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These Make Ahead Meatballs are a life saver! ย Make a big batch and freeze them. ย Then at dinner time you just need to reheat and eat! ย Even better, they are Paleo, Gluten Free and Whole 30 compliant!
These Make Ahead Meatballs are a life saver! Make a big batch and freeze them. Then at dinner time you just need to reheat and eat! Even better, they are Paleo, Gluten Free and Whole 30 compliant!

These Make Ahead Meatballs are a life saver! Make a big batch and freeze them. Then at dinner time you just need to reheat and eat! Even better, they are Paleo, Gluten Free and Whole 30 compliant!

I am not lying when I tell you that these Make Ahead Meatballs are life savers. ย We all have those days where we don’t even think about dinner until dinnertime – and maybe we are tired or lazy or just don’t feel like cooking. ย And that is when the takeout usually happens. ย But if I have these Make Ahead Meatballs stashed in my freezer, dinner is saved! ย I usually make a batch of my Easy 20 Minute Marinara and throw a spaghetti squash in the microwave and then I have a low carb, homemade meal in 20 minutes. ย Of course if you are not going the low carb route you could make some pasta in the same amount of time, or serve the meatballs on crusty bread and make a meatball sandwich.

These Make Ahead Meatballs are a life saver! Make a big batch and freeze them. Then at dinner time you just need to reheat and eat! Even better, they are Paleo, Gluten Free and Whole 30 compliant!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase the items I recommend through the links I provide, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. For more info, please see myย disclosure policy. Thanks for supporting Fox and Briar!

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I had been wanting to make a grain free meatball, and had played around with different binders – I even tried oats once! ย I really wanted to have a meatball that was gluten free, paleo and Whole 30 compliant.ย  Then I found this recipe from Noshtastic, and it worked so well! I just made a few small changes and these became my go-to meatball. I don’t miss the breadcrumbs at all, and the egg does a good job binding them together.

These Make Ahead Meatballs are a life saver! Make a big batch and freeze them. Then at dinner time you just need to reheat and eat! Even better, they are Paleo, Gluten Free and Whole 30 compliant!

Discovering that they freeze well was a game changer. ย After baking them, allow to cool completely. ย We use our foodsaver ย (affiliate link) to seal them into portions of 4 or 8 so that we can only thaw as many as we need per meal. ย If you don’t have a foodsaver, I would recommend freezing them individually on a baking sheet and then sealing in a freezer bag in smaller portions. ย We find that 2-3 meatballs per person is a good serving, but that may vary depending on the size of the meatballs and how hungry everyone is.

These Make Ahead Meatballs are a life saver! Make a big batch and freeze them. Then at dinner time you just need to reheat and eat! Even better, they are Paleo, Gluten Free and Whole 30 compliant!

To reheat, I just throw the frozen meatballs into the marinara sauce and let them thaw and warm up as the sauce cooks. ย No need to remember to thaw them out in the morning!

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Make Ahead Meatballs (Paleo, Gluten Free, Whole 30)

4.85 from 13 votes
Prep 1 hour 2 minutes
Cook 2 hours 3 minutes
Total 3 hours 4 minutes
Servings 24 Meatballs
These Make Ahead Meatballs are a life saver! ย Make a big batch and freeze them. ย Then at dinner time you just need to reheat and eat! ย Even better, they are Paleo, Gluten Free and Whole 30 compliant!

Ingredients 

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 400ยฐF. ย Line two baking sheets with foil, set aside.
  • Combine all ingredients until well mixed. ย Shape mixture into equal sized balls, about 2 tablespoons each (I used an ice cream scoop for easy portioning). ย When shaping balls, don't pack them too tightly or they may become tough.
  • Arrange on the lined baking sheets, about 12 per sheet. ย Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through.
  • Can serve right away or freeze for later. Allow to cool completely before freezing. After cooling, separate into desired portions and seal in freezer bags or food saver bags and freeze.

Notes

Serve with Easy 20 Minute Marinara for a quick meal!

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Did you like this recipe?Please comment, rate and share! And donโ€™t forget to tag me on Instagram @foxandbriar AND #foxandbriar so I can see what you made!

Adapted from Noshtastic

Hello! I’m Meghan.

I am so glad that you are here! I am the recipe developer, photographer, and writer here at my blog Fox and Briar. I am a passionate, self-taught home cook and believe that most things are better homemade and that good food doesnโ€™t need to be complicated.

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4.85 from 13 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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71 Comments

  1. Moisture can be added by adding some finely chopped mushrooms. For a sweeter flavor, a little unsweetened applesauce added is nice.

  2. 5 stars
    Thank you for this recipe. I just made them for my daughter who was just diagnosed with celiac. She (age 4), and her brother (8) both loved them! I did add a little extra s+p but left the red pepper flakes out.

  3. I wonder if I can place these into a crock pot in their raw state and cook in a sauce? The only thing I worry about is having a lot of fat in my sauce, only because if it is a lot of fat that cooks out then the sauce can get kind of weird. Any thoughts or has anyone tried it? Thanks!

    1. Hi Kayley – I have never tried this so I can’t be sure! I know some people cook raw meatballs in sauce so I imagine it would work, but I can’t say for sure how they would turn out. If you do try it, let us know!

  4. Hello trying to make for a friend that is gluten, egg & diary free. what can I use instead of egg? thanks

    1. Hi Dee – you could try leaving the egg out. It is a binder, so they may not stay together as well, but I think they will still work. I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. Let me know how they turn out!

    2. 5 stars
      My mom made them for me with out get but she boiled them they stayed together better than when they baked and she only used beef no pork Iโ€™m allergic to pork and gluten and egg. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

    3. Flax egg to replace egg shoulwork the same . I sub this for many recipes but haven’t tried n this one yet. One tbsp of ground flax mixed in two tbsp of water Aleta it for a gel for about 10 minutes = one egg

    1. Hi Merri,
      It varies depending on how big you make them, but it makes approximately 24 meatballs. Hope that helps!

  5. Oh this is great! My husband can’t have gluten and I have an urge this week to make meatballs (i haven’t made them in a long time). I’m going to make them ahead tonight so we can enjoy them Thursday. Thank-you for the recipe.

  6. Awesome meatballs – made them tonight and freezing for the week.

    any chance you have the nutrition facts per meatball? i’m adhering to a pretty strict calorie and carb diet at the moment. I’ll try to work it out as well.

    Thanks again!

    1. Hi Logan, I’m so glad you loved the meatballs! I don’t currently have nutrition info for this recipe, but if you are on a strict diet it is probably better for you to do the calculations on your own anyway. The nutrition information can vary so greatly depending on the exact ingredients, brands and amounts you use, plus all nutrition calculators will vary a bit due to their own algorithms. My Fitness Pal or Lose it! are great, free nutrition calculators that I have used to figure out nutritional info. Hope that helps!

  7. Delicious! Just made them as you said paying attention to fatter meats…and added sautรฉed onions. Yummy. Thank you!

  8. I made these.. and the flavor was good, but despite my attention to packing the loosely they were still very stiff and tough. any tips on making them more tender?

    1. Hi Lisa – the lack of breadcrumbs make them a little tougher. The best way to deal with that is to add more fat. So you can increase the ground pork to a 2-1 ratio (2 lbs pork to 1 lb beef) Also be sure you are using a higher fat beef like an 80/20 instead of a low fat ground beef. I also really like to simmer these in marinara sauce as a way to reheat them, it makes them much juicier. Here is my easy marinara sauce recipe that I always use with these: https://www.staging.foxandbriar.com/twenty-minute-classic-marinara-sauce/ – I hope that helps!

  9. What about turkey burger? I cannot eat red meat so we always use turkey. I never really tell a difference between ground beef and ground turkey anymore, but I see all the meatball recipes call for both beef and pork. I was just curious as to why they need both and if it would make a difference using just ground turkey.

    1. Hi Sarah – you can definitely try it with ground turkey, but turkey usually has less fat and that tends to make the meatballs dry. I haven’t tried it myself but I think it would work (although, as I said, the meatballs may be a bit dry). You may even think about adding an extra egg to make up for some of the fat lost. Let me know how it turns out!

      1. I use chopped up green bell peppers in my turkey burgers which makes them less dry.

  10. 5 stars
    Thanks so much for your incredible recipes! I was only looking for “healthy” marinara sauce but found the meatballs and printed both.

    1. Hi Cookie, Yay! Thank you so much for your comment! I hope you love both of the recipes, they are regulars in our house!

  11. appreciate your testing this recipe with egg binding, I was curious to see what might work without the bread binder, also great tip about freezing ahead of time, especially since I like meatballs for a lot things, even on their own!

    1. Hi Catey – I just used regular ground pork in these – no flavorings. But I’m sure they would be good with sausage too!

    1. Hi Katie – I usually reheat them in marinara sauce. I just toss them in the sauce while they are still frozen and simmer for about 20 minutes.

  12. Yum! I can’t wait to make these, since beef and pork has been part of my pregnancy cravings these days. Is there a particular type of marinara sauce you like to use?

  13. Oh wow, this recipe comes at a PERFECT time for me. Earlier this week, I made spaghetti & meatballs for my husband’s dinner. He was surprised that I “knew how to make meatballs”…..until I sheepishly pulled the ready-made Kroger meatballs out of the fridge. He eats meat, I don’t, and I’m always iffy on how to cook it for him. But now I can whip up these lovingly-made meatballs, without worrying that I’m gonna mess it up.

    1. Aww, Annie! I still think you are the best wife ever for making your hubs meaty dinners when you are a vegetarian. I hope he loves these!