Mary's Keto Meatballs
My parents taught me to cook from a young age and I love them for that (among other reasons!). But, a lot of my Italian recipes came from Mary.. my work mom. My first job out of college was as a financial analyst sitting in a row of cubicles, gotta love that cubicle life. Mary's cube faced mine, so we basically could only see each other from our desks.
She makes an eggplant parm that will knock your socks off and I was blessed with that stuff on almost a weekly basis. I'd show up to work and there would be a tupperware waiting for me, I'm not kidding you when I say she would bring me in leftovers at least 2-3 days per week. Her kids apparently don't do leftovers, but I guess I wouldn't either if I had Mary cooking for me at home too.
When I left the company to pursue new adventures in Los Angeles, Mary bestowed two final parting gifts to me. A full tray of eggplant parm. Along with a tray of chicken parm, baked ziti, and of course meatballs and second she gave me the recipes to each! Jackpot.
Well here I am a decade 6 years later, still love to cook and still love Mary's food. Only now I am full on keto making these recipes not part of the diet, they also did a damn good just making me fat. So I hoped on the phone with Mary and talked ketofication strategy... turns out she's already been on the low carb train and making low carb versions of her recipes!
On to the meatballs, so tasty, so delicious… I usually eat one too many but who’s counting. Just kidding I am, I’m counting macros and these are macro approved. Need I say more?
This recipe make about 35 meatballs depending on how big you make them, mine are roughly ~60 grams each. If you’re a single person like I am shopping in bulk vs food waste can be a big issue, which why I love meatballs! They store easily in the freezer and they don't require much defrost time.
The Steps...
Adds all ingredients to a bowl except cream and eggs
Mash and Mix thoroughly! The last thing you want is one meatball with all of the garlic… that’s a hot ball.
Add in the cream and eggs and mix thoroughly*
On a large baking sheet or parchment paper roll out the meatballs. I use a scale and weigh out each one. The total recipe came out to just under 2000 grams which means I could make 35 balls at 58g each, which is the typical size.
In a frying pan heat cooking oil (I use walnut or avocado oil) to a medium heat.
Cook evenly letting them crisp on one side for about 10 minutes.
Flip and cook for about 5 more minutes. Cooking times very for size
* When mixing wet and dry ingredients it's a good rule of thumb to mix separately before adding everything together. This will prevent a clump of almond flour in the middle of your meatball.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef (The macros are for 85/15 beef)
- 1 pound ground pork (80/20 trader joes)
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup pork rinds
- 6 eggs
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- ½ cup freshly chopped basil
- ½ cup freshly chopped Italian parsley
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons garlic
- 1 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper