Sun Dried Tomato Cheesy Meatballs (Low Carb)
Tender and juicy Sun Dried Tomato Cheesy Meatballs (Low Carb) spiked with sun dried tomato pieces, garlic and fresh herbs, fried and simmered in a simple tomato sauce with so.much.cheese. All in one skillet!
No one complained at the dinner table with this one. Or the dinner couch, if I’m going to be completely honest.
Serve over pasta or Zoodles for a lower carb option. You won’t even miss the pasta. Those meatballs smothered in sauce are the hero.
For these meatballs, I used a mixture of both beef and pork mince. Something about that combination results in the most beautiful flavour and tender meatballs. Of course, you can use just beef, but I like to live my life on the edge.
Combined with almond flour to bind them and keep them low carb OR you can use breadcrumbs if carbs are your thing.
You know what the best part about these is? Bursts of sun dried tomato pieces in every bite.
May have indulged in some trash tv on the couch in our pyjamas, slurping on zoodles and eating more meatballs than humanly allowed.
This is one of those recipes you won’t regret.
This recipe is right up there with those Creamy Chicken and Sun Dried Tomato Zoodles!
Sun Dried Tomato Cheesy Meatballs
Weight Watchers: 12pp per serve (2 large meatballs + sauce + cheese)
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 500 g beef mince
- 500 g pork mince (or use extra beef mince)
- 1 egg , lightly whisked
- 1/2 cup almond flour (or 1/3 cup breadcrumbs if not following low carb)
- 150 g semi-dried tomatoes , drained and oil reserved
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 cloves garlic , crushed
- 4 table spoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Salt to taste (about 1 tablespoon) and pepper
Sauce:
- reserved Sun Dried Tomato oil
- 2 x 420g jars tomato pasta sauce (or tomato soup)
- 180 g large bocconcini balls (6 large balls the size of golf balls), sliced
Instructions
- Combine mince, egg and almond flour, tomatoes drained of oil (reserve oil), cheese, garlic, paste, oregano and basil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Shape into 12 meatballs (I used full palm sized meat mixture).
- Heat oil in a non stick oven proof pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Cook meatballs, in batches for 3 to 4 minutes while occasionally turning to brown on all sides.
- Heat reserved semi-dried tomatoes oil in pan. Add the tomato sauce (or soup). Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
- Return meatballs to pan; bring to the boil; reduce heat to low and allow to simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes or until meatballs have cooked through and sauce has thickened.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to grill (or broil) settings on medium heat halfway through cooking time. When meatballs are ready, arrange the bocconcini slices over the meatballs and place pan into the oven. Grill/broil until cheese has melted.
Nutrition
Mary Lee says
These are super fantastic! I make a double batch every week! My son who is not eating keto like me, devours these with some pasta. His UPS co-workers are so jealous when he brings them for lunch and they get to smell them heating! I love just eating a few meatballs for a meal and I’m good. We do add mushrooms though because we love those. This week I’m out of tomato paste, but saw other recipes without it, so I have to hope they still come out great. I feel the sun dried tomatoes really make them so good!
My first batch fell apart, so now I make the meatballs the day before and refrigerate them on parchment on a baking sheet then just stick them in a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes and broil the last couple minutes if necessary. They hold together great, have a nice texture and they are really easy to clean up.
Jamie says
These meatballs are insanely delicious! I used 1/2 ground chicken and 1/4 hot chicken sausage and 1/4 sweet Italian chicken sausage and followed the rest of the recipe. WOW! Thank you!!
Pamela says
Delicious and simple to make. I bake my meatballs instead of frying for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. I added my cooked spaghetti as the bottom layer of the sauce with the meatball after simmering the meatballs in the sauce, added the cheese and broil for about 5 minutes. Made it more like a casserole. I follow a low carb small portion approach to eating. Thank you for a great recipe that is adaptable for lots of eating plans.
Sarah says
I am eating this as I’m writing this comment! It’s really good! I have a few questions tho. I hit a few bumps while making this and I want to clear them up so I can make this again next time.
1. The dried tomatoes sold in US are pretty big slices. Do I need to cut them up in small pieces before adding them to the meat mixture? I ended up cutting them in smaller pieces but I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to do it.
2. After cooking the meatballs, there was a lot of oil in the pan. Was I to discard it and then add the dried tomato oil? I did discard the meat oil as it seemed like too much oil if I added tomato oil on top of that. Even then it seemed like a lot of oil.
3. Any advice on how to keep meatballs from falling apart while cooking them?
I really like this recipe and plan to make it again!
emily says
I saw comments on another site for this recipe that suggested putting meatballs in refrigerator for awhile before cooking them to keep them from falling apart.
Nat says
Wanted to make this tonight and the directions are now gone
Karina says
Hi! I’m so sorry about this. It seems to be a technical issue on mobile only and we are working on it right now. The recipes are on desktop if you need them urgently! Hopefully we will have all recipes up again soon! Thank you for your patience! Karina X
Mark Cutugno says
where do you add the tomato paste?
Karina says
You will add the tomato sauce after the tomatoes are heated in the oil in pan. Add the tomato sauce (or soup). Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Hope that helps and you can make these meatball soon!
Una Greenlee says
OMG this is why Keto is going to work for me! Thank you for a keto friendly FAMILY pleaser! My kids ate LEFTOVERS! This is a phenomenal feat! Rock on!
Karina says
HAHA!! That is awesome! I am so glad that it is working for you and that you are loving the Keto recipes. Thanks so much for letting me know!
Cindy says
These were amazing! So full of flavour. I did add some red pepper flakes, cause we love a little spice but other than that I wouldn’t change a thing! Thanks.
Tymeron Smith says
That is so great to hear! Thanks SO much for letting me know!
Thorunn says
Love these! Have made them a few times already and the whole family loves them!
Do you know if it’s ok to freeze the meatballs?
Again thank you so much for this awesome recipe ?
Gerri says
Just ran across this recipe and my mouth is watering for this! Can ‘t wait to try this. Thank you for sharing this recipe.?
Leonel saffron says
Jus made this an it was awsome , followed to the tee an it turned out beutifll !!! It’s a, keeper
lori ann briggs says
Well I can’t wait to try these when I can get home. We have already some of the meat to make this stuff. It looks so good to make even using some great already made dried pasta that is out there in the stores. so why wish to make these dishes that looks so good to make.!!!!!!!
Karina says
I’m so glad to hear that Lori Ann! I hope you liked it!
Liz says
I made this recipe a few days ago. There was one big problem with it…….I wanted more. Tonight I am making my second batch only doubling the recipe. This is so darn delicious. Thank you for the recipe and low carb alternatives.
Karina says
Liz I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for coming back to comment. You’ve made my week!
Ginny says
Made these last night and YUM. One of the more satisfying dinners I’ve had in a while. I made some tweaks: Used 1 jar marinara, and 1 1/2 cups of slow roasted tomatoes left over from our summer garden. I didn’t add the sun-tom oil because my meatball mixture added enough of its own oil, and here in the states we get 8 oz tubs of bocconcini containing 4 mozzarella balls, which was plenty. The sun- dried tomatoes added so much flavor.
Thanks for a great recipe : )
Karina says
Hi Ginny! Wow sounds delicious! Thank you for coming back and telling us what you did. Yum!!
Marla Meridith says
OMG do these look great!!
Karina says
Thank you Marla!
Amie says
HI Karina Thanks for taking the time to calculate the points. Ill look forward to see what you get..
Karina says
Hi Amie! Points have been calculated at 12pp per serve (2 large meatballs including sauce and cheese). I hope this helps!
Amie says
Hi Katrina
Yes it does help
Thank you… completely different to what i got
amie says
Hi Karina. What are the Weight Watchers Pro Points for this recipe? I have tried calculating them and the number is weired
Karina says
Hi Amie! I haven’t calculated this one yet, but I will do this weekend!
Derek says
These looks so stinkin’ good Karina! And awesome pics too.
Karina says
Thank you Derek!
Margaret Ann @ MAK and Her Cheese says
These look outstanding! Of course, carbs ARE my thing so these will probably be smothering some whole grain linguine in the near future 😉
Karina says
Yummmmm now that sounds incredible!
athleticavocado says
mmmm these meatballs would go great on top of spaghetti sqaush! gonna bookmark this recipe, thanks for sharing 🙂
Karina says
Yes! That sounds good too! The possibilities are endless!
Heidi @foodiecrush says
I’m loving that you put sun dried tomatoes in the meatballs for a little boost of sweetness. Loverly!
Karina says
Yes Heidi! Absolutely! Xx