These gluten-free meatballs are baked rather than fried, and they’re a perfect way to dress up spaghetti.
Last week Phoebe, at Cents to Get Debt Free, got me in the mood for meatballs. I don’t make them often because they always seem like too much work, but that’s really not the case. I used them for spaghetti and meatballs and used pasta sauce from a jar. I started heating water for the spaghetti while I was working on the meatballs, then while they baked, the pasta cooked, the sauce heated, and I made salad. It worked out quite well. I also used Phoebe’s tip and made a double batch of meatballs so I could freeze half for a really quick meal the next time.
These meatballs were very tasty. We loved them, but maybe it was because I hadn’t made them in a while. While I love onions, I didn’t use any in this recipe. Feel free to add a little onion powder or chopped onion if you like.
Tips:
- A trick I like to use when making things like meatballs, meatloaf, or salmon cakes, is to use instant potato flakes instead of bread crumbs. They work wonderfully, and I keep a small box in my pantry for those recipes.
- I mix my meatloaf and meatballs in my KitchenAid mixer. Using the regular paddle it takes about half a minute to have it all mixed together well.
Serve With:
Meatballs - Baked
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 8
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (I used 80% lean)
- 1/3 cup instant potato flakes (or dry gluten-free bread crumbs)
- 1/4 cup milk (or substitute or just water)
- 1 Tablespoon gluten-free soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon parsley
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a bowl.
- Combine well using your mixer with the paddle attachment, your hands, or a large fork.
- Gently form balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place them in a greased baking dish.
- Bake at 400 degrees about 15 minutes. Cut one of the meatballs to check for doneness.
- Use them in your favorite meatball meal. If freezing, let the meatballs cool, then place them in a freezer bag or container. Don’t forget to label it!
Great tips. I freeze meatballs for future meals, too, because I usually don't have time to make them on busy weekdays.
I never thought about using potato flakes. Great idea. It's a lot less expensive than buying g-free breadcrumbs. I have a question…I can't seem to find gluten free soy sauce anywhere, maybe it's because I don't know where to look. Do you have a name brand I can look for?
Try tamari sauce sold in the Asian stores. You can also try Lachoy. It is gluten free.
Coconut Aminos taste just like soy sauce without the soy! I make fried rice like Benihana’s and my boys love it!
Have you looked for San J gluten free sauces? Their soy sauce is awesome and fairly inexpensive!
Yes, San J used to be my favorite soy sauce. Now I am mostly soy free and use coconut aminos. Thanks for the tip.
I use Bragg’s liquid aminos, which is an alternative for soy sauce
Not sure where you’re located but most market baskets carry a gluten-free soy sauce in the Chinese/Asian food section. Also super Walmart carries the LaChoy for like two dollars a bottle much cheaper.
I use Braggs Aminnos it tastes just like soy sauce but it is not.
I used to use Braggs too, but it is derived from soy.
Braggs Aminnos is extremely salty.
San-J. You can find it almost anywhere.
I use San J, too. Good recipe.
Tamari Sauce is gluten free and very close to Soy Sauce in flavour.
Oh – potato flakes, what a great idea! Mmmm, meatballs. Making me hungry!
@ G – the gluten-free soy sauce I usually use is Tan-J, but I just learned that La Choy is gluten-free, at least, the lite version is. (a friend of ours had it at their house and I checked the label, and much to my surprise, no wheat!)
These look yummy. And they would work so well with the homemade bread crumbs and semi homemade sauce!!
Thanks for sharing!
Yummy Linda! Thanks for the recipe. I think all my picky eaters will like this.
Hi! These look good and I'm going to try them. I found Gillian's GF Bread Crumbs (Italian Style) at the health food store and I've made meatloaf from her website a few times with them with great results…I'd love to eat pasta & meatballs but I just haven't been able to really love (even like) GF pasta…maybe someday
Have you tried the Tinkyada brand? It is the only brand I use. Once it soaks up some broth or sauce it is very good. The lasagna noodles are excellent.
Yes, I love Tinkyada!
Doesn’t work well for those of us who can’t have brown rice…celiacs people are less restricted than a person with IBS & Fructo/Lacto Intolerance trust me!
Have you tried quinoa noodles?
No, I haven’t. At least not in a long time. I don’t like the flavor of quinoa in some things, so I stick with rice noodles that my family likes. 🙂
Quinoa by itself tastes like grass but quinoa noodles taste more like corn tortillas and really goes well with sauces or cheeses!! Ancient Harvest brand is best!
Trader Joe’s has great Brown Rice/Quinoa pasta! Yum!!!
I like Pasta Alley from Decatur IL great egg noodles. Also love the pasta from hodgsonmill.com they have 20% off all gf items online. love their gf seasoned coating mix too, makes great chicken nuggets & fried mushrooms/cheese sticks.
Moe
I forgot to add that a lot of times you have to either cook gf noodles longer or shorter time than the package says. First time you make them follow directions and after that play with the timing.
Ronzoni Gluten Free pasta is delicious. My family actually prefers it now over regular pasta.
The meatballs look great! Thanks for linking to TMTT.
Potato flakes! What a great idea. Those look delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Besides working on more gluten free recipes for my family, we have in commom most of the same favorite movies and books. What a hoot! I like you already. 🙂
Visiting from Tasty Tuesdays
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Great pictures! I never would have thought to use potato flakes to hold the meatballs together. Thanks for sharing the idea.
I am going to try this next week! I have all of these ingredients at home! It would be great to have some frozen already for later meals! Thanks for the recipe.
That looks really good.
Yum.
G – La Choy is gf and can be found at most stores. I prefer Bragg's Liquid Aminos or San J wheat free tamari sauce. Both are found at health food stores.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I am getting very tired of making dinner for my family and then making something that I can eat. I made 2 batches of these this morning, one with gf breadcrumbs and one with potato flakes, and then had my family taste test them. They both passed 🙂 Thanks again, now we have another easy dinner that all of us can eat.
Kat
Kat ~ You're welcome! Thanks for taking the time to let me know the recipe worked so well for you. It means a lot to me when I hear from people like you.
I made these for dinner tonight and they are SO good! Thank you! I love it when a new recipe turns out so great.
I never buy GF bread crumbs, I just save all of mine – saving GF crumbs is a great way to save money. I have one tupperware in my freezer labeled "breadcrumbs," one labeled "sweetcrumbs" and another labeled "chocolate crumbs." Whenever I slice bread, bars or cakes, I scoop the crumbs into the appropriate container, then I use the breadcrumbs to make meals, the sweetcrumbs for cookie/graham cracker crusts, and the chocolate to make pie crusts as well. Super easy, and free – the one thing you have plenty of with GF food is crumbs 🙂 I even empty the crumbs from the bottom of my expensive cracker and pretzel bags. Nothing goes to waste.
Thanks for the potato flakes idea. I wanted meatballs, but didn't have any bread or crumbs on hand.
Wow!!! This is a GREAT!!! Recipe. I can't believe I did it. I somewhat changed the ingredients because I'm not only allergic to gluten, but egss, milk, garlic and other ingredients that don't pertain here. So instead of using egg, I used tofu. Instead of potatoe flakes, I used GF pancake mix, I diced small onions and included a tablespoon of olive oil. For the milk, I used coconut milk, for the soy sauce, I used san jays ginger asian mix. I didn't have pepper so I used lemon pepper, and for the parsley I used italian seasoning. I added a little more salt and everything came out nice and moist and very good. The onions taste perfect. I even took it a step further and soaked the meat balls in a slow cooker with BBQ sauce, cinnamon, molasses, and pinapple juice and the chunks. It made a great meatball gravy sauce. YUM!!!! Thanks again!
I have been using this recipe for years, almost identical to yours with the potato flakes, and the
other people in my family whom are not gluten intolerant can't tell the difference.
I make breadcrumbs from the leftover (ends) of the gluten free bread, I throw it into the freezer and then I always have it on hand and I mix it in my Kitchenaid mixer and it makes great crumbs for meatballs, meatloaf, whatever you need breadcrumbs for.
These are the best meatballs I’ve ever had. (Besides my Italian Grandmother’s meatballs, but they have gluten in them.) They are absolutely delicious. I added a little extra spice because I was worried about the taste, but it wasn’t needed. The recipe is great just the way it is. Thank you for posting this online!
Kate, I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for letting me know.
This recipe sounds great! I will make these tonight. I am a nanny and my employer has to eat gluten free. I wanted to make meatballs w/gravy and mashed potatoes. The meatball recipe sounds perfect,I am excited to try this. Thank you for a great GF blog.
You’re welcome, Nancy. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Great recipe, I’ve made it twice now. The only difference is that I use GF quick cooking oats instead of potato flakes or bread crumbs. I also use an egg replacer since I can’t eat eggs. The meatballs have turned out delicious both times.
Hi Christy. Thanks for letting me know that you enjoy the meatballs. It always helps to know what substitutions work.
Do you think chicken may substitute the beef?
Emma, I’m not sure about chicken. It’s certainly worth a try, and would probably work well.
Thanks Linda
I made these tonight for my boyfriend and I. I’m the one that can’t eat gluten and I always try out my new recipes on him. We both LOVED it. I made some minor changes on it, as well. I used Italian seasoning instead of parsley and my boyfriend ate the very last egg this morning, which meant- no egg! So, I improvised and used 1Tb soy flour to 2 Tb water. I also used Almond milk. Perfection. Possibly a little more garlic powder next time, but otherwise a delicious recipe indeed. THANK YOU!
I’m so glad you both enjoyed the meatballs. Thanks for letting me know.
another substitution I’ve found that works is Gerber’s baby rice cereal…
Use the same way
Potato flakes often have been processed in a facility that contains wheat or too many other chemicals and preservatives that just aggravate an already sensitive tummy.
AWESOME idea for the potato flakes thing. It is so hard to find GF breadcrumbs that are NOT corn and they are very expensive. Thank you so much.
Hello Linda, What a nice idea to use potato flakes instead of bread. What amount of flakes is equivalent to one piece of bread or if it’s easier one cup of bread crumbs? My wonderful and lovely wife of 45 years is really bothered by glutin now and it’s great to find subs that don’t require two different approaches to the cooking of our meals. Thanks so much for a great tip, all the best, Michael Ball
Hi Michael. I substitute potato flakes for bread crumbs in equal amounts. I don’t know how much would equal one piece of bread. Remember to check the ingredients on the potato flakes to be sure they’re gluten free.
They do look really good & worth trying. But, the recipe calls for one egg but the pic. shows two.. ????
Amy, you are observant! I was making a double batch when I took the picture. I think I will remove that picture so it doesn’t confuse anyone else.
So if you don’t have time to make meatballs… aildells makes some heavenly caramelized onion chicken meatballs that are gluten free. I use 3 packages of them, 1 pound of GF pasta, and 2 jars of Classico Mushroom and Ripe Olive sauce. YUM!!! That’s what we had tonight!
Thanks for the tip, Emily. It’s hard to find gluten-free meatballs.
This was a huge hit for me! My sicilian fiancee is my taste-taster for all things gluten but I’m the one with the tummy issues. He GENTLY stated my meatballs were too hard and next time I should put more water or chicken broth. Do you agree? I wanted to cry because I’m such a perfectionist. He was surprised I used potato flakes and soy sauce and suggested I try GF bread crumbs next time. Work-in-progress till perfected I say. Thanks again!
Because of the texture of a lot of gf bread, I think the potato flakes usually work better than bread crumbs. You could certainly give it a try though. The moisture will depend on the meat, how large you make the meatballs, and how long they bake. It wouldn’t hurt to add more liquid next time. I would ask him if he has a meatball recipe that he likes. Bread crumbs are usually the only ingredient that is not gf. You can just substitute the potato flakes or gf crumbs. Everyone has different tastes. Don’t be hard on yourself. Perfection doesn’t usually happen the first time. 🙂
I’m not a huge meatball fan personally, but these were good. I have added ground pork and ground veal to my recipe, tripling the other ingredients, and make this as a large bunch so my DH has these yummy gluten free meatballs to take to work for lunch. Thanks so much for sharing!
My family *loved* these!!! I used GF Rice Krispies in place of bread crumbs–worked wonderfully!! Thanks for the recipe :0)
I’m glad they liked the meatballs, Lori. Thanks for letting me know and for telling us about your substitute.
I have what probably amounts to a stupid question, Linda. Everyone talks about freezing the results of their recipes, but no one, it seems, tells us how to thaw and reheat those results effectively. So, my question is: Upon thawing, how should I reheat your meatballs so that they retain their succulent taste?
That’s a good question. Be sure to thaw them in the refrigerator. I have always reheated them in a sauce on the stove top. I don’t recommend microwaving them. If you don’t want them in a sauce, I would heat them in the oven with a little water added to the dish.
Thanks, Linda, for your quick reply!
Looks good, not a meatball fan as I have to have them with pasta and pasta’s a no no carb wise (I don’t have gluten issues)….but thinking to make this recipe as a meatloaf instead. Probably add tablespoon or more of other seasonings (italian, onion, vs just parsley). Assuming it will taste as good made into meatloaf. I can’t wait to try it as I’ve never used potato flakes in my recipes.
I just made these tonight for the first time and they were a big hit. I am new to gluten free cooking and its such a relief when I find a recipe that the whole family enjoys. I’ll be making up a few batches of these soon to put in the freezer for easy weekday meals.
I’m glad you liked the meatballs, Carol. Freezing them for quick meals is a great idea.
I have celiacs disease & I’m interested in gluten free recipes.
Welcome! I have plenty of recipes on this site. Use the recipes tab on the orange bar to find a list of recipes.
I think you recently posted a marshmallow treat & now I can’t find it. Could you please repost? It was about the same time you put on chocolate caramel pretzel bark. Thank you!
Sheila, you must be thinking of a different blog. I don’t have either of those recipes.
Now that I think of it my mother added potato flakes to meatloaf long before we even knew what gluten free meant. I am going to start using it for meatballs and meatloaf. I will have to ask my mother if she still adds potato flakes. I am curious now.
I am very happy to have found this recipe. Will try soon. I’m sure I’ll be making rthe extra batch to freeze! One thing I have done with my frozen meatballs is take a few out, thaw them and chop them up to put in my sauce. Meat sauce in a big hurry! Works for me! My husband ( so… We) are really new to GF . Thanks for this recipe! Can’t wait to put it with the Tinkyada pasta!
Thanks, I never thought of using instant potato flakes.
I have Fibronyalgia and have noticed that when I eat gluten free, my pain and fatigue are much better, so I am a “newbie” at all of this. My husband does the grocery shopping…after a trip for gluten free itens, he told me it is too expensive, so I did the best I could, slipped out of it completely, and niw I’m paying for it! My symptoms are AWFUL! I look forward to learning more, and from your recipes I’ve looked at so far, it doesn’t seem too bad at all. I guess I need a list of staple items that are used in various recipes…if you have the time, I would be most grateful! Our daughter has had 2 heart transplants and is on a low sodium diet at the moment, my husband is allergic to all poultry, so I am struggling to make a meal! Thank you for taking the tine to do this!
I recommend focusing on naturally gluten-free foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, rice, eggs, cheese, beans, etc. Here’s my list of main dish recipes broken down by category so it will be easy to skip over the poultry ones: http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/main-dish-recipes/
I made these the other night with GF breadcrumbs (I make my own), but used all the rest of the ingredients as stated. They were delicious!! Oh, I did substitute Italian Seasoning for the parsley. So easy & so good! I froze some too, thanks for that suggestion.
i love meat ball and pasta
gF and great family idea.
A great GF spaghetti – Bonta d’Italia, from Schar brand. Absolutely the closest thing to real spaghetti I have ever had.
These are outstanding! I was skeptical due to the use of the potato flakes, but I was proven wrong. I used extra lean venison for the meat and heavy cream for the milk…just what I had in the fridge.
The rating function won’t let me click on the stars, but I would give it a 5.
For those that don’t normally cook GF make sure you use a GF soy sauce. Wish I would have read the comments first before making to get that reminder about the soy sauce.