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Italian Meatballs with Pesto Zucchini Noodles!

A 30 minute meal with paleo, Whole 30 and Keto options!

Course dinner
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Paleo recipes, whole30 recipes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author Linda Spiker

Ingredients

Zucchini

  • 4 medium zucchini washed and spiralized (about 8 cups if buying store bought)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 roma tomatoes diced
  • Small handful roasted pine nuts optional for garnish
  • Pesto: choose my dairy free version paleo/Whole30 or my traditional version (keto)

Meatballs:

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup almond meal almond flour
  • 2 teaspoons powdered garlic
  • 2 teaspoons onions powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 10 ounces ground beef
  • 10 ounces ground pork
  • Olive oil

Instructions

  1. Spiralize zucchini and place in colander
  2. Sprinkle with two generous pinches of sea salt while tossing, allow to rest. This prevents soggy zoodles.  While zoodles 'rest', you make pesto and meatballs
  3. Make pesto (recipes linked above) and dice tomatoes, set aside
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  5. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, spices and almond meal. Add the beef and pork, season generously with salt and pepper, and mix with hands until combined. Using wet hands, form the mixture into 1-inch meatballs (should make about 12)
  6. Place a large oven safe pan on medium heat for 60 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and heat until hot but not smoking
  7. Add meatballs cooking for three minutes, then gently turn, cooking for another three minutes on the second side
  8. Place meatballs in oven for 5-6 minutes or until cooked through. While meatballs are in oven cook zucchini noodles

Cook zoodles:

  1. Heat a medium sized pan on high heat
  2. While pan heats, use paper towels to squeeze excess water out of zucchini noodles
  3. Place 1 tablespoon olive oil in pan, add zucchini and cook, tossing for 3-5 minutes
  4. Add pesto to zucchini and toss, use as much as you like
  5. Plate, top with diced tomatoes (and pine nuts if using) and meatballs, serve