Keto Giant Baked MeatBalls. Meatballs conger up many things to many people which is why there are so many different meatball recipes and I don’t really mean many, I mean 1,000’s & 1,000’s. Every Italian son thinks his mother makes the best meatballs and that is only the Italians. There are the Swedes, the Vietnamese, and the whole of The Middle East, let alone Europeans like the Poles, the Germans (don’t forget the French) and for heaven’s sake even the Mexicans have meatballs and…trust me they all think theirs are the best. Well, I do not presume to say or think mine are the best low carb keto giant baked meatballs, I can only say that they are really good, I love them, and they are extremely versatile. They are larger than most balls and at 7-7½ oz each and one is plenty enough as a single serving coupled with however or whatever you decide to serve them with. The picture above is with Porcini Cream, is best with beef, and I think it looks like one of those Famous NYC Black & White Cookies.
When most people think “meatballs” they think balls swimming in some kind of red sauce, but you can put whatever sauce you want on these or just eat them plain and simple. This is a relatively easy recipe in that I do not use many spices & herbs which means you can sauce or flavor them as you wish. Whatever other herbs or spices you may decide to put into meatballs, at least in my opinion, kind of determines what sauce you plan to use. Here are a few suggestions: Porcini Wine Cream, Primal Keto Gravy, Basic Cream Gravy, Tomato Basil Cream, sounds strange but Huli BBQ Sauce is terrific and lastly, it’s red and the best of ’em all. Puttanesca Sauce served over the meatball with about 4 oz. of spaghetti squash.
It’s pretty hard to make meatballs or meatloaf without breadcrumbs for several reasons and the biggest is that they retains the moisture and fat inside the ball instead of in/on your pan. (Think my Hot Crossed Bacon Meatloaf for the purists among you). That recipe calls for no breadcrumbs and in my opinion leaving animal fat of any kind is a food sin. Not only does fat make things taste good, it’s good for you, and makes your pants fall down. If you have your own low carb bread crumbs then my suggestion is use them. If not Carbalose Flour Bread makes fabulous crumbs. I keep a bag of them in my freezer at all times. I don’t use them often but when I need them, they are there. They are NOT in this recipe: See Below.
An Experiment: Based on my test of ¼ C ground pork rinds with 2 T melted lard I thought this should work and voilé…it worked perfectly. For the 2 Lbs. ground meat you will need 1 C Ground Pork Rinds and it seems to be the same ratio as breadcrumbs and after all that, it makes keto giant baked meatballs paleo and Whoopee. I pop and grind my own pork dust and it’s what in the bag to the right and oh, did I mention the taste? My, My, My.
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- ⅔ Lb. 20% Ground Beef
- ⅔ Lb. Ground Pork
- ⅔ Lb. Ground Lamb
- 1 C Pork Rind Dust (See Above)
- 1 Egg
- ½ Medium Onion Minced
- ½ T Garlic Salt
- 2 t Salt
- ¾ t Pepper
- Heat oven to 350°
- Have all ingredients at room temperature.
- Beat egg and add onions, salts & pepper.
- Sprinkle pork rind dust onto meats, add egg stuff and gently blend.
- Divide equally into 6-8 parts and gentle form large balls.
- Place into muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes. They don't take long.
- Let sit for 5 minutes in tin, then remove.
- 6 Servings
- 345 Calories, 51.1g Protein, 13.6g Fat, 1.6g Carbs, 0.3g Fiber, 1.3g Net Carbs
- 8 Servings
- 259 Calories, 43.6g Protein, 10.2g Fat, 1.2g Carbs, 0.3g Fiber, 0.9g Net Carbs
- Not sure how to tell you portion for either 6 or 8. As you can see, my balls clocked in at 8 oz before cooking and 7½ oz after cooking or about ½ oz per ball fat lose. If you portion into 8 you still end up with nearly 5 oz of cooked meat.
- If your meatball mixture seems a bit dry to begin with, fear not. By the time the pork skins start to sop up the fat after cooking they will end up very moist and with the fat inside the meatballs instead of in your muffin pan
- These meatballs are really good served with any of the above named sauces and maybe with a little spaghetti squash under them.
- To be on the safe side put another pan under your muffin tin for any spill-over grease remembering lamb and pork have a LOT of fat.
- Best to use a larger muffin tin than I did. I don't, and have never made muffins for the home so, this was the only tin I had.
- Strike that last sentence. I bought a large 6 hole tin and it was...perfect.