These easy and delicious Paleo Salisbury Steak Meatballs are great for families, kid friendly, Whole30 compliant and perfect with mashed white or sweet potatoes! Gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, ready is 30 minutes.
Salisbury steak – it was dinner – the microwavable-TV-variety – at least twice per week for years of my childhood. And you know what?! I actually, secretly, loved it. TV dinner comfort food at its finest. Not joking. One bit.
You know what I didn’t love though? The fact that it was impossible to get those plastic covered mashed potatoes to come out any other way besides half frozen, half burn-your-tongue-off. Yes, I tried slitting the plastic (shudder.)
Yes, I tried stopping it not once, not twice, but THREE times to stir them with no real luck. That was called “recipe testing” back in 1992. Frozen mashed potatoes and the cherry dessert thing would be steaming for the next hour.
Anyway! Since my kids never had the pleasure of rocking their dinner, TV style, I didn’t even attempt to recreate the “official” salisbury steak of yesteryears.
The shape would scare them away, I’m certain. BUT! Something they really never turn down, is meatballs.
We make meatballs twice per week around here, so I like having more than one go-to recipe that I know will be a hit.
So here you go, children. You will be fed homemade Paleo salisbury steak – in meatball form! Frozen mashed potatoes optional.
Okay, you caught me, my potatoes were most definitely not frozen!
But, I did go the mashed potato route since it would’ve felt so wrong not to. I mashed mine up with coconut milk and ghee and they were perfect – if only I had known then what I know now…
But fast forward to 2017 and a whole lot has changed (for the better.) I had to make these salisbury steak meatballs one of those one-pan dinners that – you guessed it – is ready in 30 minutes, because – THIS IS LIFE, after all, and time doesn’t grow on trees.
But it does take time to grow trees, so I’m not sure if that helped me make my point. Point is, 30 minutes is often all we have on any given night to cook dinner.
Where were we? Salisbury steak meatballs, of course. Don’t be scared when you see the ingredient list – there are quite a few ingredients involved to get that signature salisbury steak flavor, but the method is simple. You mix the meatballs and roll them, brown them, remove from pan, then make the sauce.
The sauce/gravy really makes the meal, in my opinion.
I used the grass fed beef bone broth from Western Grassfed Beef and it gave the sauce a rich flavor that was absolutely perfect for the meatballs! The bone broth comes in an easy pour 12oz pouch, contains no synthetic nitrates or nitrites, and no MSG.
It’s also gluten free, Certified Paleo, sugar free, from 100% Grass Fed and Grass Finished Beef.
In fact ALL products from Western Grassfed beef are 100% grass-fed and finished, born and raised in the USA.
Are you guys ready to start cooking? Get the skillet, the spices, the broth, and let’s go!
This recipe post was sponsored by Western Grassfed Beef.
Paleo Salisbury Steak Meatballs {Whole30}
Paleo Salisbury Steak Meatballs {Whole30}
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 1.5 lbs grass-fed ground beef 85% lean
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup blanched almond flour
- 3/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp brown mustard
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1/4 tsp liquid smoke optional
- 1 cup white mushrooms divided SEE NOTE*
- 1/4 cup finely chopped mushroom from the 1 cup
- 1 Tbsp ghee or other cooking fat
- Parsley chopped, for garnish
For the Sauce:
- 12 ozbeef bone broth divided (1 cup + 1/2 cup)
- 1 Tbsp ghee
- 1 med onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 tbsp arrowroot powder or tapioca
- 1 tsp mustard
- 2 tsp coconut aminos
- See NOTE*
Instructions
Make the meatballs:
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In a large bowl, mix together with your hands the ground beef, almond flour, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, mustard, tomato paste, coconut aminos, finely chopped mushrooms*, egg, and liquid smoke,(if using.)
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Form into 1.5 inch balls while preheating a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp ghee to the skillet, then brown the meatballs all around. Transfer browned but not cooked through meatballs to foil lined sheet and lower the heat to low.
Make the sauce:
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Add second tbsp ghee to the pan, then the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
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Add 1 cup of the bone broth, leaving a half cup to mix with arrowroot
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Add the mustard, aminos, sliced mushrooms* and bring to a simmer, stirring.
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In a small bowl, whisk arrowroot with the remaining 1/2 cup of broth, add to the pan and stir to combine.
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Add meatballs back to the pan with the sauce, cover and simmer on low for 5-10 minutes until meatballs are fully cooked and sauce thickens.
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Spoon sauce over meatballs, sprinkle with parsley and serve with mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
*NOTE: Slice 3/4 cup of the mushrooms for the sauce, and finely chop the remaining 1/4 cup to add to the meatball mixture.
Nutrition
Want more family friendly Paleo dinner recipes? Try one of these!
Slow Cooker Meatballs in Marinara Sauce {Whole30}
One-Pan Bacon Wrapped Chicken {Whole30}
One-Pan Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs {Whole30}
Tell Me!
Did you eat TV dinners growing up? Which one was your favorite?
How often do you make meatballs?
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I’m very new to the paleo diet, but I didn’t think white potatoes were permitted. Can you clarify this?
Hi! White potatoes are in the “gray area” of Paleo, however they are permitted on the Whole30, which is a strict 30 day elimination diet with similar rules to a “strict” paleo diet. It really depends on your personal health, goals, etc. Here is a great article that discusses white potatoes and paleo: https://www.thepaleomom.com/potatoes-friend-foe-paleo/ – if you decide they’re not right for you, there are so many awesome alternatives including Japanese sweet potatoes, which have white flesh and are sort of a cross between a white and sweet potato.
Do you have a recipe for the potatoes?
For the meatball mixture, you state to use brown mustard. For the sauce, you just state mustard. Is it regular yellow mustard or would I use the brown mustard here as well? Planning to make these this week – they look amazing! This is my first time to your site and all the recipes so far look amazing 🙂
I used brown for both, that said you can use a yellow mustard too, just check ingredients for anything unusual 🙂
So, I am not a mustard expert, not a fan. I happen to have Dijon mustard in my pantry. Is that the same as brown mustard?
Dijon is fine unless you need to stick to Whole30 since most dijon is not compliant. Otherwise for flavor it won’t make a difference 🙂
Could I use something other than the almond flour? Maybe chickpea flour, tapioca flour, or coconut flour? Thanks!
In the meatballs, you can probably leave out the almond flour entirely and they will still come together and taste fine. Coconut is too dense and tapioca would alter the texture, I’m not sure about chickpea since I haven’t worked with it, but you could add a little bit and see how it goes if you like 🙂
Thank you! I will give the chickpea flour a try 🙂
I have brown rice flour. Will that make a difference?
Have a friend who eats gluten-free. Thought I would make these for our Wednesday night get together. I’ll have to check with her about the potatoes. TIA ?
I tried this tonight for dinner…it was delicious! However, my meatballs wouldn’t stay together. By the end of cooking, it was more of a ground beef mush…any tips to get the meatballs to stick together?
Hmm, I wonder if it was the beef itself, maybe too lean? I’d say 80-85% lean is ideal for meatballs. Or perhaps they stuck to the pan? Other than that, I’m not sure since I don’t think I’ve had that problem with meatballs. Glad you enjoyed it nonetheless!
Great recipe! It was a hit with the family! I didn’t have any mushrooms and not a big fan of brown mustard or liquid smoke so omitted those things and it still turned out great. Only thing is the sauce wasn’t as thick as I would have liked so will probably add just a touch more arrowroot powder next time, or less broth to mix it in. I served it with mashed potatoes (the sneaky kind w/ cauliflower mixed in).
Thank you for this wonderful recipe and for being a blessing to so many people with your recipes.
So glad it worked out! Definitely an easy recipe to make your own depending on what everyone likes 🙂
I always buy extra lean ground beef…usually 96% if I can get my hands on it…will this still work? The fattiest meat I buy is 90% lean.
I think it probably will, my only concern would be the meat not sticking well enough since higher fat content helps with this.
Delicious.. definitely going into the rotation!
Great! Thrilled you liked them 🙂
Do you have a yummy mashed potato recipe that goes well with these?? I’m always so disappointed in my whole30 mashed potatoes!
I don’t have an official recipe, but what I typically do is mash them with ghee, coconut cream or milk, a bit of lemon juice and nutritional yeast to taste, plus salt and pepper. I find that these ingredients work really well to recreate the traditional flavor, and you can experiment with amounts (starting with less and adding) to suits your taste 🙂
Thank you for the suggestion! The mashed potatoes and the meatballs were perfect!! We loved them and will definitely be adding these to our go to Whole30 meals!
Oh that’s great to hear! Thrilled you guys loved everything 🙂
I made these to take to some neighbors as part of a meal train. They were absolutely delicious! But now I have a confession: I’ve never made it as meatballs again. Yes, I’m lazy that way. So I just ground the beef and go from there then spoon the cooked mixture over sautéed zucchini and mix in half an avocado. One of my favorite meals. Thank you!
That’s sounds really good too! I’m so happy to hear you liked them!