Hearty… Saucy… Delicious… these are just a few of the words you could use to describe these keto Italian meatballs. Cooking them in a cast iron dutch oven really brought out a flavor meatballs cooked in an enamel or steel pot can’t compete with. They came out so juicy and imparted so much of the flavor on the marinara sauce. Adding flavor to the marinara was a good thing, but I’ll touch on that in a minute.
The entire time I was making these meatballs, all I could think about was that old alka seltzer commercial where the guy is sitting at his table trying to get his line right and eats several dozen spicy meatballs. So, I’m walking around the kitchen while they are simmering beginning every sentence with the phrase, “Mama Mia!”. Eventually this wore on Lauren’s nerves so she would respond, “Here I go Again” and burst into the rest of the musical number right there in the kitchen, and of course I had to join in too, so I put on an ABBA album. After these meatballs were serenaded while they simmered, I’m lucky they didn’t turn into Swedish meatballs, of course those would have been delicious as well.
To keep things simple I used a pre packaged marinara sauce and the hardest thing about this recipe was finding a keto friendly store bought marinara sauce. I searched for several minutes in the grocery store to find one with no added sugar and a low carb count with ingredients I could pronounce. It shouldn’t be that hard to find real food, but I finally found one that fit with what I was looking for. When I got home I popped the top off, and it was marinara sauce, but it really lacked flavor, and I’m grateful the meatballs added so much flavor to the sauce, or this one might have been a dud. Next time I’ll probably suck it up and whip up a big batch of keto marinara sauce from ibreatheimhungry.com or the low carb marinara sauce from the keto diet app.
Keto Meatballs
ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon each, salt and pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup onion, minced
- 2 tablespoons parsley, minced
- ¾ cup parmesan cheese, (½ cup in meatballs, ¼ cup as topping)
- 1 (25.5oz) jar marinara sauce, without added sugar
instructions:
How to cook Keto Meatballs
- Mix all the ingredients (except the sauce) in a large mixing bowl until combined. Form into meatballs
- Add the marinara to your dutch oven, followed by the meatballs. Allow to simmer on medium low for 1 hour
- Top with ¼ cup parmesan, a sprinkle of parsley and serve.
Calories
481
Fat (grams)
38
Net carbs
9
Protein (grams)
21
Can I do this in a skillet or do I need a deep dutch oven? Do you use a lid while it cooks?
Thanks!
The skillet would need to be a bit deep because of the sauce. No, no cover is needed because the steam created would make the sauce too watery. If splattering is a concern you can use a splatter screen.
I read that the recipe is for 6 servings, but how many meatballs does it make? How many is considered a "serving" according to the macros.
It depends on how big you make your meatballs, it’s really a personal preference. I made about 12 meatballs here which would be 2 per serving.
Mixed all the ingredients and ended up with a mix that did not look what i reckon it was not to look like, so its gone in the oven as a meatloaf. lol. Hope it tastes nice