My husband loves spaghetti and meatballs, unfortunately I’ve always hated making meatballs. They’ve always been time-consuming, and messy. You have to mix them up then form the balls, then bake them, and finally you can add them to your sauce. How long did that take, and how many dishes did we dirty? I’d make them occasionally because he loves them so, but not very often. After finding a slow cooker recipe and changing it to fit a low FODMAPS diet, I may be making meatballs much more often!
Once again, I found the original recipe on Stephanie O’Dea’s site, A Year of Slow Cooking. Her recipe is called Not Your Mother’s Meatballs, it sounded easy and with just a few minor adjustments I made gluten-free, fructose friendly meatballs!
Slow Cooker Meatballs with Spaghetti Sauce
Meatballs
Here’s the original recipe Not Your Mother’s Meatballs in blue, my adjustments are noted:
1.5 pounds lean ground beef
4 slices smoked bacon, diced (raw; don’t cook it)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Panko-style breadcrumbs (I used Kinnikinnick Gluten Free Bread Crumbs)
2 eggs (I only used one large egg)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 good tablespoon garlic infused olive oil
(you could add some asafoetida powder if you wanted, but I didn’t this time)
additional ingredients:
1 cup flour (I used rice flour) I used potato flour, just what I had on hand)
1 can Tomato Puree (it’s the large can, I think it’s 22oz)or
2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
(as is this was very tasty, but I think next time I’ll add a little asafoetida powder or spring onion to the sauce, I missed the onion flavor, but everyone else said they loved it just the way it was!)
The Directions.
Use a 6-quart slow cooker. (I used a 4.5 qt slow cooker, this cooker is oval so it held more meatballs in a single layer) Spray the inside of your cooker with cooking spray, or rub it down with a bit of olive oil (don’t go crazy, just a little glisten) *we simply forgot to oil the cooker, but had no sticking* and set aside.
In a good-sized mixing bowl, combine the chopped parsley Italian Seasoning, ground beef, and diced bacon. Add in Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, eggs, and the dried spices black pepper. Combine well— I’d use your hands (remove rings, wash appropriately, and all that good stuff that if I had a legal team they’d tell me to include).
After the meat is mixed, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Pour 1 cup of flour (I used rice potato flour) into a shallow dish (pie pan works great).
Roll meat into golfball-sized balls and then lightly dust each meat ball with flour before placing onto the lined cookie sheet. When all the meat is gone, put the whole cookie sheet into the freezer for 1 hour, or until completely frozen. It’s okay to freeze overnight, if you’d like to break this into two days (put in sealed dish/Tupperware if freezing for longer).
Once your meatballs are frozen, place them one-by-one (this means don’t dump!) into your lightly greased slow cooker. It’s okay to stack them. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the broth and tomato paste to create a gravy. Pour this evenly over the meatballs. Cover, and cook on low for 5 hours, or until the meatballs have browned and are fully cooked. I cooked the meatballs pictured above on low for 5 hours, then let them sit on warm for another 3 1/2 hours before dinner was served. I made the meatballs at night, and put them in a container and froze over night. In the morning my husband simply added them to the cooker, and added the tomato puree, and Italian Seasoning. Cooked on High for 4 hours, they smelled so good and looked done, so I tested and they were cooked through. We weren’t going to be having dinner for a couple of hours and the cooker we used doesn’t have a warm setting, so I turned it off and about 15 mins before serving I turned it on High again. Note: we did carefully stir these a few times because it was getting too done around the sides. I suggest not to stir them for the first hour or so to make sure they stay intact.
Serve alongside pasta or rice, or all on their own. These are filling!
We served them with Tinkyada’s Spinach Spaghetti Pasta, and extra Parmesan cheese.
The verdict at my house? Please make these again!! Meatballs often fall apart in the slow cooker, the freezing is the key to this recipe!
The only things I might change, not add as much bacon and dice it up smaller than I did this time (possibly leave it out all together). Add some asafoetida powder or the green parts of spring onions to the sauce.
