Sausage Stuffed Onions w Crispy Pancetta Pork Rind Spinach

About

Make this Keto recipe in batches ahead of time for a week of delicious dinners. You’ll want this one in the meal prep rotation! Sweet yellow onions are stuffed with a seasoned blend of ground Italian sausage. It’s your choice if you want to use mild sausage or spicy sausage. Each stuffed onion is topped with a layer of melted and bubbling provolone cheese. The onions stay intact and hold your main course together perfectly. Served on the side is a small bed of spinach that is topped with crunchy pork rinds, crispy baked parmesan, and salty pancetta that browns in your oven. What’s even better is your main course and side dish can both bake in your oven at the same temperature, saving you some time in the kitchen. Simply reheat any refrigerated servings in a microwave-safe container.

Where Did My Spinach Go?

Spinach can lose a lot of weight and integrity when it cooks down. In this recipe, you may notice your side of spinach shrinks somewhat after it’s boiled before going in the oven. It’s important to spread the spinach out in a thin layer when you arrange it on a tray for baking. This helps all the excess water weighing down the spinach to evaporate, so you aren’t finished eating the spinach after one bite! If your daily food log allows for the additional carbs, you can double the amount of spinach cooked per serving. Just make sure to include any extra ingredients you use in your food log.

Condiments I Can Eat

Are you craving something to dip bites of your stuffed onion in? There are actually many Keto sauces and condiments you can enjoy or even make yourself at home. Most mustards are very Keto-friendly and come in tons of flavors. A steak sauce would taste good with this recipe, just make sure to compare nutrition labels for the lowest carb option. If you want to make a Keto sauce from scratch, Carb Manager has a lot of recipes you can try. Check out the Keto Cheese Sauce, Low Carb BBQ Sauce, or Keto Peppercorn Steak Sauce recipes for some ideas.

Ingredients

2 ½ oz yellow onion
½ teaspoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
7 ounce italian sausage
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 slice (from pre-sliced package) – each 3/4 ounce provolone cheese, natural
1 teaspoon salt
3 oz spinach
¼ ounce fried pork skins
1 teaspoon, grated parmesan cheese, fresh (hard)
½ oz pancetta

Instructions

Prepare the onion rings by peeling a large onion and slicing the ends off. Cut the onion through the middle and separate the largest rings from each half, with each ring being about 2 layers thick. Each serving will need 1 double-layered ring about 1 -¼ oz in weight. Rub ¼ teaspoon of olive oil all over each onion ring and season the rings with salt and pepper. Arrange the rings on a well-seasoned sheet tray with the wider parts of the rings facing up.
In a mixing bowl, combine ground Italian sausage with mayonnaise and garlic powder. You can use either ground Italian sausage that is packaged or you can remove the casing from links of sausage. Simply use a clean hand to mix the meat, mayonnaise, and seasoning until you have a consistent mixture. Gently press the Italian sausage mixture into the prepared onion rings until each serving is filled to the top of the rings. Lay a slice of cheese over every portion, and set this tray aside in your refrigerator until later.
Fill a pot with water and season the water with at least 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring the water to a boil on the stove, and add whole spinach leaves to the water. Boil the spinach for just 1-2 minutes until the leaves turn bright green and soften slightly. Then, drain all the water from the spinach. At this point, turn on the oven to preheat to 400 degrees.
Use a pair of tongs to arrange the spinach into 1 portion per serving on a second seasoned sheet tray. To build a portion, pick up the spinach with the tongs, let the excess water drip off, then use the tongs to spread the spinach into a flat circle. Top each portion of spinach with about ½ tablespoon of ground pork rinds, ½ teaspoon of parmesan cheese, and ¼ ounce of diced pancetta.
Place both the tray of spinach and tray of stuffed onions in the oven. Bake the spinach tray for 10-15 minutes and the stuffed onion tray for 25-30 minutes. For the spinach, look for golden and crispy prosciutto, darkened pork rinds, and slight browning on the spinach. For the stuffed onions, the cheese will be bubbly and browned and a meat thermometer should read at least 160 degrees. Serve a stuffed onion with a portion of spinach using a spatula.