These Whole30 skillet meatballs are cooked up in one pan on the stovetop with the marinara, no oven needed! It’s a quick and easy weeknight dinner or meal prep recipe that covers all your dietary bases, Whole30, Paleo, low carb, dairy-free, you name it. Just some good, flavorful Italian style meatballs.
These Whole30 skillet meatballs is my all time favorite recipe for meatballs, oven baked or made on the stove. The combination of ground beef and ground pork makes them just so juicy and perfect even after reheating if you’re using them for meal prep. The best part of these is that they basically cook themselves once you sear them, except in a lot less time than they do in the oven.
I add the marinara sauce in to let the Whole30 meatballs just simmer in them to cook. There’s a ton of Whole30 compliant marinara sauces on the market nowadays. My favorites are the basil or the garlic marinaras from Thrive Market, which are my budget and go-to options. Next on my list of favorites after that are all of the options from Fresh Thyme. They have 4 different compliant ones so if you’re in the midwest, check those out! Target also carries a compliant Target brand marinara, along with Rao’s.
Check out my Fresh Thyme shopping guide, and my Target Whole30 shopping guide!
You can serve these Whole30 skillet meatballs any number of ways. I often just put them on my plate on their own with some veggie sides, mashed potatoes, and go to town! Other things I love to eat them with are zucchini noodles or butternut squash noodles.
My trick to getting veggie noodles to be not soggy is to strain them and squeeze them through a nut milk bag after you cook them. This gets the excess water out, but allows them to still keep their shape. If they cool down too much while you’re squeezing the water out, put them back into the skillet for a quick half a minute to heat them back up!
Whole30 Skillet Italian Meatballs: Easy, Paleo, Low Carb
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
- Category: Meatballs
- Method: Skillet
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground mild pork sausage
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup almond meal/flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1/2 white onion, grated directly into bowl
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon parsley
- 1/2 tablespoon thyme
- 1/2 tablespoon rosemary
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups sugar free marinara (I prefer Rao’s)
- 1 13.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, liquid drained
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, excluding olive oil, make sure to grate onion directly into the bowl to keep the juices
- Use hands to roll into 2 inch balls (or desired size)
- Preheat skillet on stove top with olive oil over medium heat
- Cook meatballs for 4 minutes on each side
- Pour marinara evenly into the skillet, add diced tomatoes, reduce heat to medium low and then cover. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked completely
- Top with fresh parsley or basil and serve!
Notes
Simmer time may differ depending on the size of meatballs, for larger meatballs, add an additional 5 minutes.
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Amy Snyder says
I just want to say: I never comment on blogs, ever. But I made this recipe in January for Whole30 and I’ve been making it almost weekly ever since. Seriously SO SO good! The only change I make is using ground beef instead of ground chicken. It’s an absolute staple in our house — thank you!!
paleobailey says
Oh I’m sooo glad to hear this!! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know – made my day!! <3 - B
Donna says
Excellent recipe!
Amber says
These are so delicious and I love that it’s Whole30 compliant! However, I felt like the cooking instructions could be clarified. I should have read all the directions but you said to mix all the ingredients excluding the olive oil. So I added in the diced tomatoes not realizing it was supposed to be added in at the end so the meat mix was really thin and started falling apart as I was cooking. Regardless, the flavor was fantastic and I’ll know for next time to save the diced tomatoes for the end! Thanks so much for this great recipe!
Juliana Ginski says
We’ve been making these regularly since doing Whole30 in January. They are very filling and not that time consuming. I like to use 1lb spicy ground sausage and 1 lb lean ground beef. Typically makes 4-5 servings for us.
paleobailey says
Thank you, Juliana! I love the spicy ground sausage combo!
Collie says
I’m on day 30 of whole 30 and I am eating these crazy good meatballs. I made a few modifications but stayed in the rules! I did like the rao sauce but it’s way too pricey for everyday. Thanks for another great recipe!
paleobailey says
I agree about the Raos- there’s lots of other good options on the market now, even Target has their own compliant sauce! And I’m so, so glad you enjoyed!! Thank you!