SAUCY ZUCCHINI MEATBALLS

SAUCY ZUCCHINI MEATBALLS

A veggie-packed meatball that spells comfort food. The grated zucchini keeps these meatballs tender.

I kept the flavor plain relying on the topping to add some major flavor, but if you like you could add some Italian seasoning to the meatballs.

These sneaky veggies in the meatballs are bound to be kid-friendly. If you prefer you could use ground chicken or ground turkey instead of beef or a mix of ground beef and ground pork.

Egg is necessary to hold these meatballs together and Bake mix is used instead of breadcrumbs.

Garnish the meatballs with snipped green onions or flat leaf parsley. This meatball mixture is very tasty with the homemade marinara sauce. Cauli rice would be good with these. I imagine chicken zucchini meatballs would be good, too. If you like you could add parmesan cheese or romano cheese to this zucchini meatballs recipe.

Keep leftovers in an airtight container. These are a nice twist on traditional meatballs. Hiding fresh zucchini in them is a great idea when feeding picky kids.

I kept the flavor plain relying on the topping to add some major flavor, but if you like you could add some Italian seasoning to the meatballs.

These sneaky veggies in the meatballs are bound to be kid-friendly.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs lean ground beef (0.9 kg)

1 cup grated zucchini (250 mL)

¹/₂cup Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2, (125 mL)

OR ²/₃cup Keto Bake Mix, OR almond flour (150 mL)

2 tbsp minced onion (30 mL)

4 large eggs

2 tsp salt (10 mL)

1 tsp black pepper (5 mL)

Topping:

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (411 g)

¹/₂cup sugar-free ketchup (125 mL)

Liquid sweetener to equal ¹/₃cup sugar (75 mL)

1 tsp molasses (5 mL)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

In large bowl, mix together ground beef, zucchini and Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2, OR Keto Bake Mix and minced onion. In small bowl, whisk eggs, salt and black pepper together. Add to ground beef and mix well. Using a 2 tbsp (30 mL) cookie scoop, form meatballs and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Top each meatball with some sauce. Do not contaminate the sauce with the raw meat as it will be used to serve with the meatballs once baked. On the quick bake cycle, these took 25 minutes, otherwise 30 to 35 minutes until no longer pink in the middle. Serve with remaining sauce.

Topping: In blender, combine tomatoes, ketchup, liquid sweetener and molasses; blend until smooth.

Yield: 22 meatballs

1 meatball

126.0 calories

9.7 g protein

8.012.4 g fat

0.3 g fiber

3.2 g net carbs