Superfood Meatballs
Updated: Nov 19, 2020
“Mom, is there any kale in this?” That’s a question I get asked often and the answer is usually yes! I try to sneak greens and veggies into anything I can and one of my favorite ways to do that is in a meatball. My family really likes this recipe and they’re pretty easy to make. We’ve always eaten them plain with a little bit of ketchup, but a few months ago my cousin told me about a dip that she’d made to go along with her meatballs using this mayo recipe I’d posted. I made the dip to try with our meatballs and now we can’t go back, so I’m including Erica’s dip in the recipe for you to try too! Enjoy!
Meatballs
makes about 24 good sized meatballs*
Ingredients:
2 pounds grass fed ground beef
2 large carrots
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 large bunch of kale-roughly chopped
1 small onion
½ cup tapioca flour
3 tablespoons ketchup*
2 tablespoons liver powder (optional)
1 teaspoon of salt
For the dipping sauce
makes 1 half cup
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of ketchup*
1/2 cup egg free mayo or regular*
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350*.
Into a food processor, put your kale, carrots, garlic and onions and pulse until finely chopped.
Place your ground beef in a large bowl and add the chopped veggies from the food processor.
To the beef and veggies, add your tapioca flour, ketchup, salt and liver powder.
With clean hands, crumble the ground beef and mix in the other ingredients until well combined.
After all the ingredients are combined, get out 2 glass baking dishes (9 X 13).
Roll your meat and veggies into good sized balls (I use a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup to help me keep the sizes uniform) and place in the pan.
Repeat until no more meat and veggie mixture remains.
Bake for about 30 minutes; the time will vary based on the size of the meatball.
While the meatballs are baking, add your ketchup and mayonnaise to a medium bowl and stir to combine.
Once the meatballs are done, serve immediately with or without the dipping sauce (although I highly recommend it).
Notes:
*I like to eat half the batch right away and put the rest in the freezer for a quick meal another night.
*Make sure to check the ingredient list on your ketchup and mayonnaise. Words like “natural flavors” and “citric acid” for example are often hidden terms for MSG (monosodium glutamate) or glutamate. You can read more about what glutamate is and why you'd want to avoid it here along with a list of other ingredients that are often hidden terms for MSG/glutamate. We use this ketchup and this mayonnaise.
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