Italian Meatballs with Zoodles

Italian Meatballs with Zoodles is a delicious low gluten-free, low-carb dinner made with juicy cheese stuffed meatballs simmered in a simple marinara sauce served over zucchini noodles. 

My family has been cutting carbs lately. While we aren’t doing a strict keto diet, we are making carbohydrate replacements often for something healthier. Swapping pasta for zoodles has ended up being one of our favorites ways to do this.

You may also like these Taco Zucchini Boats as another great family dinner night idea for lower carbs and another way to use zucchini. 

Italian Meatballs with Zoodles

Italian Meatballs with Zoodles have a crunchy base of zucchini with plump, delicious sausage meatballs over top. The sauce is simple and adds just the right amount of flavor to complete the dish. 

Tips & Tricks

Zoodles

Zucchini noodles are commonly known as “zoodles”. Zoodles are a healthy alternative to pasta and a great to get more vegetables in your diet! The trick to making zoodles is a quick cook time. Just a few flips in a hot pan is all it takes to cook zoodles. Don’t add salt because the salt can pull moisture from the zucchini making the zoodles too wet. 

I use this Spiralizer. You can buy it from Amazon. It is affordable and easy to use. 

Keto

If you are on a keto diet, make sure to read labels for all the tomato products. Tomatoes have carbohydrates so to keep them low for the day, checking labels is important. Also, keep in mind the other carbohydrates you have consumed for the day to stay on track. 

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Italian Meatballs with Zoodles

Italian Meatballs with Zoodles is a delicious low gluten-free, low carb dinner made with juicy cheese stuffed meatballs simmered in a simple marinara sauce served over zucchini noodles. 

Course dinner

Keyword Gluten Free, Keto, Meatballs, Zoodles, Zucchini

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 5 people

Author Amber

Equipment

• Spiralizer

Ingredients

Italian Meatballs with Zoodles

• 5 zucchinis
• olive oil
• basil leaves chopped
• Parmesan cheese shredded

Italian Meatballs

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup mozzarella shredded
• 1/2 cup parmesan shredded
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 garlic cloves minced

Sauce

• 1/2 yellow onion diced
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces can tomato paste
• 24 ounces can tomato sauce
• 14 ounces can diced tomatoes

Instructions

Zoodles

• Wash zucchinis.
• Use your spiralizer according to its instructions to create zoodles from the zucchinis.
• As the sauce finishes cooking in a separate pan, cook your zoodles. Place them into a hot pan for 3 minutes. Toss frequently. I like to do this in two batches to cook them evenly.

Italian Meatballs

• Place all the meatball ingredients into a large bowl. Use wet hands to thoroughly mix the ingredients.
• Form aprox 20 meatballs. I like to use a meatball press for even meatballs.
• Drizzle some olive oil into a hot pan on the stove top. Add meatballs. Cook until browned and then flip to brown the other side. I like to do this in two batches and set the meatballs to the side for a moment.

Sauce

• Add a tiny amount of olive and the diced onion to the hot pan. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook until aromatic which is about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Add the remainder of the sauce ingredients and stir.
• Add the meatballs back into pan. Lower temperature, cover pan with a lid and let simmer for 20 minutes.
• Stir in some chopped fresh basil. 1 -2 Tablespoons should be good.
• Serve over zoodles with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Notes

Also check food labels to ensure foods fit into a specific diet like keto or gluten-free. Most cheeses and tomato based sauces are gluten free but there are exceptions. 

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