How to make meatballs without breadcrumbs that still taste good?

Long story short: I make Christmas Eve dinner for my family. We agreed years ago on it being a pasta dinner since that doesn’t clash with any other holiday meals. I found out a few months ago that I cannot tolerate gluten, and so I am still making a pasta dinner for everyone, but I need to take certain precautions so that I don’t have to cook an entirely separate meal for myself.

I need to make meatballs that do not contain breadcrumbs. I bought 5lbs of ground chuck, but I don’t really know much (anything?) about making meatballs. The internet is telling me that omitting the breadcrumbs will give me tough and dry meatballs. I just assumed it wouldn’t even matter if I left them out, and that letting them sit in and cook in the sauce would make them tender and flavorful. I guess that was a naive assumption?
Now I need to make all of this food for tomorrow and I am bordering on panic. If the meatballs suck then dinner is pretty much ruined. Any suggestions from the tidepool foodies?