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The Best Homemade Keto Meatballs

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These homemade Italian keto meatballs are incredibly simple to prepare and the perfect pairing for a keto spaghetti dinner. These zero carb keto meatballs are also perfect for stocking your freezer. If you’re missing spaghetti and meatballs on keto, you’re going to love this easy 30 minute recipe.

An easy homemade Italian keto meatballs recipe. Zero carbs, common ingredients, and freezer friendly. A perfect pairing for low carb noodles and marinara.

This recipe was originally published on April 3, 2018.

A common complaint, or gripe, I hear about eating a ketogenic diet is not being able to eat Italian food. 

Since so many of our favorite Italian dishes are carb based, it’s hard for someone new to a ketogenic lifestyle (or thinking about starting it) to wrap their head around not eating pasta anymore.

I get it, trust me.

Pasta is one of the ultimate comfort foods and giving that up is a daunting task.

It takes willpower…and good recipe replacements!

That’s where I come in to help.

My homemade Italian keto meatballs are not only really easy to make, but they’re fantastic when paired with a low carb noodle for homemade keto spaghetti and meatballs!

 

 

You’re Going To Love These Keto Meatballs

And here’s why:

  • Only 6 ingredients needed that you probably already have in your kitchen
  • Ready in just 30 minutes
  • Perfect for meal prepping
  • Freezes well before or after baking
  • Kid friendly  
  • Zero carbs per meatball
  • Omit the parmesan cheese for a dairy free keto option

 

 

Making Your Own Keto Meatballs At Home

The thought of making homemade meatballs might seem labor intensive but truly, these zero carb Italian meatballs couldn’t be any easier to prepare.

You just need a large mixing bowl, wooden spoon, and a medium cookie scoop to prep your meatballs. If a cookie scoop is not already in one of your drawers, order one asap! They’re one of those items that you’ll use over and over to get evenly measured cookies, meatballs, etc.

A few tips for making the perfect meatballs:

  1. Don’t over work the meat when you’re mixing in everything. It should be just combined. Over mixing the meat will yield tough meatballs.
  2. Use your favorite low carb Italian dressing, whatever that may be. Personally, I use the Newman’s Own Family Italian Recipe. 
  3. While it’s not necessary, you can brown your meatballs in a skillet before baking if desired. Reduce your bake time accordingly (about 5 minutes).

 

 

Can I Substitute Ingredients?

Don’t have one of the ingredients on hand? Don’t like a particular ingredient? Here are a couple of options for substitutions in this recipe:

  1. Omit the parmesan cheese for dairy free keto meatballs
  2. Omit pork rinds for kosher keto meatballs.  
  3. Do NOT omit the egg

 

 

How To Serve Your Zero Carb Italian Meatballs

What’s a meatball without spaghetti, right? Wrong!

Believe it or not, there are so many ways to enjoy a low carb spaghetti and meatball dinner! 

Whether it be zucchini noodles (as pictured), spaghetti squashkonjac (shirataki) noodles, or hearts of palm noodles, there really are a bunch of ways to make spaghetti keto friendly. 

My family tends to prefer zucchini noodles and spaghetti squash when it comes to Italian dishes. 

If I don’t make homemade marinara sauce (that recipe is in my cookbook, The Family Friendly Keto Instant Pot Cookbook), I prefer to use Rao’s brand of sauces. They’re very clean, taste phenomenal, and are the lowest in carbs I’ve found in the store!


Of course, you can skip the noodles altogether and just have a big bowl of meatballs, marinara, and top it off with some fresh mozzarella or parmesan!

 

 

Here Are Some More Keto Italian Recipes You’re Sure To Love

 

 

The Best Homemade Keto Meatballs

Anna Hunley | Keto In Pearls
An easy homemade Italian keto meatballs recipe. Zero carbs, common ingredients, and freezer friendly. A perfect pairing for low carb noodles and marinara.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Dishes
Servings 20 meatballs
Calories 98 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire
  • 2/3 cup crushed pork rinds
  • 1/4 cup Italian dressing I like Newman's Own Family Italian
  • pinch of salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl. Gently incorporate everything into the beef with a wooden spoon or your hands. Be careful not to overwork the meat.
  • Use a medium cookie scoop, or large spoon, to make 20 meatballs. Roll them between your hands after scooping to round them out.
  • Bake for 25 minutes on an unlined baking sheet.
  • Serve immediately or store in an airtight container up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

Notes

Optional- brown the meatballs in a skillet with olive oil before baking if desired. Reduce bake time by approximately 5 minutes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1meatballCalories: 98kcalCarbohydrates: 0.3gProtein: 10.2gFat: 6.1g
Keyword dairy free meatballs, easy keto meatballs, homemade keto meatballs, keto meatballs, keto spaghetti and meatballs, zero carb meatballs
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
This recipe was adapted from 10 Dollar Dinners by Melissa d’Arabian
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