Meatball Casserole
If you are looking for a comforting new family dinner, this homemade Meatball Casserole is the perfect choice. It features juicy, flavorful meatballs baked until golden, then smothered in rich tomato sauce and melted cheese. This low carb keto meatball casserole is always a massive hit with both kids and adults.
This recipe is inspired by the classic Italian meatball Parmesan subs I loved during college. To make it healthy and low-carb, I skipped the bread and turned it into a comforting, cheesy casserole with meatballs. It delivers all the nostalgic flavors of a classic meatball sub without the carbs.
Love this? Try my Keto Chicken Parmesan next! It is breaded with parmesan cheese, making it lighter than classic chicken parm but just as delicious.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- Family-Friendly Comfort Food: A dish the whole family will enjoy.
- Low Carb & Keto: Packed with protein and completely keto-friendly.
- Meal Prep Ready: An easy make-ahead freezer meal perfect for busy weeknights.
- Hidden Veggies: A great way to sneak vegetables into dinner—kids won’t even notice!
- Sub Without the Bread: Tastes exactly like a meatball Parmesan sub.
Ingredients
- Ground Meat – I typically use ground turkey, but ground beef, ground pork, or ground chicken work as well.
- Ground Sausage – I use sweet Italian sausage, but hot Italian sausage is fine or a combination of the two. If using lean ground meat, the sausage helps keep the meatballs moist and flavorful.
- Egg – The egg is the binder in this, in addition to the grated parmesan cheese.
- Shredded Zucchini – You can’t taste it, and it gives a lot of moisture to the meatballs. Note: I do not squeeze the water from the zucchini for this recipe.
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese – You can also use a blend of Italian cheese. Use freshly shredded mozzarella for the best melting texture.
- Keto Marinara Sauce – I like to make my own, but any pasta sauce or tomato sauce without added sugar is fine.
- Spices – I prefer to use dried onion, garlic, and basil in these. You can use Italian seasoning in place of the basil if you prefer the flavor of that.
- Salt & Pepper
How to Make a Meatball Casserole
Step One: Mix the Meatballs
Put all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large mixing bowl and mix. You can do this by hand or with a rubber spatula. Don’t overmix the meatball mixture or the meatballs can become dense.
Step Two: Scoop and Bake
Next, scoop the meatballs. A large cookie scoop makes this very easy. You should end up with 24 meatballs. Bake in a baking dish coated with cooking spray until they are almost completely cooked. I shoot for 150-155°F on my meat thermometer.
💡 Pro Tip: If there is excess grease in the casserole dish after baking, drain it completely before moving on to adding the sauce and cheese.
Step Three: Sauce, Cheese, and Broil
Top with sauce and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, and finish baking. For the best golden brown cheese on top, broil the low carb meatball casserole for 2-3 minutes, watching it carefully.
Top Prep Tip💡
You can make the Italian meatballs ahead of time, cook them until fully cooked, and then freeze the cooked meatballs in a freezer bag. Just place the frozen meatballs in the casserole dish, bake until thawed, and then top with the sauce and cheese. This easy meal prep idea is always a perfect meal on busy weeknights.
Storage & Reheating
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in the oven at 350°F until hot, or microwave individual portions.
Variations
- Fresh Herbs – If you have fresh basil, feel free to mix some into the ground meat mixture, add some to the marinara, or sprinkle on top after baking.
- Spice Swaps – Swap the dried minced onion and garlic for onion powder and garlic powder, or sub in Italian seasoning.
- More Dinner Ideas – This Sausage Parmigiana is also a great choice if you need more dinner recipes! Or for a vegetarian version, sub in cauliflower and try my Cauliflower Parmesan.
Common Questions
We enjoy it with a side salad, vegetables, or any of the main low carb pasta options out there, such as palm noodles and zoodles.
Our family’s favorite ways to serve this are on top of zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash. For any non-keto eaters, you can serve with garlic bread or a side of al dente pasta.
Alternatively, you can serve with a side of roasted broccoli or green beans or a green salad.
I use a large cookie scoop to simplify the process and make uniformly sized meatballs. Since there is no need to get up to your elbows in raw meat, this is a great task to get the kids involved in. Mine are pros at scooping low carb meatballs by now. Make sure to also check out the video below.
The shredded zucchini helps keep the meatballs moist and tender, and my kids never notice it’s there. If you’d rather use something else, chopped spinach works well too.
Absolutely! This easy meatball recipe also freezes really well! Go ahead and make a double batch and then next time you want an easy Meatball Casserole just thaw, dump into the baking dish, and cover with sauce and cheese. Meatball Parmesan in a jiffy!
I love to always have a bag of low carb homemade meatballs in the freezer for nights that I don’t want to cook.
Yes. Assemble the cooked meatballs and sauce in the dish, cover, and refrigerate up to 24 hours before baking. Add cheese just before putting it in the oven to reheat.
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Video
Meatball Casserole Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatball Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1/3 cup grated or shredded parmesan
- 1 medium shredded zucchini about 1 cup
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp dried minced onion
- 2 tsp dried minced garlic
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp salt
Casserole Ingredients
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 8 oz shredded cheese (I used a two cheese pizza blend of mozzarella and provolone)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray
- Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs and mix thoroughly. Make about 24 meatballs and put them in the casserole dish.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through. Carefully drain the cooking liquid from the casserole dish.
- Top with the sauce and cheese. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- Optional: I broiled for 3-4 minutes at the end to toast the cheese. Watch it carefully if you put it under the broiler. The cheese can burn easily.
Notes
Nutrition
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Originally Published September 23, 2016. Revised and Republished September 8, 2025.
I am wondering if I could freeze some before cooking ? ( raw mixture )
I haven’t tried freezing these meatballs raw but it should work.
In her write up section of this recipe she actually says she freezes some for future meals to cut down on her take out costs. It’s long but good reading for getting all the info you need
This is excellent. Thank you!
My husband and I love these meatballs. It is on my meal rotation for sure!!! Makes lots of meatballs (I made 22 with the recipe) that I can use for lunches or another meal later in the week.
This was amazing! I didn’t use the zucchini (I don’t like it) and it’s still was so yummy. My husband ask me to make sure it’s in my keto meal rotation.
You can’t taste the zucchini. I also don’t like zucchini, but leave it in because it makes the meatballs so much more moist.
These are delicious! Used half turkey/ground beef combination. My husband didn’t even notice the zucchini. Next time I’ll make some “zoodles” to go with them!
These were very good. My man loved them, hearty and delish. I followed your recipe exactly, except I made a half recipe since 12 meatballs were plenty for two people – served two days in a row. Thank you
Any thought on what the carb count is?
Oops! I’m updating to a new recipe box and I must’ve missed this one. The nutrition facts are there now 🙂
What is the serving size?
Nevermind. I see it now. 8 servings total. Got it!
So, 3 meatballs is a serving? Seems little, lol
They are pretty big meatballs. Feel free to increase the serving size as needed. 😉
Delish! Made meatballs just like recipe and then added mozzarella and some provolone on top. Served with a salad.
These are so good. My granddaughter said “I don’t like them, I love them”! I added some Italian seasoning to the tomato sauce to give it more taste. And yesterday I found tomato sauce with basil, garlic, and oregano already added.
I normally use Classico pasta sauce 🙂 The roasted garlic one is good and doesn’t have added sugar.
What brand and type of sauce is it?
How many meatballs per person can you have? Nutritional facts seems a lil high for 3 meatballs
These are pretty big meatballs. The nutrition facts are calculated for three. In three meatballs there is four ounces of meat plus the cheese, sauce, etc. And they are filling. Three with a side salad or a green vegetable is good for me 🙂
Loved this recipe, thank you! I subbed the italian sausage for pork mince however it still tasted great. Even the liquid/ juices that i strained off the meatballs after the initial 30 mins was delicious!
I don’t have zucchini. Could I not use it or sub something else I might have?
You can leave it out or sub in spinach.
Absolutely delicious. I have several great meatball recipes but this definitely goes to the top of the list. It was a big hit with both young and old.
Wow!!! Made this tonight with a dinner salad and we ate it gone! My kids that despise zucchini devoured it! My husband loved it and ate two helpings. I saved four meatballs for lunch tomorrow. This is an amazing recipe. Use the bit Italian turkey sausage for a little kick. I was worried bad the meatballs were loose and hard to shape, but when they cook they turn into amazing balls! Thank you for a new family favorite! Perfect for a healthy lifestyle and low carb, high protein menus.
I love this recipe! I make it just as it is, but it is also my go-to meatball recipe for any recipe/appetizer that calls for them. I’ll never use ground beef for meatballs again! Thanks for the great recipe!