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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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In a large bowl, mix together the ground meat, eggs, seasonings and coconut flour until well combined.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Form meatballs about 1 1/2"- 2" in diameter. There will be about 40 meatballs.
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Bake on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
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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.
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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.
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Serve the meatballs over spaghetti squash.
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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.
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