Paleo Italian Meatballs are a mixture of ground beef and ground turkey with Italian seasonings, all smothered in a homemade marinara sauce. Made grain free, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free.
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Paleo Italian Meatballs
Meatballs are the ultimate comfort food in our family. We’ve already shared with you our gooey cheese-stuffed meatballs. And our grandma’s tangy, chili sauce meatballs. And don’t forget our classic meatball recipe that I the kids go crazy for. Today, however, I’m sharing with you healthy, paleo Italian meatballs. So you can have a little bit of healthy and happy together. The best of both worlds.
Beef and Turkey Meatballs
You might wonder how a paleo meatball would need a recipe. Just roll some ground beef or ground turkey in a ball shape and cook it in sauce, right? That would certainly be one way to do it. The meatball recipe I’m sharing with you today is a little more special than just plain meat. It’s actually a combination of ground beef and ground turkey. You can use all beef, or all turkey, if you’d like. Changing the meat will change the flavor just a bit, but use whatever kind of ground meat is your favorite. For meatballs, our favorite is a combination of turkey and beef.
Meatballs with Coconut Flour
These meatballs are full of Italian seasonings that you most likely have on hand in your pantry. Then there’s just a bit of egg and coconut flour mixed in to help them keep their shape.
How to Cook Meatballs
As far as cooking the meatballs, there’s two ways you can do it. Normally, we like to cook meatballs in the oven at a temperature of 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Then we put the meatballs in a slow cooker along with some homemade marinara sauce and let them simmer all day long.
The day we made these meatballs, our oven happened to be broken so we cooked the meatballs in a frying pan over medium heat and turned them to brown on all sides. After letting them cook most of the way through (about 15-20 minutes), we added our marinara sauce and allowed them to simmer in the sauce for another 15-20 minutes or so til they were no longer pink inside. Actually, you can let them simmer in that marinara sauce in a covered pan on low heat for longer if you’d like. It just makes them all the more yummy.
Both cooking methods yield great results.
Whole30 Freezer Meatballs
One thing we love about these meatballs are that they freeze well. Make up the meatballs and bake them, then freeze the fully cooked meatballs. Pull them out when you are in need of a healthy slow cooker meal. All you’ll do is add them to the crock pot in the morning, along with your favorite sauce. You’ll come home to a nice, hot comfort meal!
Paleo Italian Meatballs {Healthy Freezer Meal with Slow Cooker Option}
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 3/4 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried minced onions
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 6 cups Spaghetti Sauce
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground meat, eggs, seasonings and coconut flour until well combined.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Form meatballs about 1 1/2"- 2" in diameter. There will be about 40 meatballs.
- Bake on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Pour the spaghetti sauce in a large saucepan and set it to medium heat. Add the meatballs. Heat the sauce through and allow the meatballs to simmer in the sauce for 20 minutes.
- You can also place the sauce and meatballs in a slow cooker set to low and allow them to simmer for 6-8 hours. This is our favorite way to prepare the meatballs.
- Serve the meatballs over spaghetti squash.
- If you don't need all the meatballs at once, you can allow the meatballs to cool and freeze them in ziploc bags.
If you'd like, you can cook these meatballs in a large frying pan on the stovetop over medium heat. Turn the meatballs and brown them on all sides. Cook for 15-20 minutes until they are thoroughly cooked and no longer pink inside. Add the spaghetti sauce directly to the saucepan and allow them to simmer for 20 minutes.
Liz says
Thank you for the nice recipe.
Twana Denton says
Any idea the nutritional breakdown of this recipe?
Lisa @ Cooking with Curls says
Wow those look delicious!! They are going on the list of things to make for dinner next week. 🙂
Jessica Ponce says
are these reccomended for children? not spicy?
Lizzy T says
Yes, Jessical, my three children love them and don’t think they’re spicy. If you’d like to play it safe, you can leave out the red pepper flakes completely.
haley @Cupcakes and Sunshine.com says
these sound great!!!
twowheeledsmurf says
How do I rate a great ‘healthy’ recipe? The fact that my wife ate it all without questioning or complaining how healthy I made something :-). She loves her pasta so when I suggested paleo meatballs and sauce over spaghetti squash, she was a bit skeptical. It all turned out amazing and I had to have seconds. So full…. so good. She loved it too and would eat it again. Excellent.
I did season the squash with salt and garlic powder prior to placing in oven. Sauce was easy and tastes so much better than the sugary premade sauces. Good work!
TWS.
Lizzy T says
Thank you! You are so right…it’s a meal that the whole family can eat with no complaints. 🙂 Thanks for the feedback!
Joy says
I do not have coconut flour, could I substitute almond flour?
Lizzy T says
Yes, you can!
Zina Bose says
Made these with almond flour and they came out perfectly! I ended up simmering them for longer just because I wasn’t ready to serve dinner and I think it only improved them
Lizzy T says
I agree, Zina! They’re great when they are simmered. We made them last week and put them in the crockpot with sauce. Let them simmer all day and they were amazing! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Zina Bosez says
I found this recipe two or so months ago and just love it. I use almond flour instead of coconut flour and only 1 lb of sirloin (only because I dont need so many meatballs). It’s a great recipe and my husband and I both really love it. I’ve made it several times now and soo pleased every time. It’s also super easy!
Zina Bosez says
Just realized that I already commented. That’s how much I love these!
Lizzy T says
I’m glad you’re loving them! 🙂
Desiree says
Thank you for this!! It is so good that I’ve already shared it with a few friends. Do you happen to know the nutritional content for it? Thanks again!!
Lizzy T says
Sorry, I don’t have the nutritional content. I’m glad you loved it!
Molly says
These meatballs were FANTASTIC!! I have a sensitivity to coconut so I substituted 1 1/2 cups of almond flour for the coconut flour and they turned out perfect!
Julie Clark says
Awesome! Thanks, Molly!! And good to know about the flour substitute.
Hannah says
Great recipe! Just got home from the grocery store with all the ingredients! Making this tonight!
Julie Clark says
Mmmm…!! This is on my list to make over Christmas. 🙂
Andrea says
Should I use fresh or dried basil? The recipe doesn’t specify.
Julie Clark says
I used dried basil.
Michelle says
Are these still paleo when you add the sauce? Most sauces and canned tomotaes have a lot is sugar.
Julie Clark says
You’ll have to find a complaint sauce or make your own sauce. Here’s our favorite sauce: http://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/2013/08/02/healthy-homemade-spaghetti-sauce/
Anonymous says
If I’m putting them in the slow cooker do I still need to bake them first?
Julie Clark says
Yes, still bake them. Then you can easily drain the fat.
Kristen says
Thank you for the recipe. I plan to make the meatballs this week, and want to make the sauce that the meatballs cook in. The link to the marinara sauce goes to a spaghetti sauce recipe that has 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef in it. Do you use the meat in the sauce when you are adding the meatballs?
Julie Clark says
I’ve done both, but generally I’d leave the meat out if I am putting it over meatballs. 🙂