These are some of the best meatballs I’ve ever had, keto or not. They’re juicy, and they’re full of cheese and bacon. What’s not to like here?
You really have a choice of where to go with this recipe. You don’t have to use the BBQ sauce, but it pairs up extremely well with this recipe. You can add salsa and go for a Southwestern vibe, or add some homemade alfredo sauce and go for a very rich dish.
I like my BBQ sauce to be spicy and tangy, so if you like more of a subtle BBQ sauce you will have to tweak it some.
Yields 20 meatballs, can serve 4-5 people.
The Preparation
Cheddar and Bacon Meat Balls
- 1.5 pounds 93/7 ground beef
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ¾ cup crushed pork rinds*
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon pepper
- ¾ teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
Use BBQ flavor if available.
BBQ Sauce
You can get the recipe for the BBQ sauce in my post for Spicy and Tangy BBQ Sauce.
The Execution
Cheddar and Bacon Meat Balls
1. Grab your pork rinds. Mine are BBQ flavor which works perfectly for this recipe.
2. Put the pork rinds into a ziploc bag and crush them until they are relatively fine. I don’t mind leaving a few bigger pieces in there for texture. You can also use a food processor as shown.
3. In a mixing bowl, put your ground beef, egg, salt, pepper, cumin, and garlic powder.
4. Add your pork rind crumbs.
5. Mix together well.
6. Make a small hole in the meat and add your cheese.
7. Mix these all together well.
8. Cut your 4 slices of bacon into thin strips. Easiest way is to use a pair of scissors. If you plan to use a knife, put your bacon in the freezer for 20 minutes previously to cutting it.
9. Add your bacon to a hot pan and let it fry up.
10. Keep cooking your bacon until it reaches a crisp point.
11. Remove your bacon and place on a paper towel to dry and crisp up. Keep the pan with the bacon fat in it – we will be using it to cook the meatballs!
12. Once your bacon has cooled off a bit, add it to the meat mixture and mix well.
13. I used my eye to measure the meatballs, but usually you will get 20-25 meat balls of a decent size. Roll them out and keep them to the side of your stove.
14. Once all the meatballs are rolled out, add about half to the pan to start cooking. I don’t like cooking them all at once because they don’t turn out as well.
15. Let them brown on one side and then flip them over.
16. Allow them to keep cooking, turning them on their other sides as needed.
17. Remove them from the pan when they are rare (still semi-raw in the middle).
18. Cook the rest of your meatballs. Once they are to a rare state, add all the meatballs to the pan.
19. Turn down the heat to low, and cover the pan with a lid. Let these cook until they are to desired wellness. I usually let them cook while I am making the BBQ sauce. By the time I’m done, they’re also done.
BBQ Sauce
For the BBQ sauce recipe you can head over to my post on Spicy and Tangy BBQ Sauce. The BBQ sauce comes out to 10.36 Calories, 0.13g Fats, 1.69g Net Carbs, and 0.54g Protein per tablespoon!
The Marriage
1. Remove the meatballs from the pan and let them rest for about 5 minutes.
2. Serve them out, usually 4-5 meatballs per person.
3. Apply your BBQ sauce on the top. This is to preference. I have about half of the BBQ sauce left when I am done with 20 meatballs, but I know some people really like their sauces!
Each portion had about 2 Tbsp. BBQ sauce and 5 meatballs. This came out to: 395 Calories, 19.28g Fats, 1.53g Net Carbs, and 50.52g Protein.
I know these have a lot of protein in them compared to fats, so if you need to up the fat content you have a few choices. You can use ground chuck (80/20 lean/fat), you can add oil to the sauce, or you can just enjoy this deliciousness and then have a fat bomb for dessert 🙂
The macros below includes ALL of the BBQ sauce, which I rarely ever use. Keep that in mind!
| Cheddar and Bacon Meatballs | Calories | Fats(g) | Carbs(g) | Fiber(g) | Net Carbs(g) | Protein(g) |
| 1.5 pounds 93/7 ground beef | 820 | 20.34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 149.02 |
| ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese | 342 | 28.23 | 2.62 | 0 | 2.62 | 19.38 |
| ¾ cup crushed pork rinds (26.3 g) | 150 | 9.36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.97 |
| 4 slices bacon | 178 | 14.02 | 0.44 | 0 | 0.44 | 11.58 |
| 1 large egg | 72 | 4.75 | 0.36 | 0 | 0.36 | 6.28 |
| ¾ teaspoon pepper | 4 | 0.06 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.18 |
| ¾ teaspoon cumin | 6 | 0.35 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.28 |
| ¾ teaspoon garlic powder | 8 | 0.02 | 1.69 | 0.2 | 1.49 | 0.38 |
| Totals | 1580 | 77.13 | 6.91 | 0.8 | 6.11 | 202.07 |
| Per Serving(/4) | 395 | 19.28 | 1.73 | 0.2 | 1.53 | 50.52 |
Each portion had about 2 Tbsp. BBQ sauce and 5 meatballs. This came out to: 395 Calories, 19.28g Fats, 1.53g Net Carbs, and 50.52g Protein.
The Preparation
- 1.5 pounds 93/7 ground beef
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ¾ cup crushed pork rinds*
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon pepper
- ¾ teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
The Execution
- Put the pork rinds into a ziploc bag and crush them until they are relatively fine. I don't mind leaving a few bigger pieces in there for texture.
- In a mixing bowl, put your ground beef, egg, salt, pepper, cumin, and garlic powder.
- Add your pork rind crumbs. Mix together well.
- Make a small hole in the meat and add your cheese. Mix well.
- Cut your 4 slices of bacon into thin strips. Easiest way is to use a pair of scissors. If you plan to use a knife, put your bacon in the freezer for 20 minutes previously to cutting it.
- Add your bacon to a hot pan and let it fry up.
- Keep cooking your bacon until it reaches a crisp point.
- Remove your bacon and place on a paper towel to dry and crisp up. Keep the pan with the bacon fat in it - we will be using it to cook the meatballs!
- Once your bacon has cooled off a bit, add it to the meat mixture and mix well.
- I used my eye to measure the meatballs, but usually you will get 20-25 meat balls of a decent size. Roll them out and keep them to the side of your stove.
- Once all the meatballs are rolled out, add about half to the pan to start cooking. I don't like cooking them all at once because they don't turn out as well.
- Let them brown on one side and then flip them over.
- Allow them to keep cooking, turning them on their other sides as needed.
- Remove them from the pan when they are rare (still semi-raw in the middle).
- Cook the rest of your meatballs. Once they are to a rare state, add all the meatballs to the pan.
- Turn down the heat to low, and cover the pan with a lid. Let these cook until they are to desired wellness. I usually let them cook while I am making the BBQ sauce. By the time I'm done, they're also done.
- Remove the meatballs from the pan and let them rest for about 5 minutes.
- Serve them out, usually 4-5 meatballs per person.
- Apply your BBQ sauce on the top. This is to preference. I have about half of the BBQ sauce left when I am done with 20 meatballs, but I know some people really like their sauces!
Notes
I know these have a lot of protein in them compared to fats, so if you need to up the fat content you have a few choices. You can use ground chuck (80/20 lean/fat), you can add oil to the sauce, or you can just enjoy this deliciousness and then have a fat bomb for dessert 🙂
