March 24, 2022

Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs with Mom's Gravy

Name: Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs with Mom's Gravy
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef; ½ lb ground Italian pork sausage; 1 tbsp dried minced onion; ½ tsp garlic powder; ½ tsp ground black pepper; ¼ tsp kosher salt; ½ tbsp coconut aminos; 1 egg; ½ tsp fish sauce; ½ tsp distilled white vinegar; Pan drippings; 1 cup beef broth; ¼-½ tsp Kosher salt ((Start with 1/4 tsp and add more slowly if desired)); ¼-½ tsp ground black pepper ((Start with 1/4 tsp and add more if desired)); ¼ tsp garlic powder; 2 tbsp cassava flour; ½ cup water

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Ingredients

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
½ lb ground Italian pork sausage
1 tbsp dried minced onion
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp kosher salt
½ tbsp coconut aminos
1 egg
½ tsp fish sauce
½ tsp distilled white vinegar

Gravy

Pan drippings
1 cup beef broth
¼-½ tsp Kosher salt (Start with 1/4 tsp and add more slowly if desired)
¼-½ tsp ground black pepper (Start with 1/4 tsp and add more if desired)
¼ tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp cassava flour
½ cup water

Instructions

Meatballs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a bowl, mix together all meatball ingredients and roll into about 1.5″ balls. Mine usually makes 14 meatballs
Take a few spoonfuls of cassava flour and spread out on a plate. Roll each meatball in the flour, making sure they are just lightly coated.
In a medium sized skillet, heat up 1 Tablespoon of avocado or olive oil to about medium heat (You want your pan to sizzle when you add the meatballs)
Add in enough meatballs that you’re not crowding your skillet, and brown on all sides. You’re not cooking them through, but browning them. This takes about 5 minutes per batch. Work in batches until all of your meatballs have been browned. If needed, add more oil to your pan if it gets dry during the process
Placed browned meatballs into a casserole dish with a lid. Mine is a 2.5 quart and fits everything nicely.

Gravy

Keeping your pan drippings after browning the meatballs, add beef broth, kosher salt, ground black pepper, and garlic powder. Bring to a nice simmer and allow to cook for about 5-6 minutes
While that is simmering, mix 2 Tablespoons of cassava flour with 1/2 cup of warm water to make a “slurry”.
Turn up the heat on the gravy and slowly pour in the slurry while constantly whisking. Your gravy will start to thicken. Remove from heat when you've reached a nice thick consistency.
Grab your immersion blender and place it in the gravy and blend until the gravy is a nice thick creamy light brown color. Tip: You may have to tip your pan a bit to pool the gravy enough to get it to blend. Just keep your blender head flat to the bottom of the pan if you do this.
Pour the gravy over the meatballs, cover, and bake in the over for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to rest about 20 minutes before serving (They will be piping hot!) Tip; Your gravy may seem thin when you remove the dish from the oven. It will thicken back up as it rests and cools a bit.
Serve over mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

Lindsay Rhodes

Lindsay Rhodes currently lives in Chicago. She attended Butler University where she received her B.S. in Marketing and a minor in Strategic Communication. Previously, Lindsay has worked for management consulting firms as a marketing consultant and as a campus recruiter.