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These Gluten Free Italian Meatballs with Homemade Marinara are a delicious dairy free and gluten free version of the classic Italian dish. The meatballs are made from a combination of pork and ground beef, and the marinara has crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, and olive oil. Serve over your favorite gluten free pasta for the best comfort food meal!
*Thank you to Jovial Foods for sponsoring this post!
Spaghetti and Meatballs is one of my all-time favorite foods. Actually, if I could only order one meal for the rest of my life, this would probably be it! I am surprised it took me this long to get an official recipe for it up on the blog. These Gluten Free Meatballs with Homemade Marinara taste identical to the real thing, without any gluten or dairy. It’s so important to me to be able to fully enjoy food – and dietary restrictions shouldn’t prevent that for any of us.
Jovial Foods has been my long-time favorite company for gluten free pasta. It’s made from 100% brown rice, with no corn or anything else added. It tastes just like regular pasta – the texture is amazing! I made the marinara sauce using their crushed tomatoes, which are sweet & pure from Italy and 100% organic. They make the best sauce, and it pairs perfectly with the meatballs and their gluten free spaghetti. You could also use their cassava spaghetti to keep this meal paleo!
What You Need to Make These Gluten Free Meatballs and Homemade Marinara:
For the meatballs:
- Ground beef
- Ground pork
- eggs
- almond flour
- coconut aminos
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- fresh parsley
- sea salt
- Italian seasoning
For the Marinara sauce:
- 2 jars Jovial Foods crushed tomatoes (36.6 oz total)
- olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- Italian seasoning
- crushed red pepper
- salt
- fresh basil
For the pasta, you can use Jovial Food’s brown rice pasta or their cassava pasta. Click here for a store locator so you can find both of these near you!
How do you make these Gluten Free Italian Meatballs with Homemade Marinara?
First, pre-heat your oven to 400. Line a large baking sheet (I used 15 x 21 inch) with parchment paper. Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix well using your hands. Roll the mixture into balls – you should have 18 medium sized meatballs, or 24 smaller ones. Bake them for 20 minutes.
While the meatballs are baking, make the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat. Smash the garlic using the back of a knife and add it to the pot. Sauté the garlic until it becomes fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add in the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt, and chopped fresh basil. Stir, then reduce heat to low. Let it simmer until the meatballs are done.
Add the cooked meatballs to the sauce and either serve immediately, or let them simmer on low until ready to serve.
Add fresh parmesan if desired!
Looking for some other gluten free/dairy free pasta dishes? Check these out:
Dairy Free Instant Pot Cajun Pasta
Sausage Fennel Pasta with Spinach and Mushrooms
Stroganoff Meatballs with Tagliatelle
And if you try out these Gluten Free Meatballs with Homemade Marinara, make sure to tag me on Instagram @maryswholelife so I can see your creations! Enjoy!
xo,
Mary
Gluten Free Italian Meatballs with Homemade Marinara
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup almond flour, can sub 2.5 tbsp coconut flour for nut free
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
Marinara Sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 18.3 oz jars Jovial Foods crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Line a large baking sheet (I used 15 x 21 inch) with parchment paper. Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix well using your hands. Roll the mixture into balls (18 medium-sized, or 24 smaller balls) and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the marinara sauce. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or large stock pot over medium heat. Smash the garlic cloves using the back of a knife, and add them to the pot. Stir 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir well. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer until the meatballs are done.
- When the meatballs come out of the oven, add them to the pot with the sauce. You can either serve immediately over your favorite pasta, or let them meatballs simmer in the sauce for a bit on low heat. Feel free to add some parmesan if that's your thing. Enjoy!
Nutrition
All nutrition facts are an estimate and automatically calculated. While I fact check them using My Fitness Pal, please note that they may not always be 100% accurate and depend on ingredients used. Weigh your total and divide by the number of servings for the most accurate grams per serving size.
So yummy!!! Thank you!
When I’m putting this in MyFitnessPal, are the nutrition facts for 1 meatball? Or 3 meatballs?
Cal 167
Carbs 2
Protein 10
Fat 13
I made these meatballs for dinner, not only were they easy to make, they were a crowd pleaser!
Thanks Michelle!
I don’t eat pork, so I double the beef, but we LOVE these easy crockpot meatballs. Delicious. Make them almost every other week!
Thanks Holly!!
Easy to make and a hit for the whole family
Thanks Kate!!
I haven’t had meatballs since I went GF 5ish years ago. Every time I’d think to get some at the store they’d never be GF (duh, breadcrumbs). Finally bucked up the courage to make my own and thankfully Mary had a good, easy recipe! I couldn’t wait for noodles and sauce so I just ate one off the pan. So delicious and excited to have these spice up pasta night!
Thank you, Stacy!
Made these tonight and they were a huge hit! So easy to make & they turned out so good. I’ll definitely be making them again!
Thank you Melissa! So glad you enjoyed them!