Italian Veggie Meatballs
Veggie-packed, oven-baked meatballs
Servings 24 meatballs
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Oven preheated to 350 degrees F
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely chopped baby spinach OR shredded zucchini
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (sub with Parmesan cheese if not dairy-free)
- 1 tsp onion powder, optional
- 1 tsp garlic powder, optional
- 1 egg (if egg-free: 1 egg replacer + 1 tbsp avocado oil)
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
Instructions
- Finely chop the baby spinach OR shred the zucchini.
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl except the meats: salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, paprika, nutritional yeast OR Parmesan cheese, onion and garlic powders, egg or egg replacer + avocado oil, tomato sauce, and spinach OR zucchini.
- Add the ground beef and ground pork. Mix with your hands or a large fork.
- Form into 1-2" meatballs, depending on your preference. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Add to a pot of the Easy From-Scratch Pasta Sauce and serve over your favorite gluten-free pasta or vegetable noodles. Top with nutritional yeast, if dairy-free, or grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.
Notes
1" meatballs yield about 50 meatballs.
2" meatballs yield about 24 meatballs.
My recipes will always say that onion and garlic are "optional" because I am intolerant to both. Any recipe that I make without onion and garlic are still tasty without them! However, since most people can tolerate them, I include them because they do enhance flavor.