My Keto Meatball Casserole, made with either homemade meatballs or store-bought frozen meatballs, is the ultimate comfort food dinner! Saucy, cheesy, and easy to throw together in 10 minutes. This meatball casserole without pasta is the perfect, hearty low carb meal.
I love a good meatball, whether we’re serving them up as the main dish, a snack, or an appetizer! We make them often and I’ll never get tired of all the variations.
Have you tried out buffalo chicken meatballs or jalapeno popper meatballs? Obsessed with both.
And meatballs aren’t hard to make, which is another bonus.
But you know what? For me, the HARDEST thing about keto and low carb is all of the prep work and meal planning. I need some simple recipes that I can just pull of thin air on busy nights or days when I just don’t want to think about it all, you know?
This keto meatball casserole is one of those easy meals – I actually start with frozen meatballs most of the time (huge time saver though not 100% clean keto, if you place a focus on ingredients) and then just toss them with sauce, layer on the cheese, and bake until hot and bubbly.
You ready to dig in to this one yet?
- It’s basically a dump-and-bake dinner. Toss the meatballs in the dish, mix up the cheese, and let the oven handle the rest – no browning meat or babysitting a pot on the stove.
- Four cheeses make it ridiculously creamy. Ricotta, cream cheese, parmesan, and mozzarella melt together into a rich, saucy topping that tastes like your favorite baked pasta dish.
- It’s a total crowd-pleaser. Even the pasta lovers in your house won’t miss the noodles once this comes out of the oven bubbling and golden.
A Quick Note on Keto vs. Low Carb
Most store-bought frozen meatballs contain a small amount of breadcrumbs or filler, so this isn’t “clean” keto in the strictest sense. If you’re keeping things under 20 net carbs a day like I do, it fits easily into that.
If you’d rather skip the wheat and soy altogether, swap in our mozzarella stuffed meatballs instead – completely clean, and just as easy to throw together. You can skip stuffing them with the mozzarella, unless you want the extra cheese.
Meatball Casserole Ingredients Notes:
Meatballs – As I said, you can use the frozen variety or homemade. We like Rosina brand frozen meatballs with 4 net carbs per 6 meatballs. Walmart brand meatballs are 2 net carbs for 6, but we like the flavor and texture of Rosina brand better.
Marinara Sauce – We use and love Rao’s sauce for just about everything. Not only is it sugar free, it also has the best flavor of any jarred sauce that we’ve tried.
Cheese – We’re using a mixture of ricotta, cream cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan.
Garlic – Every Italian inspired recipe must have garlic!
Parsley – We prefer freshly minced parsley to add some fresh flavor to this dish, but you could add in dried if that’s what you have on hand.
We use Thrive Market for a lot of our specialty ingredients and keto snacks or products. Their prices tend to be cheaper than the local stores and I love that you can so easily sort products by diet.
Like Costco, this is a membership site, but we find that it’s more than worth it based on the amount we save over the regular grocery store.
They have monthly or yearly plans. Check it out here.
How To Make This Meatball Casserole Recipe:
- Prep the meatballs. Starting with frozen? Just toss them in a 9×13 dish and pour the marinara over the top, stirring to coat. Starting with homemade? Bake and drain them first, then add the marinara. Homemade meatballs mean a shorter bake time since they’re already hot.
- Mix the cheese layer. Stir together the ricotta, cream cheese, parmesan, garlic, and parsley until smooth and creamy. Taste and add a pinch of salt if it needs it.
- Assemble and bake. Dollop the cheese mixture over the meatballs, sprinkle with mozzarella, cover tightly with foil, and bake. Frozen meatballs need the full hour to heat through; homemade only need 20 minutes. Pull the foil off for the last 10 minutes if you want the top browned.
Serving Ideas:
This meatball casserole is absolutely perfect served with a side salad topped with our homemade Italian dressing and some steamed veggies.
Of course, we’ve been known to pile it over some of our Instant Pot spaghetti squash. On busy nights, we use the frozen bags of steamable spaghetti squash – zero prep work, just microwave! Sometimes my kids will even boil a pot of spaghetti noodles for their portion.
You’ll obviously want to serve with our garlic bread chaffle.
Storage
- Fridge life: Keeps well covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheats beautifully in the microwave or oven.
- Freezer situation: This casserole freezes well for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
- Make-ahead magic: Assemble the whole casserole up to a day ahead, cover, and refrigerate. Just bake when you’re ready for dinner.
More Italian-Inspired Recipes:
- Italian Stuffed Peppers
- Zucchini Pizza Boats
- Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
- Cauliflower Salad
- Lasagna Stuffed Peppers
- Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
Keto Meatball Casserole
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Ingredients
- 26 ounces frozen meatballs see notes
- 24 ounces marinara sauce
- 8 ounces ricotta cheese
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup minced parsley plus more for garnish
- 1 cup mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Add the meatballs to the baking dish and top with the marinara. Use a spoon to stir the meatballs to coat in the sauce.
- Add the ricotta, cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic, and parsley to a small mixing bowl and stir until smooth and creamy.
- Dollop spoonfuls of the ricotta mixture over the meatballs.
- Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil during the last 10 minutes to brown the top, if desired.
- Sprinkle with additional parsley before serving.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and calculated automatically – it’s an estimate, not a guarantee. Values can vary depending on the brands and ingredients you use, so if you’re tracking closely, I’d recommend calculating with your own preferred tool. Net carbs are total carbs minus fiber and any sugar alcohols.
Tabitha says
I absolutely love this recipe. I make it with the cheddar bay biscuits. amazing! I don’t even need another side. I have also been known to use these meatballs on a keto bun and make it a sub sandwich. That is also a wonderful option.
Rose says
Couldn’t have been easier to make. Served over riced cauliflower. We loved it!
Pryj Kelley says
I’m brand new to keto. This was the first keto recipe I had ever made and I LOVED IT!!! Along with that, my non-keto mother loved it too! I’m sold! I’ll be coming back for more.
Karly Campbell says
I love that your first attempt was such a success! So glad you both enjoyed it. 🙂
Gail says
Love this recipe!
Chantel Beans says
If I am using homemade meatballs, do I cook them in the oven first, and then cook again for this recipe? Or do I just cook once, with the finish of this recipe?? Thank you.
Karly Campbell says
You’ll want to cook out some of the fat, so either bake them or pan fry them until partially cooked through and then finish with the recipe. You won’t need a full hour in the oven – just cook until baked through.
Justin says
Really tasty meal and really quick to prep. Only issue is my cheese mixture split. So quite runny and watery. Any tips to stop this happening in the future?
Karly Campbell says
Sorry, I’ve never had that happen. Not sure what would cause that.
Kris says
Yummy recipe. I do keto, and this one is a keeper. I used the suggested meatballs and sauce. I had cottage cheese on hand, so I used that instead of ricotta. We had roasted broccoli on the side. Everyone in the family loved it. No one missed the pasta. My son ate the leftovers on a sub roll, and he really enjoyed that. Thanks so much!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Carol says
This is an awesome dish. One of my favorites. Easy, delicious and keto-friendly.
Shirley says
I want to do meatballs but what to have with it? I am unwilling to spend $20+ on low carb pasta. I realize there are zoodles which I have used but nobody enjoyed it,
Karly Campbell says
Make a side of veggies (we like roasted asparagus or broccoli) and a side salad. You don’t need pasta to enjoy the saucy meatballs. 🙂
Darlene Friedman says
Delicious! Tastes just like lasagna minus the pasta. Very quick and easy to make. This is definitely being added to my list of favorite recipes!