Low-Carb Swedish Meatballs in Brown Sauce

Susie T. Gibbs September 17, 2019 Appetizer Recipes, Budget Low Carb Cooking, Menu Planning, Recipes, Side Dish Recipes Leave a comment 1,374 Views

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Swedish Meatballs in Brown Sauce by Susie T. Gibbs

Originally published in the October 2013 issue of CarbSmart Magazine, Updated 09/14/2019.

These are great meatballs to package and freeze for many different brown-gravy applications. Make, bake, portion, package and freeze on a tray. After frozen, place in a zip-top bag in the freezer and use as many as needed for individual servings. Way cheaper than store-bought meatballs plus you know what goes into them! Score!

Serving Size: 8-12 small meatballs, ½-¾ cup sauce Yield: 4-6 Servings
Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 5 Hours
Start to Finish: 5 Hours 25 Minutes

Low-Carb Swedish Meatballs in Brown Sauce

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Low-Carb Swedish Meatballs in Brown Sauce are great meatballs to package and freeze for many different brown-gravy applications. Make, bake, portion, package and freeze on a tray. After frozen, place in a zip-top bag in the freezer and use as many as needed for individual servings. Way cheaper than store-bought meatballs plus you know what goes into them! Score!

Author: Susie T. Gibbs
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 5 hours
Total Time: 5 hours 20 minutes
Yield: 8-12 small meatballs, ½-¾ cup sauce Yield: 4-6 Servings 1x

Ingredients

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For Meatballs:

3/4 cup onions, chopped fine
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1/3 cup Italian parsley, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped or pressed
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
salt and pepper
1/4 cup ground flaxseed, ground almond flour, or 3 tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 cup Bacon’s Heir Pork Panko – pork rind crumbs
1/8 cup dry vermouth, or dry white wine, optional
2 large eggs
3/4 pound ground chuck, 80/20, raw
3/4 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted, melted

For Brown Sauce:

4 cups low sodium beef broth, or homemade beef bone stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon glucomannan powder, or your favorite low carb thickener

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Instructions

Finely chop onions and Italian parsley.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter until butter is melted and bubbly.
Add onions, parsley, and garlic.
Reduce heat to medium-low and sweat (cook gently without too much browning) until onions are tender and translucent.
Remove and cool.
Place into onion mixture into a large mixing bowl and the dried herbs and spices, oat fiber, pork rind crumbs, dry vermouth (or dry white wine), and lightly beaten eggs.
Stir until mixture is evenly combined.
Crumble ground chuck and pork into the mixture.
Use the tines of a fork turned upside down so the tines point away from you and fluff meat into mixture until well combined. Use a side-to-side motion. This keeps the mixture from compacting and keeps the meatballs very tender.
Roll into balls using about 2-4 tablespoons per meatball–about 30-56 meatballs. 30 meatballs is about a 1-ounce meatball. Roughly double the quantity for smaller meatballs.
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Place Swedish meatballs on a 14″x18″ baking sheet.
Drizzle with a combination of 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter.
Roll the meatballs around to lightly coat with olive oil-butter mixture.
Bake 20-25 minutes, turning once. Meatballs should become brownish. Remove from oven.
Pour meatballs and pan juices into a large crockpot.
Add 4 cups of your favorite beef broth.
Turn on low and cook 5-8 hours on low. Try not to stir very often–it will make the meatballs break up. If you have a bit more in your budget, you can also add an extra ¼ cup of dry vermouth.
During the last hour, add cream to meatballs and continue to cook.
When you are ready to serve, remove meatballs to a serving bowl and add your favorite thickener to the gravy until it reaches your preferred consistency. (We use 1 to 1½ teaspoons of glucomannan powder.
Pour gravy over meatballs and serve.

Notes

4 Serving Per Recipe – Per Serving: 767 Calories; 65g Fat (75.3% calories from fat); 37g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 295mg Cholesterol; 1103mg Sodium; 5g Net Carbs.
$1.96/serving ($7.82/recipe)

6 Servings Per Recipe – Per Serving: 511 Calories; 43g Fat (75.3% calories from fat); 25g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 197mg Cholesterol; 735mg Sodium; 3g Net Carbs.
$1.31/serving ($7.82/recipe)

Serving Ideas: You can also serve over a bed of your favorite veggies and call it a meal. We love sautéed spinach, zoodles, cabboodles (cabbage noodles), and green beans. Simply give these veggies a brief sauté in garlic and olive oil and serve the meatballs and sauce over them! Fantastic!