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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!
More Meatball Recipes:
Turkey Meatballs with Garlic and Pesto
Cocktail Meatballs with Sweet and Sour Sauce
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Sun Dried Tomato Cheesy Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 17 oz beef mince
- 17 oz pork mince or use extra beef mince
- 1 large egg lightly whisked
- 1/2 cup almond flour or 1/3 cup breadcrumbs if not following low carb
- 5 oz semi-dried tomatoes drained and oil reserved
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon salt and pepper to taste
Sauce:
- reserved Sun Dried Tomato oil
- 15 oz jars tomato pasta sauce or tomato soup
- 6.5 oz 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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!!
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.
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!
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.
Wanted to make this tonight and the directions are now gone
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
where do you add the tomato paste?
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!
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!
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!
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.
That is so great to hear! Thanks SO much for letting me know!
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 ?
Just ran across this recipe and my mouth is watering for this! Can ‘t wait to try this. Thank you for sharing this recipe.?
Jus made this an it was awsome , followed to the tee an it turned out beutifll !!! It’s a, keeper