I’ll confess right now that I’ve never made meatballs before. Not small ones, not giant ones, not “just-right” ones.

But one of the low-carb blogs I follow had several meatball recipes, so I thought it might behoove me to try at least one of them. Well, I didn’t end up with all the ingredients her recipe calls for, so I adapted. When you grow up with a mom who loves to cook and isn’t afraid to do the “pinch of this, dash of that” type of ingredient additions, you learn how to adjust recipes and what will and won’t (most likely) work.

And, boy howdy, did this work!

The Most Delicious Meatballs in the World
Click here for a printable PDF of this recipe.

• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 pound ground beef (80/20 preferably)
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 cup grated (powdered/dry) Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F (toaster oven 400°F). Line a 9×9-inch or 9×11-inch baking dish (with at least 2-inch-high sides) with foil. Or use a disposable aluminum pan. (I’m all about the easy cleanup, which is why I always line pans with foil or use disposable pans.)

In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add all other ingredients. Using a potato masher, mix until all ingredients are just combined. Do not overwork this or the meatballs will come out tough. (I used the potato masher instead of my hands for two reasons: first, it’s more sanitary; second, it keeps the ingredients colder, and thus the fats solid, until ready to form the meatballs.)

When combined, separate mixture into eight equally sized portions. I used a knife to create wedges, then scooped out each wedge. They weren’t quite even, but it was a good starting place. A large ice cream scoop (one of the perfectly round ones) would be great for this, too. Again, be careful not to overwork the meat. These will be LARGE meatballs:

If you prefer to measure by weight, each meatball should be 4 ounces, or 1/4 pound.

Place meatballs in pan as you finish forming them. It’s okay if they fit tightly into the pan, they’ll shrink up some as they cook. The 9×11 pan would probably be better than the 9×9 I used, but it was all I had. I had to make the last two oblong instead of round to get them to fit in.

Let the meatballs get friendly with each other.

Bake, uncovered, 40–50 minutes, or until juices run clear and tops are golden and crusty. There will be a lot of “juice” in the pan, so be very careful when removing it from the oven (this is why a wider pan would have been better for me—it would have allowed the juices to spread out more and for the meatballs to brown more around the sides).

Serve piping hot, topped with shredded Parmesan, if desired.

Serving size: 2 meatballs
3g net carbs

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The original recipe at the website linked above suggests serving these stewed in spaghetti sauce/marinara. The way I did them, they came out so tender and juicy that no additional sauce was needed. But with three servings left over, I’m going to try them that way, too.