These Spiced Lamb Meatballs are juicy and delicious made with fresh mint, parsley and cilantro and stewed in a rich and fragrant nightshade-free sauce. This dish is gluten-free, AIP, paleo and Whole30 compliant.
These Lamb Meatballs are easy, quick and absolutely delicious. They’re made using simple ingredients that pack a flavorful punch.
These meatballs are pan seared before braising in a nightshade-free nomato sauce spiced with oregano and cinnamon and finished with chopped parsley.
Recipe Ingredients
- ground lamb
- fresh herbs – cilantro, parsley and mint
- dried oregano
- onion and garlic
- cinnamon
- lemon zest
- nomato sauce – you can substitute with tomato sauce if nightshades aren’t an issue for you
- olive oil
How to Make Lamb Meatballs
Step 1: MIX THE INGREDIENTS
Pulse herbs, onion, garlic and lemon zest in a food processor into a fine dice. Add mixture to a large bowl with ground lamb, salt and cinnamon and mix to combine.
Step 2: FORM THE MEATBALLS
Use hands to shape meat into meatballs 1 inch in diameter.
Step 3: SEAR MEATBALLS
Heat olive oil in a cast iron pot over medium high heat and add meatballs in an even layer, searing for ~5 minutes per side. Remove from pan and set aside
Step 4: SIMMER SAUCE
Reduce heat to low-medium. Add nomato sauce, cinnamon and dried oregano and bring sauce to a simmer.
Step 5: COMBINE MEATBALLS AND SAUCE
Return meatballs to pan and cook 5-7 minutes further. Serve warm with garnish of fresh parsley, if desired.
Frequently Asked Questions
Overworking ground meat and packing meatballs together too tightly are both reasons you might have tough meatballs. While many recipes call for egg, milk and breadcrumbs to create tender and juicy meatballs, this gluten free meatball recipe uses onions to create additional moisture in the meat mixture. I also recommend using your hands to mix the meat together and loosely form the meatballs to keep them light.
Overcooking your meatballs can cause them to dry out. I recommend searing on medium heat and then finishing the cook in the fragrant sauce on low heat to retain the moisture in the meatballs.
These meatballs would also work well with other ground meat such as ground beef, or a combination of ground beef and lamb.
Storage Instructions
These meatballs are a greal meal prep dish. You can store them in the fridge in a sealed container for 3-4 days. Reheat on the stovetop in a covered pan on low heat until the mixture is simmering and the meatballs are warmed.
Meatballs can also be frozen in freezer bags. You can freeze in two ways:
- 1. For super juicy meatballs, consider forming the meatballs and freezing them pre-cooked. Make the sauce and freeze separately. When you are ready to serve them, sear both sides in oil according to instructions until the meatballs are cooked and then add to the sauce and simmer on low.
- 2. You can also freeze the cooked meatballs and sauce together. Defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating on the stove.
What can I serve this with?
This dish tastes awesome with cauliflower rice and salad. You might try them with my Roasted Delicata Squash and Kale Salad.
If you try these Gluten-free Lamb Meatballs I would appreciate it if you would give it a rating and short review. Also, be sure to snap a picture of the finished product and share it with me on Instagram by tagging @healmedelicious.
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Lamb Meatballs Recipe (Gluten-free)
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These Gluten-free Lamb Meatballs are made with mint, parsley and cilantro, stewed in a fragrant nightshade-free nomato sauce. They’re AIP, paleo & Whole30 compliant.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- 1 TBSP mint
- 1 small yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 tsp lemon zest
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 TBSP olive oil
Sauce
- 3 cups nomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- fresh parsley to garnish
Instructions
Meatballs
- To a food processor add cilantro, parsley, mint, onion, garlic and lemon zest and pulse until the onion and garlic are finely diced.*
- In a large bowl combine ground lamb with salt and cinnamon along with mixture from step 1.
- Use your hands to bring mixture together and shape into meatballs about 1-inch in diameter.
- In a large, deep skillet or cast iron pot over medium heat, add olive oil.
- Once warm, add meatballs in an even layer and cook ~ 5 minutes per side, ensuring that you get a nice sear on each side.
- Remove meatballs from pan and set aside.
Sauce
- To the same pan, add nomato sauce, cinnamon and oregano and bring to a simmer over low-medium heat.
- Return meatballs to the pan and allow to cook 5-7 minutes further.
- Remove from heat and serve warm, garnishing with freshly chopped parsley, if desired.
Notes
*If you don’t have a food processor, simply finely dice cilantro, parsley, mint, onion, garlic and lemon zest with a sharp knife.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Mains
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: International
I loved the recipe! I used ground beef instead of lamb and added a bit of cumin. I made your nomato sauce on the same day and had it with the meatballs. Lovely meal! I only used 1 tbs of salt for the meatballs and still found them a bit saltier than I personally like… for anyone like me who is sensitive to salt. Thank you for your recipes.
Made this with ground pork instead of lamb. Really tasty and easy to make!
There aren’t enough stars on the scale for this one – amazing! Served over zucchini noodles and it was one of the most delicious dishes I’ve had in awhile!
These were fantastic! I’ve tried a number of lamb meatball recipes over the years but these are the best I’ve tried. I’d never diced my herbs, garlic, and onion together in the food processor together before today but was delighted at how much time the process saved during prep! Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
Just finished making these and they’re *delicious*! And I’ve never been a big fan of lamb, but I thought I’d make them as written, partly because I try to keep my protein sources as diverse as I can these days, and partly because I just TRUST you. 🙂 And my trust was entirely justified–I love this recipe. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind words and taking the time to leave a review. So happy you enjoyed.
Wow. Just wow! Better than any meatball and tomato sauce I’ve ever had!!! I served mines with cassava pasta.