Paleo Slow Cooker Meatballs - Lunch
4
Servings
12
Ingredients
55
Comments
These freezer friendly slow cooker meatballs are absolutely delicious. Plus they're paleo AND kid friendly!
4
Servings
12
Ingredients
55
Comments
Ingredients
- 2 individual beat Egg
- ⅔ cups dice Onion
- ½ cups grate Carrot
- 4 teaspoons mince Garlic #1
- ¼ cups Almond Flour
- 1 teaspoon Oregano, Dried
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ pounds Ground Beef
- 2 cups dice Tomato
- ¾ cups Tomato Paste
- ½ cups chop Basil, Fresh
- 5 teaspoons mince Garlic #2
Containers
Supplies
Cooking Instructions
Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions
Slow Cooker
These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).
Why would I want to freeze this?
- In a bowl, mix in beat eggs, onion, carrot, garlic #1, almond flour, dried oregano, and salt.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions
Easy Assembly/Ready to Eat
These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.
- Thaw: In fridge
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Make It Now Cooking Directions
Slow Cook
These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.
- In a bowl, mix in beat eggs, onion, carrot, garlic #1, almond flour, dried oregano, and salt.
- Add ground beef and mix thoroughly.
- Scoop 1/4 cup of ground beef mixture, roll into a meatball, and add to baking sheet. Repeat using all meat.
- Place in oven and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until browned.
- In a bowl, mix together diced tomatoes, tomato paste, basil leaves, and garlic #2.
- Remove meatballs from oven and place into slow cooker.
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs.
- Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Nutrition Facts
- Servings Per Recipe
- 4 Servings
- Serving Size
- about 4 meatballs Amount Per Serving
- Calories
- 463
- Total Fat
- 24g
- Saturated Fat
- 8g
- Trans Fat
- 1g
- Cholesterol
- 224mg
- Sodium
- 663mg
- Total Carbohydrates
- 20g
- Fiber
- 5g
- Sugar
- 10g
- Protein
- 43g
- WW Freestyle
- 9
55 Comments
Join the discussionHow do you do cauliflower noodles exactly?
They really weren’t noodles…more like cauliflower chopped up really fine. But with the meatballs and sauce on top of it, my kids didn’t even notice the extra veggies!
Sounds REALLY good, thank you! I LOVE slow cooker recipes and love cauliflower and I will be trying this-hopefully this week. I have to chime in though…It kills me when people go to all the trouble and expense and then MICROWAVE the food!!! (as in the thawing part). Seriously, everyone, PLEASE research and you will find out that microwaving changes the food (not in good ways) AND kills all the good enzymes, vitamins and minerals you work so hard to get by getting grass -fed, organic, etc. Be kind to your food and your body, DON’T microwave anything you plan on eating! In this case couldn’t you just re-heat in the slow-cooker?
I see what you’re saying, but giving specific instructions on how to reheat on the stove, slow-cooker, or oven would just have to many variables. Sometimes I say, “To serve: Thaw and reheat.” Other times I just give specific directions for the microwave. It’s just one of those times where the majority of people who don’t use the microwave know how to adjust so I’m not as specific.Maybe I should say these meatballs are so stinkin’ good that they won’t even make it to the freezer! Then we won’t even have to worry about it 🙂
Simply untrue. Vitamins are destroyed less in microwaves than most other forms of cooking – http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10… As a disclaimer, I usually don’t microwave my veggies, preferring to steam or bake them.
Thanks for the article for people to read. 🙂
I’m with you on that! To bad most people don’t want to believe it, convenience wins over health. Cheers to you!
Would it work to freeze these after baking and BEFORE slow cooking?
Yes you could do that too!
Made these tonight, we ate half, froze half. They were pretty good, paired with spaghetti squash. I’d probably make them again.
Thanks for a great recipe- I just made these and they were tasty and easy. I didn’t have fresh basil so I used an ice-cube sized cube of pesto.
Oh, and I served them with roasted shredded cabbage and garlic yogurt aoli.
That sounds yummy Mary. Would love if you could direct me to a recipe….
Ok, so I’m not understanding why you would put these in the crockpot after baking in the oven? Seems like an unnecessary step that just dirties an extra dish.
Baking them helps to create a seal and then in putting them in the crockpot with the sauce locks in the flavor and cooks them thoroughly. You can just bake them and cook them in the sauce if you’d like. But if you’re making them ahead and freezing them we then recommend just baking, then freezing. Then on your serving day, you can put them in the crockpot so you don’t have to think about cooking!
Do you use fresh or canned diced tomatoes?
Heather I’ve used both with the same results. With fresh being in season I used a variety of different tomatoes and the sauce was delicious!
These are in my slow cooker as I type, I hope the family loves them! We are having them with spaghetti squash.
I just finished making a double batch! I used a cookie scoop to make the balls (2 scoops per ball) and got 38 meatballs. That’s 2 meals ! They smell amazing! Cant wait to eat them!
You will NOT be disappointed they are SO good.
We LOVED these!!! We added some water to
the sauce since ours was thick. We made a double batch and froze them in individual portions after they were cooked in the crock pot. I served mine over spaghetti squash. Ready to make batch #2 tomorrow!!
Glad you enjoyed! They are a HUGE hit around here too.
You might want to try broccoli slaw instead of noodles. Just stir fry with coconut or olive oil, sprinkle with a little water, cover, and steam until done to your liking. I like the flavor much better than spaghetti squash, which tends to be a little sweet, and broccoli slaw is so convenient.
Great tip Tina! Thanks for sharing!
3/4 c tomato paste? That seems like a lot and would end up being more like a glaze than sauce. Is it supposed to be puree instead of paste?
Renee – Yes 3/4 c tomato paste is the correct amount. The sauce is a thicker sauce than most, but is amazing! Enjoy!
Any suggestions on making these without eggs? I can’t eat gluten or eggs and I miss meatballs!!
Hi Emily! I think this post might help- https://onceamonthmeals.com/goi…. I personally would try the flax seed method and see how it turns out.
I’ve made them with flax eggs many times and it works great.
Think this could work swapping out ground turkey for the beef? We keep kosher and it’s easier for me to find turkey than it is ground beef. Also, should I get lean or full-fat? Thanks for this recipe!
Yes Valerie – you can certainly sub the Turkey for ground beef.
Do you think this would work with flax eggs? My son is allergic to eggs and I’ve been trying to find a recipe that doesn’t use them.
Yes – I certainly think you could use a flax egg and it would turn out fine!
How long should I bake these if I just want plain meatballs? I would like to get some plain ones I can freeze to add to lunches and stuff w/out sauce.
Lauren – I would think a total of 40-45 minutes should allow enough time for the meatballs to cook completely in the oven!
Thank you!!
Always use a meat thermometer to check; cook to 160 degrees.
While I’ve not made this particular recipe, I make a very similar meatball recipe and I simply put the uncooked meatballs into the crockpot with sauce and they cook up just great and keep their round shape! Precooking may allow the sauce to be less runny, but some tomato paste thickens up the sauce nicely.
I think baking them first is like searing a roast before putting it in the crock pot. It helps keep the moisture in.
How much would swapping out Coconut flour for Almond flour change the flavor on these? We have a lot of Coconut flour and would more than likely have to have the Almond flour shipped.
Coconut flour can not be swapped 1:1 for almond flour, the coconut flour will absorb the moisture of the recipe more readily. My suggestion would be to start using 1/4 of the amount of almond flour with coconut flour, slowing adding as you go until you get the right consistency! Let us know how it works!
The recipe lists 4 cloves of garlic and 5 cloves of garlic. Is this a typo?
Those are the correct amount for garlic cloves. The first amount is used in the meatballs, and the second amount into the sauce.
How many meatballs does the recipe make? How many does it serve?
Sorry I see now you have that it serves 4.
What is the oven temperature?
350 degrees
What may I use instead of almond flour? I’m not finding any at my supermarket
You could use any gluten free flour blend, Amy, though make sure it’s just flour and does not have the addition of guar gum, xantham gum or things like that. They could change the texture of the meatballs. Another solution is to make your own Almond Flour (I do this a lot). You just process blanched almonds in your food processor or mill until finely ground. It wont be quite as fine as store bought almond flour but works just fine in most recipes. Be careful not to over process though or you’ll end up with almond butter! Happy Cooking!
Is tomato paste the same as tomato purée and should I use less if double concentrated?
Tomato puree is thicker than tomato paste. So whether you’re using double concentrated tomato paste or tomato puree – it would be ok to not use the full 3/4 cup.
What would you use instead of the tomato products. I am highly allergic to all tomato products.
This recipe really is best with the tomato products (substituting those ingredients will very much alter this recipe) but you might enjoy this recipe instead: https://onceamonthmeals.com/recipes/instant-pot-low-histamine-cheese-filled-meatballs/ Happy cooking!
This was so good! Partner and I are on day 9 of Whole30. I subbed coconut flour for almond (I’m allergic to almonds), and zucchini for the carrots because I realized we didn’t have any, and it was amazing! This will become a regular in our rotation. Thanks!
Also to save time, I just poured Trader Joe’s sugar free marinara over the meatballs in the crock pot instead of making the sauce (although I’m sure the recipe is excellent). For our busy jobs and time constraints, this made it even easier and so good!