If you miss eating Spaghetti during your Whole 30 diet days – this Zucchini Spaghetti with Meatballs recipe we’re about to show you will definitely help you out! It’s a bit challenging to prepare, because it takes a lot of time and effort, but the taste is just amazing and will reward your effort!
Breakdown:
Difficulty: Difficult
Feeds: 4 people
Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3 Pounds of Zucchini (Or Yellow Squash) – Trimmed
- 1 Pound of 85% Lean Ground Beef
- 2 Pounds of Tomatoes (Chopped and Peeled)
- ¼ Cup of Tomato Paste
- 2 Chopped Onions
- 6 Garlic Gloves (Minced)
- 1 Egg
- ¼ Cup of Raw Cashews
- 3 Tbsp Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
- 1 Tbsp Dried Oregano
- ¼ Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- ¼ Cup and 2 Tbsp Fresh Basil
- Salt and Pepper
Note: To prepare this recipe we will also need aluminum foil to put the ingredients in. The foil is great to prepare your whole 30 meals as it keeps the food moist and heats it evenly. Plus it avoids all the mess in the oven.
Instructions:
First you need to add 4 cups of water in a pan on a medium/high heat. Add the cashews and boil them for around 15 minutes, till they’re softened. Remove cashews from water and rinse them.
Add 1 Tbsp of olive oil on a nonstick pan (make sure it is a relatively big one). After the oil is heated, add the onions and cook them until they reach a gold/light brown color. Add garlic, oregano and the pepper flakes then stir the ingredients for around 30 seconds. After doing this, take half of the onion mix and put it aside because we will use it later.
Preparing the meatballs: Take the remaining onion mix, the cashews we boiled earlier and 1 egg, ¼ cup of basil and 1 ½ tsp of salt and put them in the food mixer for around 1 minute. Take the mass that is created and put it in the bowl. Add the ground beef and mix them until they’re mashed together. Use your hands to make the round meatballs.
Get the tomatoes and put them in a workbowl until they’re completely smooth. In the meantime add 1 tbsp of olive oil in a new pan and start cooking the meatballs on all sides. After you’re done, on the same pan add the onion mixture we saved before, the tomato paste and cook until the paste becomes brownish. Add the tomatoes we processed in the workbowl and cook until the sauce becomes thick (around 20 minutes).
Take the cooked meatballs and put them in the pan we’re cooking the sauce. On a low heat, continue to cook the sauce and the meatballs for another 10 minutes. You can add hot water if the sauce becomes too thick. Add the 2 tbsp of basil and also salt and pepper for taste.
Preparing the zucchini spaghetti:
Preheat your oven. Take the zucchini and cut them in Spaghetti shape (using a spiralizer or any other kitchen equipment you might have). Put them in a baking sheet and add on top 1 tsp salt, 2/3 tsp pepper and 1 tbsp of olive oil and bake for around 20-25 minutes. If they have some sort of liquid put them on a colander till they’re okay.
Transfer the spaghetti-shaped zucchini on a bowl and add only some sauce to mix them. Then you can serve as much as you would like by adding even more sauce and the meatballs. Enjoy this delicious recipe!
P.S. You can store the sauce with the meatballs in your refrigerator for up to 3 days and use it whenever you want.
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