{VIDEO} Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Italian Meatball Dinner (Paleo,Whole30)

Meatballs, potatoes, and vegetables cook together in this easy & healthy Italian dinner. Cook this one-pot meal in your slow cooker or Instant Pot.

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One-Pot Meatball Dinner

Meatball, potatoes, and vegetables. This Italian meatball dinner is the kind slow cooker recipe I love. No fuss, and everything cooks together for a true one-pot recipe. Using fresh homemade meatballs (or frozen), your favorite vegetable and a quick sauce made directly in the base of the slow cooker, this is a lot easier than it looks.

The Meatballs

If using the Instant Pot, you will need to brown the meatballs as instructed. If you’re using the slow cooker, you a few more options. I have made this recipe with the meatballs 3 different ways: once with meatballs that were completely raw, once with meatballs that were raw but frozen, and once with meatballs that were cooked and frozen. My final say is that they all pretty much taste the same! Which makes sense if you think about it. So really it will all depend on how much time you have. If you don’t have time to pre-cook your meatballs or freeze them, add them to the slow cooker raw. I used raw meatballs for the pics in this post.

before

I used my herb meatballs recipe because it’s both paleo and whole30 compliant. You do not have to use this recipe for your meatballs (although I love it). By all means, feel free to use your favorite meatball recipe if you have one. I made my meatballs a little larger than usual because I wanted them to all fit properly in the slow cooker along with the other ingredients. I would suggest making no more than 12 meatballs.

Fresh asparagus or green beans are my preferred vegetables for this. Having made this recipe using both fresh and frozen vegetables, I didn’t find much a difference in taste after it was slow cooked. Again, it will all depend on your preference. Other vegetables that you can use other than asparagus and green beans are broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini or even eggplant.  You can use potatoes or sweet potatoes. I used yellow potatoes. Remove the potatoes all together and you have a low-carb meal. If you do make this low-carb, I suggest adding in more vegetables in addition to what the recipe calls for.

Don’t worry if all your food isn’t fully submerged in the tomato sauce. It doesn’t need to be to cook fully.

Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Italian Meatball Dinner (Paleo,Whole30)

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Fit SlowCooker Queen
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 3 hours
• Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

• Approximately 9–12 meatballs
• 3/4 lb potatoes or sweet potatoes, chopped
• 12 ounces vegetables
• 2 tsp oil (IP)

Sauce:

• 28 ounces diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp dried onion flakes
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

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Instructions

Slow Cooker

1. Add sauce ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
2. Add all the meatball ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Mix together well with your hands until all the ingredients are blended together. Form mixture into 9-12 meatballs.
3. Add meatballs and potatoes to the slow cooker.
4. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours, LOW 4-6 hours.
5. Add vegetable on top and cook an additional 15-30 minutes or until tender.

Instant Pot

1. Add all the meatball ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Mix together well with your hands until all the ingredients are blended together. Form mixture into 9-12 meatballs.
2. Set Instant Pot to the high saute setting. Once hot, add oil.
3. Add meatballs and brown on each side, 3-5 minutes. Remove meatballs from IP. You will probably have to brown them in batches.
4. Add sauce ingredients and stir to mix well.  Add potatoes and meatballs. Make sure you are not over capacity.
5. Close and seal vent. Select manual setting and set time for 7 minutes. Quick-release pressure when cook time is completed. Add vegetables and cook an additional 3 minutes on high pressure or until tender.

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Notes

Nutritional facts calculated using my herb baked meatballs recipe.

Scoop your meatballs, potatoes, and vegetables out separately or mix the entire together like the pic below.

Need an Italian seasoning? Use this:

You will need a large 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot for this recipe.

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