Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs (keto + low carb)
These five ingredient Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs are the low carb perfect appetizer or easy dinner recipe!
If you want to know the way to my heart, it’s food. Specifically, appetizers. I will love you even more if said appetizer involves cheese. But digging into loads of delicious cheesy appetizers kind of prevents me from fitting into skinny jeans, SO sometimes I just have to find a way to feel like I’m indulging, without really indulging! These Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs can be made low carb, keto-friendly and even pretty low calorie, depending on the protein you use!
These stuffed meatballs reheat really well, making them perfect for meal prep! Serve these with a nice side salad and dipping sauce for a delicious, grab and go lunch!
Ingredients for Stuffed Meatballs
As always, you will find the complete recipe below, just keep scrolling.
- Ground Meat: you can use ground beef, turkey, chicken, or pork in this recipe.
- Ranch Seasoning: adds excellent flavor.
- Egg: this adds moisture and helps to hold the meatballs together.
- Breadcrumbs or Keto-Friendly Panko: you can use regular breadcrumbs, gluten free breadcrumbs, or Pork Rind Panko if keto.
- Cheese: cheddar cubes, or cheese sticks cut into cubes.
How do you make Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs?
These meatballs are so easy to make. Simply combine the meat, seasoning, egg and breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl. Chill the meatball mixture for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, slice the cheddar into 24 small cubes. Take a heaping spoonful of the meatball mixture and pat it out flat in your hand, place a cheese cube in the middle and fold the meatball around the cheese. Squeeze it a little bit so that you really get the cheese enclosed in the meatball, otherwise it will just ooze out when you cook them. Bake or air fry the meatballs according to the directions below.
Are these meatballs keto-friendly?
These meatballs can be made keto and low carb. The recipe calls for breadcrumbs, but you can easily sub my favorite keto breadcrumbs. If using pork rind panko instead of traditional breadcrumbs a serving of four stuffed meatballs comes to 0.6 net carbs, making this an amazing keto meal!
What should I serve with Stuffed Meatballs?
We love to have these meatballs with a large salad that consists of greens, cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, cheese and homemade ranch dressing. The flavors pair perfectly! You can also serve these meatballs with some of our other favorites:
Get the Recipe: Skinny Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground meat, beef, pork, turkey or chicken all work
- 1 1 ounce packet Hidden Valley ranch seasoning
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs, keto-friendly breadcrumbs linked below
- 1 egg, beaten
- 24 small cheddar cheese cubes, 3 cheese sticks cut into cubes
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Spray a large cooking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
- Mix the meat, seasoning, breadcrumbs (or pork rind panko), and egg together until it is completely combined.
- Working with about a spoonful of meatball mixture at a time pat it flat in your hand. Place a cheese cube inside and form a ball around the cheese.
- Squeeze the meatball a bit to make sure the cheese is totally enclosed.
- Lay evenly separated on the cookie sheet, bake 20- 25 minutes.
Air Fryer Instructions:
- Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees F for 3 minutes. Add the meatballs in a single layer in the air fryer (this may require two batches depending on the size of your air fryer). Cook the meatballs for 5 minutes, flip and cook an additional 3-4 minutes until cooked through.
Notes
- Keto breadcrumbs: PORK RIND PANKO
- This recipe makes 6 servings (4 meatballs each). Each serving has 0.6 net carbs when made with pork rind panko.
Yes yes and yes! Food is definitely the way to my heart, too. These are right up my alley!
Food and shoes 🙂 Those are the things that make the world go round, right?
We love meatballs here in our house. My guys get really excited to see me making them. I’ve never made a stuffed one, but after seeing these I want them tonight! These look delicious! Great appetizer or addition to a meal 😀 Pinning!
Thanks for the pin Cindy!! Your bunch sounds like my husband, any meatball night is a happy night! 🙂
Love the flavor combo- these look yummy!
Thanks so much Sherri!!
These are so brilliant. The cheese instead is icing on the already delicious meatball cake!
Thank you so much! Cheese makes everything better!
Appetizers are definitely the best! I ate sooooo many during the game today! No skinny jeans for me tomorrow. 😛 These meatballs look fantastic… gotta love anything stuffed with cheese!
Hahahaha! I laughed out loud at your “no skinny jeans” comment! 🙂
I love appetizers too! I can make a whole meal out of them. Sometimes I do! That way I can get a few bites of different things. These cheddar stuffed meatballs sound delicious! And I love that their healthy : )
Thanks Natalie! I love that they aren’t so bad either! I tend to go a bit overboard with tiny foods! 🙂
If I were to make these ahead of time, should I bake them and freeze them cooked? Or would it be better to just make the meatballs, freeze raw, and cook them when I’m ready to use them? Thanks for the help!
Hi Cheyanne! When I freeze any of my meatball recipes I just roll them and freeze them uncooked on a a baking sheet then put them all in a freezer bag and pull them out as needed!It makes it super easy to do a double batch and have loads in the freezer if you need them! 🙂