This quick and easy ground beef meatballs recipe is gluten free, low carb, and perfect for keto diets. The cheddar cheese and chives give the meatballs a rich, hearty flavor, and they have no breadcrumbs. The meatballs can be served with spaghetti sauce or without.
Since I quit sugar and restarted my bariatric eating plan, I haven't been eating as many of our prepared meal plan meals as I used to. They are still healthy for a normal eater like Joe, but they have too many carbs and too many calories for a bariatric patient like me.
We were forced back into cooking. {sigh}
So I have had to dig out a lot of our old low carb recipes, and this is one of those. The meatballs are delicious, and they hold together really nicely without the need for breadcrumbs. I think it might be that the cheese melts and binds them together? I'm not sure, but they work, as you can see in the photo above.
Once you stop using breadcrumbs, you might be surprised at how little difference they make in foods. They're just filler, plain and simple, and they don't matter much. They add carbs to foods that don't need carbs.
How to Make These Meatballs
Seriously, this couldn't be easier. All you have to do is gather your ingredients, of which there are only three: ground beef, chives, and grated cheddar cheese:
Mix the ingredients together with your hands (no wooden spoon or spatula is up to this task), and then shape the mixture into small meatballs. I suppose you could use your hands for that as well, but I prefer to use a medium cookie scoop. It makes the balls equally portioned which makes them bake evenly. If they aren't all the same size, you will have some that are overcooked and some that are undercooked, and nobody likes a raw meatball.
The cookie scoop I use is approximately two tablespoons and makes 34 meatballs from this recipe.
Serving Low Carb Meatballs
I like these beef, cheddar, and chive meatballs without sauce just as much as I like to put sauce on them. They are delicious both ways, and I'm pretty sure you will think so too.
If you're strict about your low carb eating, you will want to look for a spaghetti sauce that has little or no added sugar. There is sugar naturally in tomatoes, but most sauces also have added sugars. It is possible to find sauce with minimal sugar or you could make your own. In all honesty, we haven't made spaghetti sauce from scratch in years, but it is a good option because you can use artificial sweetener to ensure a truly sugar-free sauce.
You'll want to check out some of the other low carb recipes I've shared:
- Maryland Crab Cakes with No Filler
- Zucchini Sausage Egg Muffins
- Chicken Crust Pizza
- Cheesy Ham and Cauliflower Casserole
Beef, Cheddar, and Chive Meatballs
Ingredients
- ¼ cup chives minced
- 1 pound ground beef 93% lean
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese shredded
- Salt & pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large bowl, combine chives, ground beef, and cheddar cheese. Season as desired with salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands.
- Roll ground meat mixture into 34 mini meatballs and add to a baking sheet with a rim. (See the link below for where to buy an appropriate pan.)
- Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until centers are no longer pink.
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