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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The taste of this is out of this world, so good!! My favorite Whole30 meal!! 🙂 As an aside, just wish I could get the meat from crumbling apart but it tastes so good we just eat it in a bowl! Lol
I have made these a couple of times and we love them (me + 3yo daughter). I have a busy week coming up in April and I’m on vacation now so I thought I’d make a double batch and freeze them raw. Can I do that? Or maybe not bc the meat was already frozen. So cool then reheat in oven I guess? I’ll make the sauce the night of.
These are absolutely delicious. I think kids would love these and they’d also be a great party food!
I love this recipe! after mixing the meatball ingredients, I roll them into balls and place them on a cookie sheet to go in the over for about 15 min at 350F. this is the only way I can make them without breaking….and during that time I make everything else, then pull them out and put them in the sauce! thank you!
oops forgot to rate!
I have tried this recipe twice now with less than happy results. Meat didnt hold together into meatballs either time. I saw a comment about the fat content helping hold together, but not for me as I have tried lean and 85% meat. We ate the sauce it became both times, but I won’t try the meatballs again. I loved TV dinners, especially salsbury steak, when i was a kid!
I doubled this recipe as I have two teen bots. These tasted pretty good but a lot of my meatballs fell apart. Too much flour or too much egg? Any suggestions? I’d like to try again and see if I have better results.
Where is your recipe for the mashed potatoes?
Everyone in the family loved this. Though the meatballs fell apart, so it came out the consistency of a spaghetti sauce with big chunks of ground meat.
Whole30 is not easy. This recipe is one of the best we found. Using the sauce for baked steak as well as the delicious meatballs. It’s a keeper!