Carnivore Meatballs Recipe (Cheese Stuffed, Zero Carb)

A meatball is a small thing with a lot of surface area, which means it dries out faster than almost anything else you can make from mince. Every classic meatball recipe deals with this by adding bread soaked in milk.

Cheese solves it better, and it solves it twice.

The Binder Problem

Bread in a meatball is doing two things: holding the shape and holding water. Take it out and the usual result is sixteen dry pellets.

One egg handles the structure. Parmesan handles the rest, because it is dry, hard and intensely salty, so it seasons the mix and gives it body without adding liquid. Use a proper block and grate it yourself. The powdered stuff in a tub behaves like sand and tastes like it too.

Cheese Does A Second Job In The Middle

Mozzarella in the centre is not a novelty. It melts at a lower temperature than the beef needs to cook, so it turns molten while the meat is still coming up to done, and it steams the inside of the meatball from within as it goes.

Use the firm block mozzarella, not the wet buffalo balls sitting in liquid. Fresh mozzarella carries too much water and will burst the seam and flood your pan.

Stuffing Them Without Losing The Cheese

This is the only part that requires any care. Flatten the meat in your palm rather than making a well with your thumb, because a thumb well leaves the base thin and the base is where it splits.

Close the meat completely around the cube, then roll it firmly between both palms until you cannot see the seam. If you can see where it joined, the cheese has found the door. A minute in the fridge before they hit the pan makes them hold together better still.

The Extras Worth Adding

Finely chopped bacon in the mix adds smoke and fat, and covers for leaner mince if that is what the shop had. Render it first and let it cool, because hot bacon fat poured into raw mince starts cooking it and you lose the texture.

The cream pan sauce at the end takes two minutes and turns this from a plate of meatballs into a dinner. Everything the meat left stuck to the pan dissolves into it. If you want it richer, a spoonful of cream cheese whisked in will thicken it further, and a handful of grated cheddar will take it somewhere close to a sauce you would once have poured over pasta.

Dairy is not compulsory and not everyone tolerates it well. If that is you, leave the cheese out of the mix, skip the stuffing, and lean on the bacon and a knob of butter instead. Where dairy sits on the wider list is covered in the carnivore food list.

Cheese Stuffed Carnivore Meatballs

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Servings 4 servings

Calories 760 kcal

Equipment

• Heavy Frying Pan
• Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

  

• 800 grams 20% Ground Beef
• 1 large Egg
• 60 grams Grated Parmesan
• 125 grams Mozzarella cut into 16 cubes
• 100 grams Streaky Bacon finely chopped, optional
• 50 grams Butter
• 150 ml Double Cream
• 1 tsp Salt

Instructions

 

• Chop the bacon as finely as you can be bothered to and fry it gently until the fat renders. Let it cool a little before it goes near the beef.
• Mix the beef, egg, parmesan, salt and cooled bacon. Handle it as little as you can get away with.
• Divide into sixteen. Flatten each one in your palm, put a cube of mozzarella in the middle, and close the meat around it completely. Any gap is an escape route.
• Roll each ball firmly between both palms so the seam disappears. This is the whole trick.
• Melt the butter in a heavy pan over medium-high heat and sear the meatballs, turning to colour all sides. Do it in two batches so the pan stays hot.
• Turn the heat down, cover, and cook for eight to ten minutes until firm.
• Lift the meatballs out, pour the cream into the hot pan and let it bubble and thicken for two minutes, scraping the browned bits up as you go. Pour it back over.

Carnivore Meatballs: Common Questions

How do you bind meatballs without breadcrumbs?

One egg per 800g of mince, plus grated hard cheese. The egg sets and holds the shape, the cheese gives the mixture body without adding water.

Why did my cheese leak out?

The seam was not closed, or you used wet mozzarella. Roll each ball until the join disappears, and use block mozzarella rather than the kind stored in liquid.

Can you freeze them?

Yes, and raw freezes better than cooked. Freeze them stuffed and shaped on a tray, then bag them once solid. Cook from frozen on a lower heat for longer.

What do you serve carnivore meatballs with?

The pan sauce and nothing else. If you want to make a larger meal of it, they sit well next to the cheeseburger casserole or a plate of properly cooked bacon.