These Italian Meatballs are a perfect compliment for spaghetti squash. No need to worry about staying on track because everything in this dish is perfect for Italian Meatballs Whole30 style.
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What do Meatballs go With?
Traditionally, meatballs are fantastic with spaghetti. There's no exception here with this recipe. These meatballs not only make the perfect compliment to a bowl of spaghetti, but also to a bowl of spaghetti Squash if you are on Whole30.
Or, they are perfect just on their own.
How to Prepare Spaghetti Squash
If you've reached this page, then you are probably wondering what is the best way to prepare your spaghetti squash. Don't worry, I've got your covered. Here are some simple steps to follow:
Note: You are going to cut the squash lengthwise.
- Using a butcher knife, poke a whole in the center of the squash and slide it in and down the side. You may need to press firmly down. Take the knife out.
- Reposition the knife where you left off and repeat step 1.
- Keep repeating until you have done one side all the way down to the butt of the squash.
- Turn around and repeat steps 1 to 3.
- Once you have cut all the way around, using your hands pull the squash open.
- Using a fork scrape out the seeds and discard them.
How to Cook Squash
Once you have cut open the squash and cleaned out the seeds, follow these simple steps to cook your squash. These steps work for any type of squash.
- Prepare a baking pan or cookie tray by lining it with aluminum foil.
- Season the inside of the squash with a little bit of salt.
- Lay the squash open side down on the baking dish.
- Depending on how large your baking dish is, pour ½ cup to 1 cup of water on to the baking dish making sure that the bottom of the tray is covered with water.
- You want just enough water to create steam underneath the squash.
- Place in a 350°F oven for about 45 minutes.
- You know it is done when you can easily poke a fork through the skin easily.
Let cool for about 20 minutes. To serve the spaghetti squash, use a fork to scrape the squash out of the shell and place into plates or a larger serving dish.
If you are making sauce to serve with your spaghetti squash and Whole30 Italian Meatballs, you may want to place a little bit of sauce in a pan and warm it up. Then, take some spaghetti squash and warm it up in the sauce, turning occasionally to combine. This isn't essential but this helps to evenly coat the squash with sauce.
What Can I Use to Replace Cheese in Meatballs?
This is a good question. Only Whole30ers will understand this question. To replace the cheese for this recipe of Italian Meatballs Whole30 style, I soaked ½ cup of cashews in water for about 1 hour. In a blender, I combined the soaked cashews with 1 tsp of nutritional yeast and 1 tsp olive oil. I pulsed the mixture until I got a bumpy paste.
Of course, if you are not on Whole30, there is not need for you to replace the cheese. Just go ahead and use ½ cup of your favorite parmesan cheese.
Also note, that not everyone adds parsley to their meatballs. So I've left this totally optional as to whether you want to add it or not.
What Type of Meat do You Use for Meatballs?
Traditionally, my mother made her meatballs with a combination of beef and pork. This combination results in a tasty meatball. But, you can use any type of ground meat including: chicken, turkey, veal, venison, etc...
Making Tomato Sauce
Tomato sauce has got to be one of the simplest sauces to make. Since I'm in Canada, we only have 4 months of the year where we can grow a garden. Therefore, the majority of my tomato puree comes from the grocery store.
I don't have a preference, sometimes I buy jarred tomato pure or sometimes it's canned. Sometimes, I'll buy whole canned tomatoes. They all work.
Canned or jarred tomato sauce is always thicker than fresh tomato puree. For this reason, I always add a bit of water because I know I'm going to be simmering the sauce for a while and some of the liquid will evaporate.
In addition, for this sauce, I didn't use tomato paste. That's because firstly, it's usually not whole30 compliant. And second, I find that when you are cooking a fatty meat in your sauce, the fat tends to thicken up the sauce.
Looking for other whole30 options? Click here to get ideas.
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Recipe Details
Whole30 Meatballs
These Italian Meatballs are a perfect compliment for spaghetti squash. No need to worry about staying on track because everything in this dish is perfect for Italian Meatballs Whole30 style.
Ingredients
Squash
- 1 medium sized spaghetti squash
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup water
Meatballs
- ½ cup parmesan cheese or for Whole30 ½ cup cashews (soaked in ½ cup water for an hour)
- ½ tsp nutritional yeast
- 250 g ground beef
- 250 g ground pork
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 pinch of pepper
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 stalk parsley (optional)
Sauce
- 750 ml tomato puree (if using store bought add ½ to 1 cup water)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried basil (or you can use fresh basil)
- pepper to taste
Instructions
Spaghetti Squash
- Prepare a baking pan or cookie tray by lining it with aluminum foil.
- Cut the squash down the middle lengthwise.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Season the meat of the squash with a little bit of salt.
- Lay the squash with the meat face down on the baking dish.
- Depending on how large your baking dish is, pour ½ cup to 1 cup of water on to the baking dish making sure that the bottom of the tray is covered with water.
- You want just enough water to create steam underneath the squash.
- Place in 350°F oven for about 45 minutes.
- You know it is done when you can easily poke a fork through the skin easily.
- Let cool for about 20 minutes. To serve the spaghetti squash, use a fork to scrape the squash out of the shell and place into plates or a larger serving dish.
Sauce
- In a large saucepan, heat olive oil. Fry garlic until fragrant.
- Add tomato puree and salt and pepper.
- Add water if the tomato puree is thick and bring to boil.
- Turn down heat and simmer for 60 minutes.
Meatballs
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and using your hand mix together. Do not over mix as overmixing will cause the mixture to get tough when cooked.
- Using your hands grab some meat about the size of a walnut or a little bigger and squeeze together to make a ball. Roll gently in your hands to tuck in loose ground bits.
- As the sauce is boiling, place the meatballs, gently, in the sauce one by one as you make them.
- Repeat until you have used up all the ground mixture.
- Bring sauce and meatballs to a gentle boil and turn the meatballs using a wooden spoon taking care not to break them. You want them evenly coated with sauce.
- Turn down heat to a gentle simmer.
- Let simmer for 60 minutes, checking on them occasionally.
- If you want to add basil, add it to the sauce once you have taken it off the heat.
Putting It All Together
- You can place all of the spaghetti squash in a large bowl and then pour some tomato sauce over it and arrange the meatballs around the squash.
- You can place the meatballs in a serving dish and serve. For the squash, you can place some spaghetti sauce in a pan, heat it up and place the spaghetti squash in the pan mixing the squash with the sauce to combine. Then serve in individual dishes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 761Total Fat: 48gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 29gCholesterol: 172mgSodium: 1576mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 8gSugar: 17gProtein: 46g
Nutrition data is calculated automatically by Nutritionix and isn't always accurate. I am not a certified nutritionist and make no claims to the contrary. Each individual’s dietary needs and restrictions are unique to the individual. You are ultimately responsible for all decisions pertaining to your health.
Sabrina says
Delicious and savoury with the nutritional yeast. Love this!
Colleen says
You can never go wrong with meatballs, and these were the perfect topping for spaghetti sauce. Delicious.
NANCY says
comfort food !!! and Whole30 compliant even better!
Wanda says
My son is crazy for meatballs and I love that you have served it with squash instead of pasta! Bookmarking so we can try this recipe on the weekend!