Quick Summary: A quick low carb dinner using store-bought meatballs, shirataki noodles, and a rich homemade tomato sauce made for winter when fresh tomatoes aren’t available. The sauce uses three tomato products for depth and keeps for weeks refrigerated or months frozen. Prep: 15 min | Cook: 30 min | Serves: 4
Jump To: RECIPE | Ingredients & Substitutions | How to Make It | FAQ
When you want comfort food on a slow carb diet, spaghetti and meatballs seems impossible. But with shirataki noodles, store-bought low carb meatballs, and a batch of homemade sauce, it’s an easy weeknight dinner.
This “winter” sauce is designed for when there are no fresh tomatoes worth using. It’s rich and robust, made with three tomato products: paste, sauce, and crushed tomatoes. Make a big batch and freeze it. When dinner needs to happen fast, the sauce is ready.
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Ingredients & Substitutions
The Slow-Carb Meatballs:
You can now find low-carb, pre-made meatballs at many grocery stores. I’m a fan of Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand cooked Italian Style beef Meatballs (frozen). There are also several other brands available in supermarkets, including Stefano’s and Great Value. All you do is place them on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Easy peasy.
The “Noodles”:
I used shirataki noodles from Amazon, which are also available in most grocery stores these days. They are sometimes made with tofu and considered a “shaped noodle substitute”. A package is 8 oz. and contains 20 calories and 6 carbs total.
Tip: If you don’t like shirataki, then try spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles for your “spaghetti”.
The Sauce:
Take Note! The recipe card below is what I make in the Winter when there are no fresh tomatoes around of any quality. It is very rich and uses 3 different tomato products: tomato paste, tomato sauce, and crushed tomatoes.
For a truly easy dinner, there is quite a range of spaghetti sauces in the store these days, but it pays to compare the labels for sugar. Rao’s Marinara Sauce brand is the one that I have found with the least amount of sugar and tastes fantastic – as good as homemade.
Making your own sauce allows you to control the amount of sugar. I used 1 teaspoon of sugar in my sauce and the batch of sauce was quite large. It is not difficult to make your own and very forgiving if you want to modify it to your own tastes.
Now if you made enough freezer tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes to last through the season, of course, this would make an easy low-carb dinner. This is my favorite recipe for making a slow-carb freezer tomato sauce made with fresh tomatoes.
How to Make Low Carb Spaghetti and Meatballs
The ingredient and recipe details are listed in the recipe card below. In short:
- Bake frozen meatballs on a cookie sheet at 375°F for 30 minutes.
- For the sauce, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil, add tomato paste, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and a small amount of sugar. Simmer until thickened.
- Prepare shirataki noodles according to package directions (rinse well).
- Serve meatballs over noodles with sauce.
Other Great Meatball Favorites:
- Greek Meatballs in a Lemon Thyme Soup
- Vietnamese Meatballs in Coconut Broth
- Mexican Meatball Soup (Albondigas)
- Homemade Tomato Sauce with Heirloom Tomatoes
FAQ
A low calorie, low carb noodle substitute made from konjac fiber, sometimes with tofu. They have a slightly chewy texture and absorb the flavor of sauces well.
Spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles both work as low carb pasta alternatives.
Costco’s Kirkland Italian Style beef meatballs work well. Check labels for sugar and fillers. Stefano’s and Great Value also make options.
Costco’s Kirkland Italian Style beef meatballs work well. Check labels for sugar and fillers. Stefano’s and Great Value also make options.
Yes. Rao’s Marinara has the least sugar of the commercial brands and tastes close to homemade.
Several weeks refrigerated or several months frozen. Make a big batch for easy future dinners.
Cooking Tutorial for Low-Carb Spaghetti and Meatballs:
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Low Carb Spaghetti and Meatball Dinner
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon olive oil or bacon fat
- 1 large onion coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 6 ounces tomato paste small can or paste in tube
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried basil fresh if available
- 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 28 ounces can crushed tomatoes preferably Italian
- 28 ounces can tomato sauce
- ½ teaspoon sugar optional
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley roughly chopped
- 4 small peperoncini
- 16 ounces pre-made pork & parmesan meatballs
- 8 ounces shirataki noodles
- 3 ounces parmesan cheese grated (for garnish)
Instructions
- In large pot, skillet or dutch oven, heat oil on medium and add onions. Saute for about 3 min. and then add garlic and cook 2 min. longer.
- Add tomato paste and stir. Add all spices and stir to combine.
- Add cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce, then 4 1/2 cup water. Stir in sugar (if using), parsley and peperoncini. Bring to gentle boil.
- Turn heat down to a simmer partly cover and leave sauce to simmer about 2 hours or more, stirring occasionally.
- After the sauce has been cooking for 2 hours, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil and empty pre-made meatballs onto the sheet. Place in oven pre-heated to 375 degrees F and turn the timer on for 30 minutes (*note: you can turn meatballs over at 15 minutes if desired to get browning on all sides).
- Keep sauce on a low simmer. While meatballs are cooking, empty shirataki noodles into a strainer placed over a bowl. Rinse in a strainer over a bowl to get rid of offputting smell. Let drain while making sauce.
- 5 minutes before meatballs are done, add drained shirataki noodles to sauce and heat through.
- Remove meatballs from oven, cover with tomato sauce, garnish with fresh parmesan and serve.
[…] if you like meatballs in general, but want a recipe that is quick and easy for weeknights, see this other idea for ketogenic meatballs. Â If you used the prepared meatballs suggested in the post, the prepared shirataki and the leftover […]