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Sweet and Sour Meatballs (Low Carb)
Slightly sweet and tangy, these low carb Sweet and Sour Meatballs are a healthy version of comfort food. Eat alone or pair with cauliflower rice for a delicious, filling meal. This recipe is low carb, gluten free, keto friendly, and a Trim Healthy Mama S Fuel!
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I have had ideas for this recipe for a very long time, but I finally got around to tweaking it to my liking, so now I can share it with you! I may or may not have had these for both lunch AND dinner yesterday. (Ok, I did.) They were so good!
You do not have to use my meatball recipe . . . you can use any low carb recipe you like, but at the end of this post I will give some suggestions for Trim Healthy Mamas. You can easily make the meatballs a FP, and then you can eat them with brown rice for an E Fuel (my favorite way)!
The meatballs themselves are easy to make, and can even be made ahead and frozen. On the day you want to make this recipe, just pull them out to thaw, then all you have to do is make the sauce and heat the meatballs! So easy!
I chose to use a tomato based sauce so I could keep these low carb (a THM-S), but I would really love to experiment with using pineapple in the sauce (which would make them a THM-E). I already have a Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe that I love! (It is made in the Instant Pot, which is a big plus for me! Can you say EASY?)
If you are not a big fan of the peppers or onions in your sauce, you can omit them, but they do help add to the bulk of the sauce.
So, what do you need for these Sweet and Sour Meatballs?
For the Meatballs:
3/4 Pounds Ground Meat (I used Elk, but you can use Venison or Beef)
2 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Onion
1.5 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
¼ Teaspoon Thyme
1/2 Tablespoon Parsley
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce (optional)
1 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Oil
For the Sauce:
3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon Xylitol
½ Teaspoon Garlic Salt
2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos (or Soy Sauce)
½ Cup Water
Other Ingredients:
½ Onion, Sliced
½ Green Bell Pepper, chopped
½ Sweet Red Pepper, chopped
If you want to turn this into an E Meal (Trim Healthy Mamas), make sure you use very lean burger, brown the meatballs in a small amount of water (instead of oil) in the skillet, replace the egg with 3 Tablespoons Egg Whites, and replace the Heavy Whipping Cream with Unsweetened Almond Milk. This should keep the meatballs and sauce a Fuel Pull, which you could then eat with brown rice! Yay!
And if you want a more traditional recipe, check out this Keto Sweet and Sour Chicken! (Yum!)
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Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 3/4 Pounds Ground Meat I used Elk, but you can use Venison or Beef
- 2 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Onion
- 1.5 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
- ¼ Teaspoon Thyme
- 1/2 Tablespoon Parsley
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Oil
For the Sauce:
- 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 1 Tablespoon Xylitol
- ½ Teaspoon Garlic Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce
- ½ Cup Water
Other Ingredients:
- ½ Onion Sliced
- ½ Green Bell Pepper chopped
- ½ Sweet Red Pepper chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix all the meatball ingredients (except toasted sesame oil) together, until well combined.
- Place toasted sesame oil in a skillet and heat over medium heat.
- Brown meatballs for about 5-6 minutes on each side, until almost cooked through.
- Remove meatballs from skillet.
- Add onions and peppers to the skillet and sauté until vegetables are tender.
- Mix tomato paste, xylitol, garlic salt, rice vinegar, liquid aminos, and water.
- Place the meatballs back in the skillet, then pour the sauce over the meatballs and pepper mixture.
- Cover with a lid, turn heat down and simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until sauce has reduced some and meatballs are cooked through.
- Serve with cauliflower rice.
Notes
Nutrition
It sounds yummy!! Approximately how many meatballs will it make.. Just so I know how many it will serve. Thanks.
You should get about 20 meatballs. (The nutritional facts are calculated for 5 meatballs.)
I made this recipe using frozen Italian meatballs from Costco, and I used erythritol instead of xylitol. The sauce was so good! Definitely a keeper.
Sarah, the flavors here are amazing! My meatballs were dry, but I think I used too much meat and cooked them through before letting them simmer in sauce (hazard of using my phone for recipes LOL) I think next time I want to double up on the sauce but man, flavor wise…spot on girl! We loved them despite my errors haha!
Great recipe. I’ve made this twice now. The second time I tried it using ground chicken. It was fantastic! Maybe even better than ground beef.