Keto Tuscan Meatball Casserole
This weeks recipe is Keto Tuscan Meatball Casserole. This is a easy to make Keto/Low Carb friendly casserole recipe. Your veggies are baked right into the meatballs, and maybe your kids won’t notice them. We ate off of this casserole for 3 days, and it got better over time just like with most casseroles. This really is a delicious recipe and we hope that it becomes one of your favorites. Enjoy!
Meatballs are for many of us a symbol of comfort food.
We have several meatball recipes on our channel and blog. They originated as a holdover from the days when there was little refrigeration ,making it necessary to use up leftover meat trimmings.
I decide to do these casserole style, since I love a good casserole, as you may know. Lol.
These homemade Tuscan style meatballs are keto friendly and make a great dinner entrée, or a topping for spaghetti squash… Zucchini noodles, or cauliflower rice. They are seriously big on flavor, yet simple for a weeknight dinner.
Now before any true Italians come for me… I know the name of this recipe could be totally misleading, because I don’t know if meatballs like these are made anywhere in Tuscany. The name sounds pretty, and they include spinach, so that’s what I’m calling it. It seems like for me, I’m constantly trying to figure out how to serve my family a variety of dinners that are, nutritious, don’t require expensive/hard to find ingredients, can be prepared in a matter of minutes… And that everyone actually will eat. This is one of those dishes. If you have picky children or people who just don’t like vegetables, hiding them inside delicious balls of meat is a good way to go. This cheesy meatball casserole ticks off all of the yummy requirements needed to please everyone in the family
Italian cuisine is usually a big hit in my house. I hope that your family loves this simple home cooked supper as much as we do.
Here are a few tips:
- Protein for the meatballs- for this I used a combination of ground beef and ground sausage… But you could easily use ground pork ground turkey or just ground beef. But I do like a combination of meat for my meatballs.
- Egg binds the meatballs, no breadcrumbs are needed.
- Cheese…. I used two kinds of cheese in this recipe(BECAUSE cheese, yum) but you can use whatever kind of cheese you and your family enjoy.
- Fresh herbs….Any time I can add fresh herbs in any of my cooking I try to… It just adds such flavor… But of course you can use dried or leave them out it’s up to you.
- Spinach….I used frozen spinach for my meatballs because I could cook it and ring it out so it would be extremely dry. You do not want a watery casserole… If you choose to use fresh make sure you cook it before hand and drain it well.
- Once your meatballs are cooked, make sure you drain the excess grease… Also are used a Baller to make my meatballs… It helps make them even in size, but you can make your meatballs any size that you would like they’re going to taste great either way.
This easy meatball casserole freezes really well. Just go ahead and make the meatballs and the next time you want an easy meatball casserole just thaw them bake them and then cover them with the sauce and cheese.
FOLLOW-UP TASTE TEST by C.J.
So I’m fortunate enough to always get to try and experience new keto/low carb dishes. I asked Sarah why this was called a “casserole?” and not just meatballs. Well the cool thing about this casserole is that your veggies and cheese are baked right into the meatballs. This dish was really flavorful. We used sausage and ground beef but as Sarah mentioned you could use any combo of meats or even just one meat, so this recipe is very versatile as well, so use your imagination.
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE USE OF PASTA SAUCE/TOMATO SAUCES:
Before you get all up in arms, we know that tomato/pasta sauces are higher in carbs, and that they have sugar. Unfortunately that is the nature of using any tomato based sauce. Tomatoes, have sugar in them naturally. The trick with using these sauces is to find a low carb version, and use them sparingly. We actually use Walmart’s Great Value Pizza Sauce in most cases because it’s very low in carbs compared to others and it also has a very reasonable cost point. You could always use an Alfredo type sauce as a substitute for the tomato sauce in recipes.
Don’t forget you can share photos or your creations over in the Facebook Group or on Pinterest.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog, if you haven’t already. We plan on releasing keto recipes that will be exclusive for blog subscribers. Also feel free to share this recipe with family and friends!
Get our free Keto Quick Start Guide
Here is a companion blog post to get the best results from our Keto Quick Start Guide
https://www.cjsketokitchen.com/basic-tips-to-understand-the-keto-diet-the-keto-diet-simplified/
Keto Tuscan Meatball Casserole
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 lb. Italian sausage
- 10 oz spinach chopped and well drained
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 1 egg
- 2 Tb Italian seasoning
- 2 Tb garlic blend
- 2 Tb freshly chopped herbs I used rosemary& thyme
- 2 cups pasta sauce low carb
- 8 oz. Mozzarella cheese we used a Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese blend
Instructions
- PREPARATION:
- preheat oven to 400°
- In a medium sized bowl combine first 9 ingredients, mixing well. Form into meatballs....I got 35(1 1/2 TB each) amount of meatballs depends on size made. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Drain meatballs if needed. Cover with sauce and cheese. Bake an additional 15 minutes. Broiling one to two minutes to brown the top if desired. Let stand 10 minutes. Can be served ala carte or over zucchini pasta or cauliflower rice.
Notes
Nutrition
CJSKETOKITCHEN RECIPE SPOTLIGHT
In this section we try and highlight other recipes that might interest you. This week we decided to highlight another very popular and easy to make recipe:
1. Keto Swedish Meatballs
BE SURE TO VISIT OUR AMAZON STORE FOR SOME OF OUR FAVORITE PRODUCTS.
https://www.amazon.com/shop/cjsketokitchen.com
Fat Is Where It’s At
“Fat Eyes”
CjsKetoKitchen Merch Logo Tee
Affiliate Disclosures
From time to time we will recommend products and services that we have used, and have found to be very good products or services. We may get a small percentage of a purchase you make, through one of the affiliate links that we included. Any payment we receive is paid to us by the company (not you). These small payments help us to continue to produce keto recipes and other content as we seek to spread the message about the Keto Diet and the health benefits of the keto lifestyle. Thank you for your support, it is appreciated.
CjsKetoKitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on Amazon.com.
Oh my goodness, you two! I made these meatballs tonight and they were so delicious!! I added salt and pepper, plus used lots of dried basil. I also used fresh basil and parsley from my herb garden. They were great! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, and for all the hard work you do to get these videos up for us. God Bless!
We are glad you enjoyed them.