These Keto Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs are a filling and flavor-packed meal on their own, or you can add them as a topping to some of your favorite Keto-friendly pasta alternatives too. Maybe you could even whip up some Fathead Dough to make some rolls and turn these into an awesome Keto Meatball Sandwich!

If you want to reduce the carbs even further, you could always leave out the Marinara Sauce and just eat the meatballs by themselves, but I think you miss out on a ton of the flavor if you do. When buying the Mozzarella (both the Cheese Sticks and the Block Cheese to shred) make sure that you buy the Low Moisture Whole Fat (Whole Milk) version and not the Low Moisture Part Skim version. The Part Skim Version is lower in fat, and also melts differently than the Whole Fat variety. That will usually be labeled on the outside of the packaging very clearly so that you can spot the difference. It won’t be a disaster if you use the wrong kind, but we also aren’t trying to lower the fat content of this dish by any means either.

Some people don’t eat pork, so thankfully many butchers will also make Chicken Sausage varieties of their Sweet or Hot Italian Sausages. I typically get mine from the local butcher, who sells it in cased sausages as well as ground bulk options. Either way it’s the same meat and when he runs out of bulk I will just purchase the sausages whole and remove them from their natural casing.

What kind of dish does this inspire you to make at home? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this post, and check below the recipe for a video on how to prepare this kitchen hit all by yourself!

If you like Keto-friendly Italian-style recipes you should also check out our Keto Low Carb Lasagna Recipe and our Keto Italian Style Meatloaf Recipe too.

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs in a Pan

 



KETO STUFFED MEATBALLS RECIPE

Ease of Preparation: Easy

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Total Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

 




Instructions:

  1. Preheat the Oven to Broil (Usually about 500*F).
  2. In a Large Mixing Bowl Combine the Grass-Fed Beef with the Hot Italian Sausage.
  3. Add in the Crushed Parmesan Cheese Whisps, Granulated Garlic, Salt, Pepper, and Oregano. Combine well.
  4. Slice the Mozzarella Cheese Sticks into roughly 1/2″ long sections.
  5. Oil an Oven Safe pan with your choice of oil. Avocado Oil is usually preferred for high heat applications like this, as it has less of a tendency to smoke. I prefer Unfiltered Olive Oil for the flavor, but that can get a little smokey.
  6. Take a pinch of the meatball mixture and tuck one of the Mozzarella Cheese Stick slices into the middle of it and roll into a ball. Place the Meatballs into the pan, and be sure to slide them back and forth a little bit when placing them in the pan to insure that the bottom of the meatball is coated in oil (This seems to help prevent sticking to the pan).
  7. Place the pan of meatballs in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until the top of the meatballs just begins to get a brown crisp to the top of them.
  8. Carefully remove the pan from the oven, and top the meatballs with the jar of Mezzetta Marinara Sauce, and 8 ounces of shredded Mozzarella Cheese.
  9. Place the pan back in the oven for about 5 to 7 more minutes, or until the Mozzarella Cheese on top is browned or bubbling to your liking.
  10. Remove from the oven, and optionally top with a sprinkle of Parsley and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes.

SERVING SUGGESTION: I tend to just eat these by themselves, as they are very filling, and with the Marinara Sauce you are technically getting in your veggies. If you are looking to serve these on a Keto-friendly pasta, I would suggest trying them on top of some Palm Heart Noodles, Zucchini Noodles, Spaghetti Squash, or even some Shirataki Noodles.



Amanda Dawn

HI! I'm Amanda. A trained chef, nutritionist, and writer who is passionate about helping people live a healthy lifestyle. I lost 75 lbs in my journey and I love to help others enjoy great, wholesome food!

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69 Comments

  1. This sound delicious. I’m definitely going to give this recipe a try this weekend. Wish you could have this kind of food ready-made, though. I’ve tried a couple of brands with ready-made keto-friendly meals before, but haven’t found anything good yet. I am thinking about this brand that’s got relatively good reviews – bit.ly/ketodietfoodreview. I know that you prefer homemade meals (obviously). But have you ever tried one of those “meal replacement” before? Or have you had a chance to try this brand yet? Not sure whether it would be nearly as yummy as these meatballs though 🙂

    1. How many servings does this make?

      1. I have the Mezzetta jar in front of me and it’s 4 net carbs per 1/2 cup. We aren’t strict, so I didn’t feel like calculating much 😉
        Hope that helps at least a little!

      2. I would like to know also the serving size and macros

      3. How many servings does this make

      4. I’m making these for the first time tonight and this makes about 24 meatballs.

      5. Kristen Hargraves

        What is/are the macros for this meal?

    2. A friend substituted a boiled egg for the cheese. Served just the meatball as a fingerfood at a small gathering. Really good. I would have offered the sauce as a dipping sauce.

    3. have you tried Ruled.me ? There are a TON of recipes on there that are great, as I’ve tried a TON of them

  2. How many calories, carbs, protein in stuffed meatballs?

    1. Would you please send me the carb count and calories are in the stuffed meatball .

  3. Where are nutritional values? This looks good but how can I stay at 20 carbs a day without knowing how many are in recipe?

    1. I agree with David. What is the comment section for when noone ever answers. How do we know it’s Keto. How can we count it toward our 20 daily carbs? Discouraging.

      1. I find it annoying as well as I’m guessing (hoping) they would have done the calculations at some point to ensure it was falling within keto guidelines so why not include them. I did my own calculations and not counting the spices at the end and using 4 servings it comes out to 88g fat, 4 g carbs and 59.6 g protein. Roughly.

      2. I agree with David and Jan. I am a diabetic who needs to count carbs to know how much insulin I need.

        1. All you need to do is use the info on the products you use and calculate the macros yourself. This is best as all brands tend to be different.

    2. For all commenting and inquiring about Nutrition/Carb count: I plan on putting this in the recipe builder section of Carb Manager – Shouldn’t be difficult to figure out. Haven’t done it yet, but making this for dinner now. Using Rao’s Arirabbiata Sauce which is 4 carbs and 3/4 cup spaghetti squash which is 6 carbs. If you look at just the meatballs, there aren’t any carbs (other a trace in the mozzarella).

    3. First off a pound of ground beef has 4 servings, and so does Italian sausage. That means meat combo would be eight servings. Add all the calories up, macro’s ect. The divide by 8 then you’ll your nutritional value.

  4. I noticed you didn’t drain the fat, are we supposed to leave it as is or drain?

    1. That’s entirely up to you. Some of that was the residual Olive Oil and some of it was the fat rendered from the Grass-fed Beef. Both of those are desirable fats. If you need help hitting your fat intake, leaving them in can help. If you are looking for maximum flavor, I also recommend leaving them in too. I think many people just got used to draining this sort of stuff out of the pan and throwing it away because most of us grew up being told to eat lean foods.

  5. I’m making this today, looks very good.

  6. Why don’t you answer the critical question of what are the macro nutrients??

    1. Cari, you are very rude

  7. Calculating macros can be difficult. The author doesn’t know exactly what you put into your recipe. For example, did you drain the fat or keep it in? Did you use two mozzarella sticks or three or four? Did you swap out the whisps for pork rinds? Etc. so we need to be responsible for figuring our own macros. Maybe he/she doesn’t know how to figure them. So do it yourself. There are tons of apps to help you. I use My Fitness Pal and plug in my ingredients and it comes up with the macros. I am just happy that they shared this wonderful recipe. I am making it for dinner tonight.

    1. What Sheila Ausenbaugh said….

      1. What Sheila and Dan said. Learn to calculate your own macros. That is part of the learning curve. There are books and apps that help. Yes it is helpful and nice to have them done for you but this is something you should learn how to do for your own benefit.
        Thanks for the great recipes!

        1. I can calculate my own macos, but I need to know how many servings in order to do that.

  8. Calculate your own macros. why rely on someone else. Lazy.

    1. So far in these comments I’ve seen one person saying they would prefer if this was ready made, and then 20 some wanting the macros, cause adding and dividing is “real hard”

      Could someone eat this for me too and let me know if I like it?

      1. well, i can see both sides of the argument. OTOH, OP doesn’t know which ingredients users will us, but OTOH she should at least acknowledge HER carb count with HER ingredients as outlined in HER recipe.

        as well, of course one SHOULD take responsibility for knowing what one is putting into their body, but OTOH there are a gazillion recipes online and the time it would take to calculate macros for every recipe that “looks good” or “i might like to try that” is just not feasible. i’ve wasted soo much time calulating recipes that are labelled as keto or low carb when they’re really not. it can be exhausting, lol!

        in the end, i find it best to find websites or channels that are organized to fit my own needs (ie accurate nutritional analysis), and stick to them for finding new recipes, and try not to complain about the way others are organized….because even when just offering constructive criticism or advice they tend, at best, to not appreciate it (which makes it a waste of YOUR time) and, at worst, it starts WWIII, lol.

        anyhoo, the recipe does look tasty,
        rose

  9. These are so incredibly YUM! They are almost TOO good because I don’t want to stop at just one serving.

    I used Rao’s Homemade Marinara sauce instead of Mezzetta
    And I used crushed parmesan crisps instead of Cello Parmesan Cheese Whisps.

    Here’s the nutritional breakdown that I calculated:

    Makes 16 meatballs… 8 Servings (1 serving = 2 meatballs):

    Per serving:

    Calories: 539
    Protein: 37g
    Net Carbs: 6g (6g Total Carbs)
    Fat: 39g

    I do have a question, though… on Step 8 when I removed the pan from the oven to add sauce and cheese, there was quite a bit of liquid in the pan. I drained most of the liquid off before adding the sauce… just wondering if you do that, or do you just add the sauce to all of the liquid?

    Thank you so much for this recipe… it’s amazing!

    1. I keep the oil and grease in there to keep the fat content up, and also because it has a lot of flavor. If you drain it out, just keep in mind that your finished product will have significantly less total fat than what is listed for the recipe. I know a lot of people are used to thinking that the fat should be drained (either because they think it’s gross or because of old habits) but I leave the grease in there personally.

      1. Hello!
        Are these actual books or a digital download?

        1. Hi Jenn,

          We do not sell any books, so you my be referring to something on one of the ads that Google puts on our site.

    2. Thanks for the break down .

  10. This was amazing, I will definitely make this again!

    1. Thanks Julie! We really like to hear when others make the recipes and enjoy them too 🙂

      1. I am making them as I write and my comment. The are in the oven and looking very good. I use Rao marinara sauce, since it is the only spaghetti sauce I like and the carbs are low. I will post a picture oce is all done. I will serve them with shirataki noodles.

  11. This recipe is one of my favorite recipes, flavor packed with a kick! I also used Shady Brook Farms hot Italian turkey sausage, comes out perfect everytime I have made it! Simply deliciousness!

  12. Made these tonight! They turned out amazing. I crushed pork skins to substitute for the cheese whisps since I was unable to find those at our tiny grocery store. Would absolutely make these again.

  13. These were delicious! I made my own red sauce and we could not stop eating them. The whole family enjoyed them!

  14. I made the stuffed meatballs tonight and they were Incredible. It was easy to figure out the details I just pulled them into carb manager.
    Thank you

  15. I made this tonight and it was sooo tasty!!! The only thing I will do next time and there will definitely be a next time… I’d bake the meatballs for 10-15 mins then broil them another 10-15 minutes. This was so tasty!!! I put them over high fiber egg noodles and used a lower sugar spaghetti sauce. Delicious!!!

  16. I have made these a few times now. Last time I made extra and froze some..so yummy!!! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!

    1. You’re welcome Tracy, we hope you enjoy more of our recipes too! 🙂

  17. Le bouton Pin de Pinterest ne fonctionne pas J aimerais bien sauvegarder cette recette pour mon usage personnelle
    Merci

  18. DO ANYONE KNOW THE SERVING SIZE? AND NUTRITION FACTS BEHIND IT? LIKE THE CARBS, PROTEIN, CALORIES AND FAT FOR EACH SERVING SIZE? IM IN THE KETO DIET AND MADE THESE LAST NIGHT. I DONT WANT TO MESS UP. SOMEONE HELP ME. THANK YOU

    1. Oh my God!! Just read your damn nutrition labels, add it all up and divide by how many meatballs you make to get the macros for each meatball. How have you survived Keto so far if you don’t even know how to calculate your own friggin macros?

  19. I’m making these again tonight. They are amazing! I couldn’t find whole milk string cheese so I’ll use the mozzarella cut into pieces. I found a recipe for homemade marinara sauce on Pinterest that has 3 net carbs for the whole batch!

  20. Good God people! Grab a pen, paper and calculator and figure out your own damn macros! It’s really not that hard. Do calculations on ALL of the ingredients, then divide that number by how many damn meatballs you make. Oh my God, look at that….there’s your macros for each meatball. That was sooooo difficult. I’m just flat out exhausted now.

    It just sickens me that people today are so friggin lazy they expect everything to be handed to them. I hope you all don’t give birth as the poor baby will more then likely not survive if you can’t even do simple math on your own!

    1. I was going to post the same thing and you beat me to it. Holy cow!!! Surprised they are making the effort to cook it. Maybe the have a personal chef.

  21. How can this be keto when the marinara has 6grams of sugar per serving. The entire jar is 36g sugar. However many meatballs you divide into your serving size there is sugar. So if I made 13 meatballs that around 2.77 g sugar. Sugar puts you completely OUT of ketosis!

    1. Are you using Rao’s Sensitive Marinara? That has 3g of Sugar per serving and a serving of that is about 1/2 a cup.

  22. I enjoyed the recipe but the sarcastic remarks, not so much!
    I don’t know why people feel like they have to do this. This should be a friendly Q & A not a pick a part the last post. Be nice and leave the sarcastic remarks out!

    1. I agree completely. I have never seen so many rude people leaving comments which are so mean and uncalled for. We are all not at the same place in our journey.

  23. I’m surprised some of these people cook anything at all… Just drink WATER and you won’t have too worry about the Carbs!!!

  24. We made this today and it was wonderful! Will definitely be on my meal plan rotation. Thanks so much!

  25. I have to ask why you’re using jar sauce with so many preservatives. Homemade is better for you all around no preservatives and you manage the carb count. Which in homemade sauce would be 0 carbs because it’s tomatoes, garlic, and spices. So yes I’ll try this recipe but I will never offend my Italian heritage by using a jar sauce….gross

    1. You would not be able to use real tomatoes and get 0g of carbs out of them even if you make them on your own. That Rao’s Marinara does not have any unnatural preservatives like you may be assuming. The ingredients for it are: Italian whole peeled tomatoes, olive oil, onions, salt, garlic, basil, black pepper, dried oregano. and that’s all that’s in there.

  26. I’ve never heard of Parade an Cheese whisks and don’t believe I’ve ever seen the Mezzatta marinara sauce. I want to try this so badly and start using the Keto diet. Help!!!

    1. Depends on where you’re shopping. You may need to order them from Amazon or just look for a low carb marinara at your store. You can also substitute crushed pork rinds for the cheese whisps

  27. I made it let’s see how it taste!

  28. Christie_keto_Queen

    People … you are responsible for what you put in your mouth, calc your macros and quit whining!

    Great idea using the parm crisps! 👍🏻👍🏻

  29. Can I use just Parmesan cheesein place of Cheese wisps?

  30. I’m making this for the second time! Absolutely love this recipe, so delicious!

  31. I made these using ground turkey and turkey sausage. I also made my own marinara sauce which has lass carbs than store bought. It came out super delicious. Thanks so much for this recipe and all the amazing recipes you post! It makes sticking with keto so much easier when you have delicious foods like this to eat!

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