Paleo Umami Meatballs

Sep 1

Sep 1 Paleo Umami Meatballs

Paleo, Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Dinner, Dairy-Free, Savory

Juicy and bursting with umami-saltiness, these meatballs are about to blow up your meal prep game! Made with a combination of pork and chicken, but can be made with any combination of ground meats. Zero grains, and added fresh vegetables, eggs and seasonings make for a tender, flavorful meatball, that can be used with soups, stir fry, rice or low-carb bowls, and salads! Never underestimate a meatball salad…

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This meatball recipe is very special to my heart. I’d say it carried me through a lot of my training as a circus artist! Meal prep became key, especially as a gluten-free athlete. I never wanted to eat a lot before training, but also needed to have something to eat shortly after my classes. I discovered having grain-free “mini” meals with me was the most sustainable way for me to get the nutrition I needed. I would combine a few meatballs with some roasted green beans, salad greens, sweet potato… whatever I had in the fridge! Just enough to re-fuel, but not too heavy so that I couldn’t continue my training for another hour or two afterwards.

The key to my kind of meal prepping is creating larger quantities of individual elements when you cook, such as roasted vegetables, shredded roasted chicken, sautéed kale, and of course, my meal prep paleo potsticker meatballs! Keeping fresh watery produce such as lettuce, cucumbers, celery, and tomatoes is also a huge help! So quick and easy to slice up a tomato and a bit of cucumber and create a fresh salad base for your lunch.

To be real, the down side of this system is that you often eat the same ingredients many days in a row before it is used up. The up side, is that you always have a variety of power-packed nutrient dense foods in the fridge, with minimal effort! Do a little bit every day or so, and throwing together meals and nutritious mini-meals never felt so easy!

Ingredient Fun Facts + Substitutions:

- ground pork and chicken: ground meat is a fantastic bang for your buck cut to buy! It is really important to get meat that is humanely raised, and I highly encourage people to find ways to buy meat products directly from trusted farms or from stores that vet their sources well. I like to buy many packages of ground meat from my favorite butchers and freeze them! If your local supermarket doesn’t have quality meat, putting in an order with a reputable butcher or farm and freezing the meat allows you to have the best quality with minimal effort! Transfer the meat from freezer to fridge the day before cooking and it should defrost nicely. Pork and chicken can be replaced with all pork/chicken or turkey, grass-fed beef, bison, boar, venison…etc. I do suggest pairing at least 1 fattier meat with a leaner meat (or all fatty…). This ensures the meatballs retain their juicy deliciousness!
- shredded carrot + scallion: adding fresh vegetables to the meatballs helps add a bit of moisture and keeps them from becoming dry and crumbly. Scallion can be subbed for other fresh herbs such as cilantro, parsley or even some finely chopped shallot
- egg: works as a binder and juicy-maker. With fattier meats such as pork, you can probably get away without the egg at all, the meatballs might just be a little crumblier/dry
- tamari + fish sauce: these umami sauces add the right amount of salt to enhance the flavors of the meat, without tasting as overtly salty as, well, salt. Umami is such a satisfying flavor, and boosts the silky and satiating textures that come with fattier ingredients. Fish sauce smells disgusting, but don’t let that turn you off! A little bit adds a whole lot of complexity and flavor, without any overt fishiness. But as needed, sub fish sauce with tamari, or both with coconut aminos
- 1/2 recipe: this recipe is made to be easily halved or even doubled if you’re serving a large crowd!

How to Make Meal Prep Paleo Potsticker Meatballs:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and prepare a baking sheet (or 2) with parchment paper or a silicone mat

2. Bring the pork and chicken out of the fridge to begin warming to room temperature. These meats can easily be swapped for others, but I recommend having at least 1 fatty meat for juicy meatball goodness! Prepare the shredded carrots, chopped scallion, minced ginger and garlic, and add to a large mixing bowl

3. Add all remaining ingredients to the bowl, and using a spoon or your hands, mix until well combined. Do not over mix, as it can dry out the mixture

4. Using a tablespoon or cookie scoop, scoop a mound of the mixture into the palm of your hand, roll into a ball, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Aim for the balls to be as uniform in size as possible, so they can bake evenly

5. Repeat for the rest of the mixture, just leaving a little space between each meatball

6. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until brown on top. Transfer out of the liquid released, and add to any soup, bowl, stir fry or salad! Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days

Camel Recommended Recipes:

Meatball Bowl: with cauliflower or normal rice, roasted green beans and our tahini-tamari sauce
Meatball Soup: chicken broth with garlic and ginger sautéed cabbage and bok choy
Meatball Salad: chopped romaine lettuce, fresh corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and shredded carrot with tahini-tamari dressing
Meatball Mini-Meal: 2 meatballs, some green beans or broccoli and 1/4 cup roasted sweet potatoes

Yield: 8 (4-5 meatballs per person)

Author: Samantha Sterman

Prep time: 15 MCook time: 25 MTotal time: 40 M

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork
1lb ground chicken
1 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallion
2 tbsp grated or finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
2 eggs
2 tbsp gluten-free tamari or coconut aminos
1 tbsp fish sauce (or additional 1 tbsp of tamari/coconut aminos)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1-2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat
Bring the pork and chicken* out of the fridge to begin warming to room temperature. Prepare the carrots, scallion, ginger and garlic as indicated above, and add to a large mixing bowl
Add all remaining ingredients to bowl, and using a spoon or your hands, mix until well combined
Using a tablespoon or cookie scoop, scoop a mound of the mixture into the palm of your hand, roll into a ball, and place on the prepared baking sheet
Repeat for the rest of the mixture, just leaving a little space between each meatball
Bake for 20-24 minutes, until brown on top. Transfer out of the liquid released, and add to any soup, bowl, stir fry or salad! Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days