Traditional carb heavy Italian dishes can be something people miss when following a ketogenic diet. With this recipe you can recreate those familiar comforting flavors with a vastly reduced carb count!
The meatballs are made with Italian herbs, and covered in a rich tomato sauce with a mozzarella topping. The dish is finished in the oven which allows the flavors to mingle and develop whilst creating a delicious crispy cheesy topping.
It’s important to keep a wide variety of vegetables in your diet, and tomatoes pack a big punch nutritionally with high antioxidant levels and essential minerals such as potassium.
Serve with dark leafy greens such as kale or a green salad for an extra nutritional boost! If you want a pasta substitute you could also use spiralized zucchini or celery root – just adjust the nutritional breakdown accordingly.
Yields 4 servings of Baked Italian Meatballs
The Preparation
- 16 ounces ground beef
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper
- 28 ounces canned whole tomatoes
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, for garnish
The Execution
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, oregano, and thyme and season with salt and pepper.
2. Divide the beef mixture and form 16 meatballs.
3. On a medium heat fry the meatballs for around 5 minutes, until they are brown all over. Remove the meatballs from the pan.
4. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooking juices in the pan and add the whole peeled tomatoes, onion, garlic and tomato paste. Break down the tomatoes into small chunks and mix the sauce well. Simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
5. Arrange the meatballs in a baking dish and top with the tomato sauce.
6. Break the mozzarella into small chunks and distribute evenly over the top of the dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for around 5 more minutes, until the cheese has browned.
7. Garnish with fresh basil and serve with sautéed leafy greens or salad.
This makes a total of 4 servings of Baked Italian Meatballs. Each serving comes out to be 378 calories, 26.4g fats, 6.4g net carbs, and 24.8g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 16 ounce ground beef | 1152 | 90.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 77.9 |
| 1 teaspoon dried oregano | 4 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| 1 teaspoon dried thyme | 3 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 ounce canned whole tomatoes | 127 | 2 | 27.5 | 15.1 | 12.5 | 6.3 |
| 1/2 cup red onion | 35 | 0.2 | 8.1 | 1.1 | 7 | 1.1 |
| 2 teaspoon fresh garlic | 8 | 0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| 1 tablespoon tomato paste | 13 | 0.1 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 0.7 |
| 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese | 168 | 12.5 | 1.2 | 0 | 1.2 | 12.4 |
| 1/4 cup fresh basil | 1 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Totals | 1513 | 105.7 | 43.8 | 18.1 | 25.6 | 99.2 |
| Per Serving (/4) | 378 | 26.4 | 10.9 | 4.5 | 6.4 | 24.8 |
Baked Italian Meatballs
Ingredients
- 16 ounce ground beef
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper
- 28 ounce canned whole tomatoes
- ½ cup red onion diced
- 2 teaspoon fresh garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ¼ cup fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, oregano, and thyme and season with salt and pepper.
- Divide the beef mixture and form golf ball-sized meatballs.
- Over medium heat fry the meatballs for around 5 minutes, until they are brown all over. Remove the meatballs from the pan.
- Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooking juices in the pan and add the whole peeled tomatoes, onion, garlic and tomato paste. Break down the tomatoes into small chunks and mix the sauce well. Simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
- Arrange the meatballs in a baking dish and top with the tomato sauce.
- Break the mozzarella into small chunks and distribute evenly over the top of the dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for around 5 more minutes, until the cheese has browned.
- Garnish with fresh basil and serve with sautéed leafy greens or salad.
I made a big batch of these on Sunday so I could eat it for lunches/dinners throughout the week. This is definitely a new favorite for me! I love a good flavorful meatball with a side of broccoli. Yum! Thank you so much!
Thank you Malinda!
Be careful with the ingredients you get—normal tomatoes are 2.7% net carbs, but canned tomatoes get to 4.5% net carbs, which blows the carbs on this dish right out, so make sure that you check the label on the can.
How many severing is the listed ingredient serve?
We list 4 servings based on this recipe, but serving sizes aren’t absolute. You can adjust the serving size to meet your macro needs, it doesn’t have to follow our serving size guidelines.
Does that mean 4 meatballs per serving?
Yes, that’s correct. Though the serving sizes we recommend are only recommendations. You can adjust recipes to eat to your macros.
I liked this recipe a lot but it isn’t worth 12 gm of carbs for one serving when I only get 20 gm per day. There are other recipes on here that have way less carbs per portion that I would do next time. But still delicious!
I’m really happy to hear you liked it! It’s 8g net carbs so it should fit within most people’s diet (most people follow 30g net carbs or less). With that said, you could easily reduce some of the tomatoes from the can since this is where the vast majority of the carbs are coming from. A little bit less saucy, but it will be tremendously lower in carbs.
Do you think this would work using just a cast iron?
Yeah definitely!
I had tried it anyway and it did! I also used sausage this time (this was my second time making these) and it was great!
Awesome – super glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Made this for Christmas eve dinner to bake after church. Was very disappointed.
I’m really sorry to hear that – could I hear what you didn’t like about the recipe?