These delicious keto bacon meatballs have a smooth cream cheese filling that's perfect when served with spaghetti squash.
You only need 4 ingredients and with only 3g net carbs per serving, makes a quick and easy mid-week healthy family meal.
Everyone loves a good meatball recipe. These low-carb stuffed meatballs will blow all the other meatball recipes away!
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Ground beef nutrition
Ground beef is a versatile meat and is a source of complete protein.
The amount of protein and fat in ground beef will be dictated by which variety of ground beef you buy. The higher the fat content, the lower the protein.
| Per 100g (3.5oz) | Carbs | Protein | Fat | Calories |
| Ground beef 70% lean | 0 | 14.4g | 30g | 332 |
| Ground beef 80% lean | 0 | 17.2g | 20g | 254 |
| Ground beef 90% lean | 0 | 20.0g | 10g | 176 |
| Ground beef 95% lean | 0 | 21.4g | 5g | 137 |
Nutritional values from cronometer.com
Ingredients
There are two parts to this recipe - the filling and the meatballs. Here's what you'll need to make both.
Filling
- Bacon - use sugar-free bacon on when you're on a low-carb diet. This is a great way to use leftovers, but if you have uncooked bacon, you should cook it first. I personally like to store cooked bacon in the refrigerator and use it in recipes like this one or as a crumble on top of my salad.
- Cream Cheese - Full fat cream cheese is best. Make sure to buy a plain variety with no added sugars.
Quick question: How do you cook bacon? The easiest way to cook bacon is in the air fryer. You can make soft or crispy bacon and even crumbled bacon pieces to sprinkle over salads.
Meatballs
- Ground Minced Meat - I like to use ground beef, but you can use another type of ground meat if you prefer. Ground turkey, ground pork, ground chicken, or ground lamb.
- Onion Flakes - You could also use finely chopped onion, but I like the mild taste of dried onion flakes or onion powder.
- Salt and Black Pepper - add seasoning to taste.
Directions
This is one of my favorite flavorful recipes because it is so easy to make—though you'd never guess it by how delicious it is!
First, gently fry the bacon until it is fully cooked in a large skillet over medium heat. Then, place it in a small bowl and mix it with the cream cheese.
In a large bowl, combine the beef, onion flakes, salt and pepper. This meat mixture is what will become your meatballs.
Form the meat mixture into 1 inch meatballs. Press your thumb into the middle of them to make an indentation.
Add 1 teaspoon of bacon filling to the middle of the meatball and squeeze the edges around it, enclosing it completely.
Place the meatballs on a lined baking sheet and bake them in your preheated oven. I suggest using olive oil spray (or brush with cooking oil) on your sheet pan to prevent the bacon meatballs from sticking.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C/350F for 15 minutes.
How to cook meatballs in the air fryer
Place meatballs into the air fryer basket with a small space between each meatball. Cook at 180C/350F for 10-15 minutes until the ground beef is cooked on all sides and slightly crispy.
How to cook meatballs in the frying pan
Place the meatballs on a heated frying pan or skillet with your favorite cooking oil. Fry for 10-15 minutes, turning each meatball to ensure they are golden brown on all sides.
Storage
Leftover meatballs make amazing lunchbox fillers, or they can be frozen for a quick keto frozen meal for later.
Store these bacon meatballs in the refrigerator in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for up to 3 days.
These bacon meatballs also freeze beautifully, and are a great option for meal prepping! Before freezing, allow the meatballs to cool down to room temperature.
Place the baking tray (or a cookie sheet) filled with meatballs in the freezer for about 2-3 hours. Then, once they are chilled, transfer the meatballs to a freezer-safe zip topped bag.
Serving
There are so many ways to enjoy these delicious meatballs. My favorite is to enjoy them like spaghetti and meatballs, only swapping out carb-laden pasta for a lovely spaghetti squash.
These meatballs are also absolutely delicious with your favorite soup - like keto pumpkin soup with bacon.
Enjoy it as part of meatball subs inside your favorite low-carb bread rolls. This fathead dough is perfect.
Or serve all the meatballs as an appetizer at your next party. You can't go wrong with them!
Easy sauces for meatballs
Adding bacon to the stuffing is the simplest way to add flavor but serving with a yummy sauce will keep the whole family happy.
Each fo these sauce recipes is worth 5 stars.
- Keto BBQ sauce recipe (sugar-free barbecue sauce)
- Quick mushroom sauce recipe (gluten-free)
- Sugar-free ketchup recipe (Instant Pot recipe)
- Easy herbed butter recipes (4 flavors) - garlic butter, blue cheese butter, lemon and rosemary,
Variations
- Make them cheesy. Add shredded parmesan cheese to the outside. Parmesan cheese will make them crispier, and it acts as a fantastic substitute for bread crumbs.
- Add BBQ sauce on the side. Make sure it is sugar-free BBQ sauce, or make your own. Don't use a brand such as Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce because it has too much sugar.
- Give them some spice. Add chili powder a little kick!
- Add garlic. All the recipes that have garlic in them are my favourite ones! I'm a big fan of that zesty flavour.
- Onion mixture coating - mix onion powder with almond flour and roll the meatballs to make a crunchy coating.
Bacon meatballs recipe FAQ
Yes, you can swap ground beef for ground turkey to make turkey meatballs. Just be aware that the texture may be a bit different and potentially a little dry because beef does have a higher fat content than ground turkey would. If you choose leaner meat you may have to serve it with a dipping sauce.
You may also swap out the bacon for turkey bacon as well if you can't eat pork.
When it comes to stuffing the meatballs, you can use regular cheese instead of cream cheese. You can also use blue cheese, mozzarella cheese, or even get cheese or halloumi cheese too The cream cheese is my top choice for this recipe because it adds a nice creamy texture to the centre of the meatballs.
You can also vary the filling easily by mixing the cream cheese with spring onion, chilli powder, or your favourite herb or spice. This meatball recipe is extremely versatile.
If you use regular cheese, it will have a more "cheesy" taste but will still be delicious!
Yes you definitely can. This recipe doesn't have any and it turned out perfectly. You don't need carbs to make dishes taste fantastic!
Yes, you can. If you love bacon but don't like the excess grease, this is a fantastic way to prepare it.
If you want crumbed meatballs you can use almond flour onion mixture, parmesan cheese, or ground pork rinds.
Yes, if you want a smoother texture then use the food processor. Add the ground meat, salt, and black pepper then pulse until smooth. You can also add herbs such as parsley and basil. Form mixture into balls using your hands or a cookie scoop.
Best sides for meatballs
I bet you're ready to cook this delicious low-carb and gluten-free dish! While it's totally delicious to make and eat on its own, pairing it with a healthy bowl of low-carb spaghetti squash is an absolute win as well.
Spaghetti squash can be cooked in the oven, slow-cooker, microwave, and even the air fryer.
Instead of mashed potatoes, serve with mashed cauliflower.
Instead of regular garlic bread, serve with cheesy keto garlic bread.
More keto meatball recipes
📖 Recipe
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Keto Bacon Stuffed Meatballs Recipe
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Ingredients
Bacon and cream cheese filling
- 2 slices bacon diced
- 100 g (3.5 oz) cream cheese full fat
Beef meatballs
- 600 g (1.3 lb) ground/minced beef
- 2 tablespoon onion flakes
- +/- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Bacon and cream cheese filling
- Gently fry the diced bacon until cooked. Remove from the heat and place in a small bowl.
- Add the cream cheese to the bacon and mix.
Ground beef meatballs
- In a bowl, mix the ground/minced beef, onion flakes, salt, and pepper.
- Roll medium-sized meatballs then press your thumb into the center to make an indentation.
- Place a small spoon of cream cheese bacon filling inside the meatball and squeeze the edges of the meatball to close.
- Repeat and place all the bacon and cream cheese -illed meatballs on a lined baking tray. Bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes.
- Serve with spaghetti squash, and plenty of butter, salt, and pepper.
Notes
5-INGREDIENTS COOKBOOK
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YOUR HOLIDAY PANTRY & GIFT GUIDES
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Approximate nutrition information is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. For the most accurate nutritional data, use the actual ingredients and brands you used in your preferred nutrition calculator.
Brittany
These sound delicious!!!! Have you tried freezing them? I’m wondering if I could make a double batch and freeze half for a busy night when I don’t have time to really cook.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes, these are great for freezing. Keep them in an airtight container for up to 2 months and they should defrost and reheat beautifully.
Lisa
Those look great!
tim
You dont use an egg to help keep the meatballs together
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
No, it doesn't need it. Easy peasy.
Norma Gauss
Hi..how many meatballs in a serving?