravella. To learn more about the movie, click HERE. To learn more about the restaurant, click HERE. Watch the video preview below the recipes.

Nonnas. (L-R) Joe Manganiello as Bruno and Vince Vaughn as Joe Scaravella in Nonnas. Cr. Netflix © 2025.

Hungry for more? Get Susan Sarandon’s Sun Dried Tomato Sauce recipe on our sister site.

In true Nonna style, some of the measurements below are inexact so I suggest erring on the side of “less” because you can always add “more.”

Joe Manganiello’s Sauce & Meatballs

Provided courtesy of the Netflix movie, Nonnas.

Meatball Ingredients:
2lbs ground meat (can be all beef or can be 1lb. beef and 1lb. pork)
1 dinner roll/slider roll-size of soft white bread in enough milk that it all gets wet but there’s not a lot of excess milk
2-3 large cloves of garlic, thinly-sliced lengthwise (or microplaned)
1 large shallot, minced
Leaves from 5-10 stalks of Italian Parsley, finely chopped
3 eggs
10 large basil leaves, chiffonade (optional)
Pecorino Romano grated cheese (wedges usually come in 7-8 oz portions… use half to 3⁄4 of the wedge)
Good amount of salt & black pepper

Meatball Directions:
Mix with your hands and incorporate everything well, don’t go crazy but make sure it’s all together.

Pull out a marble sized amount of the meat and cook in olive oil to taste if the seasoning is working. If it needs more salt, add more salt, more cheese, add more cheese, more pepper, etc.

In a large pot, heat up enough good extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom.

Roll the balls to your size preference, golf ball to plum sized is recommended.

Sear the balls in the olive oil… doesn’t have to be every square inch of the exterior (2 sides is fine), enough that the ball will keep its shape once you transfer into the sauce to finish their cooking.

Transfer the seared balls onto a plate or platter or sheet pan or whatever you’ve got and let them hang out until your sauce is ready.

Nonnas. (L-R) Susan Sarandon as Gia, Talia Shire as Teresa, Vince Vaughn as Joe Scaravella, Brenda Vaccaro as Antonella and Lorraine Bracco as Roberta in Nonnas. Cr. Jeong Park/Netflix © 2025.

Sauce Ingredients:
3-28oz/1lb. cans of canned tomatoes (Bianco Dinapoli whole tomatoes preferred) which you open before starting to cook.
½ tube of tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, diced small
6 garlic cloves, diced
3-4 fresh bay leaves – 3-4 (fresh bay leaves have a great flavor that only comes through when you use fresh leaves… dried pale in comparison)
Fresh Basil – 3-4 stalks plus chiffonade 20 or so leaves plus more chiffonade leaves to garnish.
10 shakes of dried oregano
5 shakes of dried thyme
5-10 shakes of dried red pepper flakes (depending on your heat tolerance)
Good amount of salt & black pepper
2-3 glugs of dry white or red wine (preferably Italian grapes)
Olive oil – depending on what’s left from cooking the meatballs, add enough back in tocoat the bottom

Sauce Directions:
In the same large pot that you seared your meatballs add in more olive oil if needed and start
getting it hot. (You want those cooked meatballs bits at the bottom and the cooked oil to help
flavor your sauce.)

Add in your diced onion and stir for a minute or so… add in some salt & pepper, red pepper
flake, dried oregano and thyme and stir again.

Add in your diced garlic, fresh bay leaves and the basil stalks and stir… let that all cook for
another minute… make sure the garlic doesn’t brown too much.

Squirt half a tube of tomato paste into the onions and garlic and stir… cook for 1-2 minutes.

Pour in 2-3 glugs of wine and stir and let simmer for a minute… there should be enough in the
mixture that it can reduce but not evaporate. The mixture should be wet but not too liquidity.

Pull out the basil stalks.

Open the cans of Bianco Dinapoli tomatoes and break up the whole tomatoes before adding
into the pot (do it over the pot with your hands if you’re comfortable with that or just pour them
into a big bowl and break them up in there and then pour into the pot).

Stir all that together well and let it come to a simmer.

Taste where you are and add some salt & pepper and the fresh chiffonade basil.

Once it’s simmered for 10-15 minutes add in the seared meatballs and let it all simmer for 15
minutes.

In salted water, boil your favorite pasta, make sure to pull it when it’s al dente (so a minute
under what the box is recommended).

Drain and then put it back in the pot you cooked it in and then ladle enough sauce into the pot
with the pasta to coat the noodles so they don’t stick and it absorbs the sauce.

Plate the pasta with the meatballs and more sauce and grated Pecorino Romano with some
chiffonade basil and some good extra virgin olive oil.

-Article by Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher & Managing Editor of Real Food Traveler

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