Corned Beef Meatballs and Gravy

About

You’d be surprised to learn that corned beef makes an excellent ingredient for meatballs and meatloaf. Corned beef also happens to be perfect for the Keto diet, due to its high fat content and low carbs for processed meat. The meat is blended to release the fat and make the perfect meatball texture. The meatballs are flavored with onion powder and your favorite brand of pork rinds. Cauliflower rice and mayonnaise act as binders for the meatballs. After you fry them up in some healthy avocado oil, you can dip your meatballs in the Carb Manager Easy White Gravy. This onion and garlic-flavored gravy is finger-licking-good! Enjoy this Keto meatballs and gravy recipe as part of your meal prep or a larger meal at the family dinner table.

What Is Corned Beef

Corned beef is made from beef brisket. It comes out of a can so tender because it’s cured with large rock salt pieces. The salt is also referred to as ‘corns’ of salt, hence the name. When you’re cooking with corned beef, make sure to refrigerate the can before opening it. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to handle. When purchasing corned beef at your grocery store, don’t get this ingredient confused with canned corned beef hash. The hash includes bits of chopped potatoes and other ingredients that aren’t friendly to the Keto diet.

Frozen Vs Raw Cauliflower

How can you determine when to use frozen cauliflower rice or raw cauliflower? It mostly depends on what type of texture you want on your plate. For this recipe, you don’t want tough or crunchy pieces of cauliflower in the meatballs. This is why using thawed cauliflower rice from a frozen bag is better. The rice will already be tender and just needs to heat in the pan. Use raw cauliflower when your recipe calls for a long cooking time in the oven.

Ingredients

12 ounce corned beef
4 oz cauliflower rice
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 ounce fried pork skins
½ tablespoon avocado oil
4 tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 teaspoon, chopped garlic
4 teaspoon paleo baking flour
½ cup chicken broth
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon onion powder
4 fl oz cream heavy whipping

Instructions

Chop cold, uncanned corned beef into small, chunky pieces. Add them to a food processor or powerful blender and pulse until you have a minced beef mixture. Transfer the ground corned beef to a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix the meat together along with THAWED cauliflower rice, onion powder, salt, mayonnaise, and ground pork rinds. For the pork rinds, you can also pulverize them into a fine crumb in a food processor or blender as well.
Roll the corned beef mixture into meatballs that are in about 2 TB portions. You can use an actual tablespoon measure or #40 scoop to portion the meatballs. Once done, spread the avocado oil across the base of a large non-stick pan or skillet. Heat the pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, place the meatballs in the pan.
Cook the meatballs for about 10 minutes, rotating them so they brown on all sides. Be patient and wait until the meatballs naturally release from the pan before rotating them. Use a pair of tongs to do so. Since corned beef has a large amount of fat in it, the meatballs will be delicate, so be gentle. Once the meatballs are cooked, set the pan aside to rest.
While the meatballs rest, you can quickly make the gravy. Melt the butter in a wide pan over low heat. Add minced garlic to the butter and let it cook until it becomes lightly golden and fragrant. Don’t let the garlic brown too much. With the heat on the lowest setting, stir in the paleo flour. Let the flour sizzle and bubble in the butter until it turns into a soft, golden roux.
Pour the chicken broth into the roux and stir until you have a thickened broth. Then, stir in the salt, pepper, onion powder, and heavy cream. Let the gravy bubble over the lowest heat on the stove until it thickens. Take the finished gravy off the stove and let it cool and thicken a little more. Serve 4 meatballs with a ¼ c gravy per serving.