Paleo Green Chile Meatballs with Pan Sauce

I love steak. There is nothing more delicious and easy to cook than a pan-seared choice cut with fresh herbs and butter. But the reality for hunters is, a large portion of the meat they bring home is turned into hamburger and for people, the purchase their meat from a store, the hamburger is less expensive.  

Add a Little Variety to Dinner

While tacos and chili are amazing sometimes it is fun to do more than just brown the hamburger in a skillet. Paleo Green Chile Meatballs add a little variety to your life with minimal effort. The green chiles add variety and a pop of flavor to your life.

A Good Recipe for Game Meat

I have made Green Chili Meatballs with Dall sheep, moose, black-tailed deer, caribou, grass-fed beef, bison, and ground turkey. Wow, until just now typing this up I didn’t realize I had used 7 different species! All were yummy. If I had some ground pork on hand I would give that a try also. Just use what is available to you.

The Down Falls of Paleo Meat Balls

Typically when up make meatballs you add to soak up all the juice as they cook. This produces a moist meatball, but when you make Paleo meatballs they tend to be dry. Adding gelatin (1 of 3 Superfoods you can add to almost any meal) helps this recipe retain some of the moisture and the pan sauce also adds moisture. If you don’t have gelatin, add it to your Amazon cart, and don’t sweat it, the meatballs will still be yummy.

For Kitchen Essentials I use almost every day, check out my Amazon Shop!

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Paleo Green Chile Meatballs

Paleo Green Chile Meatballs add a little variety to your life with minimal effort. The green chiles add variety and a pop of flavor to your life.

Course Main Course

Keyword baked, cast iron, grain-free, green chile, hamburger, meal prep, meat, oven, paleo

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 16 meatballs

Ingredients

• 3 green onions
• 1-4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoon sea or Himalayan salt
• 1/8 cayenne
• 1 lime zest and juice
• 2 tablespoons gelatin
• 2 4 ounces cans diced green chiles, drained
• 2 pound ground meat
• 1/2 bunch cilantro finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno minced (optional)
• 1 ½ tablespoons grass-fed butter optional

Instructions

Meatballs

1. Preheat oven to 400℉ with a large cast-iron skillet or other heavy, oven-proof dish, such as a Dutch oven.
2. Slice the green part of the onions on the bias and set aside. Mince the white part of the onions and set aside.
3. In a large bowl mix cumin, chili powder, salt, cayenne, and gelatin.
4. Add chiles and lime zest and combine thoroughly.
5. Add meat, jalapeno, cilantro, and whites of onion to the bowl and mix together, your hands really are the best tool for the job.
6. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to portion out mixture and roll into balls, setting aside on a small cookie sheet.
7. Once all the meatballs are done, take the pan out of the oven and place meatballs in the pan.
8. Return to oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked all the way through.

Pan sauce (optional)

1. Take all the meatballs out of pan and set aside.
2. Whisk butter and lime juice into the drippings in the pan. It may help to put the pan over low-heat if the pan has cooled off too much.
3. Replace meatballs in the pan along with any juices they may have released.
4. Garnish with onion greens.

Recipe Notes

Suggested serving with cauliflower rice or roasted vegetables. Also good in lettuce cups.

This is a great recipe for meal prep.

A probe thermometer will tell you exactly when meatballs are done, no need for a timer. I recommend and use this one.

Can be cooked on the stovetop. Brown on 3 sides over MEdium-High heat. Then cover and turn down heat to Low, until completely cooked.

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