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| Just a tiny bit of sauce with these delicious meatballs! |
I have to say I am really enjoying the keto lifestyle. I feel amazing and I haven’t even been craving carbs all that much- it really makes me feel like I made the right choice. One of the best parts so far has been going back through my recipes and making them lower carb and more keto-friendly.
My meatballs are one of my favorite recipes and making a low-carb version was insanely easy. I adjusted my sauce recipe a bit too so that I could still slow cook them and the boyfriend would be able to make meatballs subs with some of the batch. I think the carbs in the little bit that attached itself to the meatballs is negligible (I figure it’s about 1.5g carbs for 1/8 cup of sauce). Of course, the sauce is totally optional. They are perfectly delicious on their own. If you do this, I would advice cooking them for a bit longer to be sure the meat is cooked through and skip the crock pot all together.
Meatballs:
1.5 lbs lean ground beef
.5 lb ground pork (I used plain sausage, but use the hot Italian blend if you want something a bit spicier)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the kind that comes in the plastic container is fine)
2 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 egg, beaten (substitute 1/4cup egg beaters if you wish)
2 tsp minced garlic
1.5 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Then, in a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients using your hands to thoroughly blend the mixture.
2. Form meat mixture into balls using your hands to roll into shape and placed on foil covered baking sheet(s). I used a cookie scoop to portion out each meatball and it really helped me keep the size uniform. I usually come out with exactly 24 meatballs but I lost my cookie scoop in a freak accident so I got closer to 30 because they weren’t equally portioned.
3. Bake meatballs for about 20-25 minutes so that the meat is brown and the juices are sealed inside. If you would prefer you can simply brown the meatballs on the stove top in a large skillet. It just seemed to be a bit more efficient for me to put everything in the oven for the purpose of browning the meatballs.
4. After removing the meatballs from the oven, use a slotted spoon or spatula to add the meatballs to the sauce in your crock pot. Give everything a stir and replace the lid. Again, you will be cooking the sauce and meatballs on LOW for about 6 hours total. Don’t forget to remove the bay leaf at the end!
Nutritional Information (per meatball):
95 calories
0g carbs
7g fat
7g protein
0g fiber
(Recipe makes approx. 24 meatballs)
Sauce:
1 cup Tomato Puree or Crushed Tomatoes
1 can Petite Diced Tomatoes (14.5oz)
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground thyme
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 small bay leaf (remove from sauce before serving)
1. (Optional) Using a bit of olive oil, saute onions for about 5 minutes on stove top until translucent. Then add minced garlic and cook for an additional minute. Be careful not to burn the onions or garlic or you will need to start over as that burnt taste will ruin everything in the crock pot. (Some people say cooking the onion and garlic ‘brings out the flavor’. I have skipped this step and added them to the sauce raw and honestly can’t tell the difference. So if you are pressed for time or just plain lazy, skip this step.)
2. Add all ingredients into crock pot and stir. You may want to coat the pot with cooking spray first to make cleanup easier.
3. Cook on LOW for about 6 hours, stirring occasionally if possible. When you stir, taste the sauce to see if the spice mixture works for you. Add spices if necessary. Keep in mind that after a couple of hours with the meatballs, the taste of the sauce will change- you may want to wait for that taste before adding more spice.
Nutritional Information (per 1/2 cup sauce):
33 calories
7g carbs
1g protein
1g fiber(Makes about 4 cups total)
