The Best Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs and Gravy

The Best Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs and Gravy

Written by on in Home, Natural Living

The Best Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs and Gravy

Delicious, nutritious, and savory dinner recipe for a family of five. Not only is this recipe super delicious, but it is also quick and easy to make. My goal is to make recipes that I can meal prep within an hour at the beginning of the week and pull out whenever I am needing a quick dinner to serve the family. This meatball dish is served with creamy and thick gray. Serve the meatballs over mashed potatoes along with your favorite roasted veggies. This will be a meal that you and the family will NEVER get tired of!

The Best Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs and Gravy

Oven-baked whole30 meatballs and gravy is a go to staple meal in my family house. It is a delicious and nutritious meal that I love to serve my kids and watch them gobble up.

Normally at the beginning of every month I will meal prep about 4 pans full of meatballs and gravy and store them in the freezer. We have meatballs about once a week. I either pull them out to serve at dinner time or I pull them out to serve at lunch time for the kids to have. They are so easy to make and super nice to have on hand when you are in a pinch.

Not only in this post will I teach you how to make Oven-baked whole30 meatballs and gravy but I will also teach you how to meal prep these meals and store them correctly in the freezer so then you can have meatballs and gravy on hand as well!

This blog post is all about how to make the best oven-baked Whole30 meatballs and gravy!

About the Meatballs and Gravy

Whole30 Meatballs and Gravy is a great meal that my family and I gravitate towards weekly. It is a meal that we know will win everyone’s hearts over and will make everyone happy and full at the end of dinner. Nothing I hate more than serving my family a meal that they will not like. Eating dinner as a family should be fun and enjoyable. Whole30 meatballs and gravy does just that!!

When people ask me where I came up with this recipe, I like to inform them that it is kind of a mixture of other meatball recipes that I found online. Every time I am cooking something new, I always like to research several recipes and take a piece of every recipe secret sauce and combine it into one delicious recipe!

Not only do I go for delicious factor, but I also think about how I can sneak in an extra veggie or an extra ingredient that will benefit our bodies. When people are cooking their meals they never think about the ingredients that they are putting into the recipe. It is our job to fuel our bodies with food to keep our energy level high throughout the day. The ingredients that we put into our body keeps us growing and repairing the body. It helps us stay strong, healthy and helps to prevent illnesses, cancers, and diseases.

The Ingredients

The Best Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs and Gravy

Like I said before, it is my goal to fuel our bodies with ingredients that will benefit our bodies and not hurt the body. I try very hard to stay away from processed foods. If I am going to be cooking whole meals, I need these meals to be quick and efficient. I have three kids under two and a half that are home with me full time.  Meals that are quick, easy, healthy and delicious is the ultimate goal here.

With being a stay-at-home mom, I really do not have time to do much research on ingredients. I was tired of going to the store, reading the nutrition label and seeing all the harmful ingredients that was in some of the sauces, canned items, and baking items. I wanted to make sure all my condiments, cereals, and baked goods were all clean and organic. That is when I discovered Thrive Market. Thrive Market is an online grocery store that delivers groceries right to your door in just a couple of days. If you are wanting 40% off your first order. Shop the link here! 

Meatballs

  • 1 LB Ground Beef
  • 1/2 Ground Italian Pork Sausage
  • 1 TBSP Onion Powder
  • 1 TSP Garlic Powder
  • 1 TSP Ground Black Pepper
  • 1 TSP Real Salt
  • 1 TBSP Coconut Aminos
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/2 TSP Distilled White Vinegar

Gravy

  • Pan Drippings
  • 1 Cup Beef Broth
  • 1/2 TSP Real Salt
  • 1/2 TSP Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/4 TSP Garlic Powder
  • 2 TBSP All Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Water

How to make this recipe

For the Meatballs:

  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a bowl mix together all the meatball ingredients and roll into balls. Mine usually makes about 14 meatballs.
  3. Take a few Spoonfuls of flour and spread out on a plate. Roll each meatball in the flour, making sure they are lightly coated in the flour.
  4. In a medium to large skillet, heat up olive oil. I like to keep the heat on low-medium.  (You want your pan sizzling when you add the meatballs in. )
  5. Add meatballs into the skillet. Do not over crowd your skillet. You want the meatballs to be brown on all sides.
    1. This should only take you about 5 minutes per bath. We do not want to cook the meatballs through. We are just browning the exterior.
  6. Place the brown meatballs into a casserole dish. I usually use about 11×13 glass dish and it fits everything nicely.

For the Gravy:

  1.  Keep the pan drippings after browning the meatballs. Add the broth, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Bring to a simmer and how it to cook for about 5-6 minutes.
  2. While that is simmering, mix 2 tablespoons of flour and water together. We want this to be “slurry”.
  3. Turn the heat on the gravy and slowly pour in the slurry mixture while whisking everything else together. Your gravy will start to thicken. Remove the gravy from the heat one you have reached a nice thick consistency.
  4. Pour the gravy over the meatballs, cover and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
  6. Enjoy!

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Recipe FAQS

How Do I store the meatballs & gravy

To properly refrigerate meatballs, they should be in an shallow airtight container or wrapped tightly in heavy-duty plastic wrap. I personally love to store mine in a glass food storage container like this one!  

Properly stored, cooked meatballs will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

Can I meal prep this and store in the freezer?

HANDS DOWN YES! If it cannot be stored in the freezer, then I don’t want to make it. I love doubling batches and storing half of it in the freezer. Soup can also last in the freezer for up to SIX MONTHS. You can simply double, triple, or quadruple this recipe and store it in the freezer!

How to properly store meatballs & gravy in the freezer?

  • Arrange meatballs in a single layer in a freezer bag or a freezer-safe container. Keep them from touching each other or they will stick together.
  • Label and store in freezer for 1-2 months.

How to defrost meatballs & gravy from the freezer?

  • Pull out of freezer
  • Set in the the refrigerator for 24 hours to defrost.

What tools may I need?

Meal Prepping Meatballs & Gravy

Let’s make this super simple with directions. If you are meal prepping, you are either a busy man/woman or a busy mom trying to make dinner time as quick and easy as possible. So let’s keep the directions to meal prepping the same way….

  1. Double, triple or quadruple the recipe ingredients.
  2. Roll the meatballs into balls. (Refer to recipe card for exact directions)
  3. Put the meatball on the skillet for a couple minutes. (Just long enough that they are brown on all sides but do not cook them all the way through.)
  4. Put the meatballs into a pan.
  5. make the gravy. If you want more sauce just add an extra cup of broth along with a extra tablespoon or two of flour. (Refer to recipe card for exact directions)
  6. Pour the gravy over the meatballs.
  7. Put saran wrap over the pans.
  8. Put aluminum wrap over the pans.
  9. Make sure everything is sealed right and store in the freezer up to 1-2 months.
  10. When you are ready to serve defrost them for 24 hours in the refrigerator and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes covered.
  11. Let’s be real- sometimes we forget to pull the meal out to defrost. If this is the case bake in the oven on 350 degrees for one hour.
  12. ENJOY!

Recipe

The Best Oven-Baked Whole30 Meatballs and Gravy

Oven-baked Whole30 Meatballs & Gravy

Lindsey Siefring
Delicious, nutritious, and savory dinner recipe for a family of five. Not only is this recipe super delicious, but it is also quick and easy to make. My goal is to make recipes that I can meal prep within an hour at the beginning of the week and pull out whenever I am needing a quick dinner to serve. The meatball dish is served with creamy and thick gray. Serve the meatballs over mashed potatoes along with your favorite roasted veggies. This will be a meal that you and the family will NEVER get tired of!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

Meatballs

  • 1 lb Ground Beef
  • 1/2 lb Ground Italian Pork Sausage
  • 1 tbsp Onion Powder
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 1 tsp Real Salt
  • 1 tbsp Coconut Aminos
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/2 tsp Distilled White Vinegar

Gravy

  • Pan Drippings
  • 1 cup Beef Broth
  • 1/2 tsp Real Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 cup Water

Instructions
 

For the Meatballs:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a bowl mix together all the meatball ingredients and roll into balls. Mine usually makes about 14 meatballs. 
  • Take a few Spoonfuls of flour and spread out on a plate. Roll each meatball in the flour, making sure they are lightly coated in the flour.
  • In a medium to large skillet, heat up olive oil. I like to keep the heat on low-medium.  (You want your pan sizzling when you add the meatballs in. ) 
  • Add meatballs into the skillet. Do not over crowd your skillet. You want the meatballs to be brown on all sides.  
    This should only take you about 5 minutes per bath. We do not want to cook the meatballs through. We are just browning the exterior. 
  • Place the brown meatballs into a casserole dish. I usually use about 11×13 glass dish and it fits everything nicely!

For the Gravy:

  •  Keep the pan drippings after browning the meatballs. Add the broth, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Bring to a simmer and how it to cook for about 5-6 minutes. 
  • While that is simmering, mix 2 tablespoons of flour and water together. We want this to be “slurry”. 
  • Turn the heat on the gravy and slowly pour in the slurry mixture while whisking everything else together. Your gravy will start to thicken. Remove the gravy from the heat one you have reached a nice thick consistency. 
  • Pour the gravy over the meatballs, cover and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. 
  • Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving. 
  • Enjoy!

What type of quick recipe is your favorite?

Do you have a simple, quick, and delicious recipe you use weekly? Let me know down below in the comments some of your favorite recipe!