Barbecue Meatballs

About

If you’re on a Keto diet, you need to incorporate high amounts of fat in your meal. That’s the best way to stack up calories and have the most efficient fuel for your body to use until your next meal. This recipe is specifically tailored for those purposes. Beef meatballs are filled with mayonnaise and bound with parmesan cheese. However, all you taste is the fragrant spices in the meatballs as well as a Keto-friendly tomato barbecue sauce. Although one serving (one meatball) isn’t very much, you can easily increase the serving size in the recipe to meet your caloric needs. Just tap the + and – buttons to include as many meatballs as you desire in your food log. However, you may also utilize the recipe for any Keto meal prepping purposes, since the meatballs can stay fresh in your refrigerator for up to 5 days.

How To Increase Your Meal Calories

If you’ve met your protein quota for your meal, but you’re looking for more calories, there are some simple sides you can include with your meal. Sliced avocado is the perfect Keto side dish because they’re low in carbs and have unsaturated fats. You can also make a simple spinach salad or use another dark leafy green with a high-fat dressing. The fiber from the greens will also help keep you satiated. Even a simple handful of nuts can round out a meal!

What Is Barbecue Sauce Made Of?

Most barbecue sauces you can buy by the bottle at the store are loaded with sugar. Even homemade barbecue sauces call for a lot of sugar, so it’s important to make yours from scratch. Many barbecue sauces are made with ketchup, but you’ll be using plain tomato paste. Brown sugar is also used in barbecue sauces, so Keto liquid stevia will add some sweetness for you. A variety of spice blends make up the uniqueness of any good sauce, so you are welcome to add to or change any of the dry spices you see listed in the ingredients.

Ingredients

1 cup beef broth
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
5 Drop liquid stevia
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon thyme, dried
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
14 oz ground beef
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
½ tbsp, grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon seasoned salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
⅛ teaspoon mustard powder
⅛ teaspoon cumin, ground
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Make the barbecue sauce first by heat beef broth on the stovetop until it’s simmering. Add tomato paste to the broth, and stir over low heat until the tomato paste heats through and blends with the broth. Next, stir worcestershire sauce, liquid stevia, onion powder, thyme, and pepper into the sauce. Cover the pot and let the ingredients heat until simmering again. Then, add butter to the sauce and stir until melted.
Let the sauce bubble over low heat until it reduces and thickens slightly – about 10 minutes. Remove the lid, turn the heat up slightly, and let the sauce continue bubbling until it reduces to a “stew-like” thickness. Set the sauce aside to cool and set a little. Don’t worry, the sauce will have time to thicken more later in the recipe.
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef with mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, pepper, mustard powder, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder. Once the mixture is blended into an even, pale pink mixture, you can form the meatballs. Divide the meat into 2-tablespoon portions, and roll each portion into a meatball. Heat the olive oil in a large sautee pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, arrange all the meatballs inside the pan to start cooking.
Let the meatballs cook on one side until they are charred – about 3-4 minutes. Reduce the heat to a medium temperature, and rotate the meatballs to another side. Continue cooking until the meatballs are charred on all sides, but they do not have to be cooked through yet. Reduce the heat to a low temperature, and pour your prepared barbecue sauce into the pan. Gently rotate the meatballs in the sauce, then cover the pan with a lid.
Let the meatballs stew in the sauce while it bubbles for several minutes. When you see the sauce has reduced a little more, remove the lid from the pan. Continue cooking openly on the stove, rotating the meatballs, until the sauce is thick enough to stick to the meatballs and is at your desired thickness. At your discretion, you can include other ingredients to add more calories to your meal.