Paleo Crockpot Meatballs
I made these Paleo crockpot meatballs the other night and served them over cauliflower “noodles.” I knew that my husband and I would like them, but what I didn’t plan for was my 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old sons to gobble up their meal…and then ask for seconds! Meal time is often a struggle with the kids, so I love meals that are chock full of hidden veggies. The fact that they cleaned their plates and couldn’t wait to have leftovers the next day speaks volumes about this dish. These meatballs will definitely be on to the menu rotation more often!
Paleo Crockpot Meatballs
Author/Source:
Christine @ Onceamonthmom.com
Ingredients:
- 2 medium eggs
- 0.5 medium onion, diced
- 0.5 cup carrots, shredded
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 0.25 cup almond flour (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 pounds ground beef, preferably grass-fed and grass-finished
- 2 cups diced tomatoes
- 3/4 cup tomato paste
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Mix in onion, carrot, garlic, almond flour (optional), dried oregano, and salt. Add ground beef and mix thoroughly. Scoop 1/4 cup of ground beef mixture, roll into a meatball, and add to baking sheet. Repeat until sheet is full. Place in oven and bake for about 20 minutes until browned. In a large bowl, mix together diced tomatoes, tomato paste, basil leaves, and garlic. Pour on top of meatballs in slow-cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Freezing Directions:
Portion meatballs and sauce into freezer bags. Lay flat and freeze. To serve: Thaw. Heat in microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes.
Servings: 4
**conversion chart image provided by Erik Spiekermann
How do you do cauliflower noodles exactly?
They really weren’t noodles…more like cauliflower chopped up really fine. But with the meatballs and sauce on top of it, my kids didn’t even notice the extra veggies!
Sounds REALLY good, thank you! I LOVE slow cooker recipes and love cauliflower and I will be trying this-hopefully this week. I have to chime in though…It kills me when people go to all the trouble and expense and then MICROWAVE the food!!! (as in the thawing part). Seriously, everyone, PLEASE research and you will find out that microwaving changes the food (not in good ways) AND kills all the good enzymes, vitamins and minerals you work so hard to get by getting grass -fed, organic, etc. Be kind to your food and your body, DON’T microwave anything you plan on eating! In this case couldn’t you just re-heat in the slow-cooker?
I see what you’re saying, but giving specific instructions on how to reheat on the stove, slow-cooker, or oven would just have to many variables. Sometimes I say, “To serve: Thaw and reheat.” Other times I just give specific directions for the microwave. It’s just one of those times where the majority of people who don’t use the microwave know how to adjust so I’m not as specific.
Maybe I should say these meatballs are so stinkin’ good that they won’t even make it to the freezer! Then we won’t even have to worry about it :)
Would it work to freeze these after baking and BEFORE slow cooking?
yes you could do that too!
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Made these tonight, we ate half, froze half. They were pretty good, paired with spaghetti squash. I’d probably make them again.
Thanks for a great recipe- I just made these and they were tasty and easy. I didn’t have fresh basil so I used an ice-cube sized cube of pesto.
Oh, and I served them with roasted shredded cabbage and garlic yogurt aoli.
Ok, so I’m not understanding why you would put these in the crockpot after baking in the oven? Seems like an unnecessary step that just dirties an extra dish.
Baking them helps to create a seal and then in putting them in the crockpot with the sauce locks in the flavor and cooks them thoroughly. You can just bake them and cook them in the sauce if you’d like. But if you’re making them ahead and freezing them we then recommend just baking, then freezing. Then on your serving day, you can put them in the crockpot so you don’t have to think about cooking!