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This is the best paleo meatball recipe you’ll ever make! Homemade Whole30 meatballs, full of meat and veggies, are smothered in a creamy tomato sauce for a satisfying Italian dinner that’s also dairy-free and low-carb.
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- They’re made with shredded zucchini, which keeps the meatballs super tender, plus ups your daily veggie intake (and the kids will never even know it’s there!).
- The creamy tomato sauce is super simple but also kind of life-changing. The coconut cream cuts the tomato’s acidity just enough to make you want to treat the sauce left in the bowl as a soup… Slurp up, my friends.
- These Italian paleo meatballs are actually quite easy to make, especially if you use a disher to portion out the individual meatballs, so they’re fantastic for meal prep. They keep so well, too!
Is your Whole30 M.O. like ours? In my house, the month of squeaky clean eating and elimination of allergenic foods could otherwise be called “The Month of Meatballs.” They’re just so easy to throw together for a dinner or to meal prep for the week, aren’t they? To dip in Whole30 dump ranch or stir into a creamy sauce. Oh, oh oh.
Meaning your girl is pretty well versed when it comes to the paleo meatballs out there, and Italian paleo meatballs are no exception. So you should know when I make this claim that I’m really saying something:
These are the best ever Italian paleo meatballs.
How to Make Them
Mix together all meatball ingredients.
Use a disher to portion out the meatballs and roll slightly to form even spheres. If you don’t have a disher, use a spoon to try and portion out the meatballs mixture evenly then roll between your palms.
Fry meatballs in coconut or avocado oil in a large skillet, working in batches. Transfer to a plate.
Sauté garlic in the same pan, adding a bit of oil, then add remaining sauce ingredients. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat slightly; simmer until a bit thickened. Return meatballs to skillet and simmer a couple minutes in sauce. Serve over zoodles or alone!
Chef’s Tips
- This recipe makes a good amount of sauce, because sauce = life. However, you can cut things down to 1 can crushed tomatoes and 1/2 cup coconut cream, if you prefer. Simply neatly halve the sauce ingredients, and there you go!
- Use a food processor with a shredding blade attached to make prepping the zucchini super easy.
- Chop the spinach pretty fine so it blends beautifully with the meat mixture.
- Use a disher to evenly and quickly portion out the meatballs. I like this one.
Variations
- Use ground chicken or beef in place of the ground pork in this recipe. I prefer chicken and pork for these Italian Whole30 meatballs, since it stays more tender in my opinion, but a ground beef that’s not too terribly lean would be good, too!
- Swap out the chopped spinach for chopped chard leaves or even kale!
- Increase the coconut cream for an even creamier tomato sauce.
More Paleo Recipes You’ll Love
- Whole30 Zuppa Toscana
- Chimichurri Whole30 Meatballs with Swiss Chard
- Sweet Potato Rice
- Whole30 Chicken Bacon Ranch Poppers
- Bruschetta Chicken (Whole30, Paleo, Low Carb)
Best Ever Italian Paleo Meatballs with Creamy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Italian Paleo Meatballs
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground chicken or more ground pork
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 2 cups chopped fresh spinach
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- refined coconut oil or avocado oil for frying
Creamy Tomato Sauce
- 2 teaspoons avocado or refined coconut oil
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 14-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup coconut cream just the solid white part from 1-2 cans of coconut cream or milk
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 – 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Combine all meatball ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix until combined well, using your hands. Do not overmix.
- Use a disher and portion out meatball mixture into even balls; repeat until all meatball mixture is used.
- Heat a layer of refined coconut or avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry meatballs in batches until brown on all sides and cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
- Pour out oil if excess remains. Add 2 teaspoons avocado or refined coconut oil to skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and, stirring constantly, cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add remaining sauce ingredients and stir to combine well. Bring to a low boil then reduce heat slightly and simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until a bit thickened.
- Return meatballs to skillet and simmer 3-5 minutes to absorb sauce. Serve over zoodles or alone and top with fresh chopped parsley.
Video
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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These are amazing! Hands down, my favorite meatballs ever!
That’s awesome, I’m so happy you loved it!
If I don’t have a zucchini, do you think I could use more spinach in place of it?
Sure!
Hi! I love these and your other recipes! I am planning meal prep for when my baby arrives and want to add this to my freezer. Do you recommend freezing after they have been cooked or before? Thank you!
I would do after! Congrats on your impending bundle 🙂
This recipe is amazing! The hubs and I were both so delighted by it the beautiful flavors of the sauce and meatballs. I did find my meatball mix seemed too loose so I added 1 egg to the mix. After I portioned them out I put them in the freezer while I got my sauce ingredients ready. These 2 things did the trick and the meatballs were amazing! For the sauce we added 1 cup of shredded zucchini and about 3 big handfuls of spinach after the meatballs were warmed through. We used these in place of noodles and it was perfect!
Sounds great!!
Did I do something wrong? My meatballs came out very green and crumbly. I used the portions outlined in the recipe but they fell apart. Was I supposed to squeeze out the zucchini after shredding it? Did I put too much of something in?
Hmmm that’s very strange, we’ve never had anything like that happen before! Did you use a different type of ground meat? Did you chop things in the food processor, did you bake them instead of pan frying them? Just trying to troubleshoot this for you!
Do you do anything else with the zucchini before/after shredding (ie deseeding before or straining excess water after?)
We don’t! Easy enough, right?
This was so good!! I had issues with some of the meatballs wanting to break down so I went ahead and baked them off to make sure they were cooked through and I think I’ll do that next time, they cooked so good in the oven. I made up some spaghetti squash and green beans to go with this and my 3.5yo loved it! Saving this recipe for later.
Cooked this today!! And my partner and I loved it a lot!!! I was hoping to have some leftover for lunch tomorrow, but it was sooo good we finished them all! Thank you Cheryl for this recipe!!
I love love love this recipe. I could drink the sauce. I use all ground turkey and serve it over gluten free noodles. So delicious! My 4 and 1 yr old and hubby approve too!
About how many meatballs total do you get out of this recipe?
About 30. 🙂 Depends on the type of disher you use for the meat!