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Slow Cooker Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs + VIDEO

Slow cooker mozzarella stuffed meatballs is an easy recipe that will impress any crowd. Meaty meatballs oozing with melted mozzarella cheese as you cut into them. The aroma while this cooks in the crockpot will draw everyone to the kitchen! Instructions to make this low-carb & keto friendly recipe in the Instant Pot are also included. 

overhead shot of a sliced meatball on a fork with mozzarella oozing out

Ingredients For Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

  • Ground Meat
  • Seasonings: Italian seasoning, salt, pepper
  • Mozzarella
  • Crushed or Diced Tomatoes
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Egg
  • Almond Flour 
overhead shot of uncooked mozzarella stuffed meatballs in a tomato sauce in a black slow cooker

before (slow cooker)

How To Make Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs In The Crockpot

Slow Cooker

  1. In a large bowl, mix together MEATBALLS ingredients. Taking 2-4 tbsp of meat*, form into a ball and then flatten the ball in the middle.
  2. Add mozzarella to the center of the flattened meat. Re-form meat around the mozzarella and shape into a ball. Repeat until all the meat is used.
  3. Pour SAUCE ingredients into the slow cooker. Add the meatballs.
  4. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.

Instant Pot

  1. In a large bowl, mix together MEATBALLS ingredients. Taking 2-4 tbsp of meat*, form into a ball and then flatten the ball in the middle.
  2. Add mozzarella to the center of the flattened meat. Re-form meat around the mozzarella and shape into a ball. Repeat until all the meat is used.
  3. Set Instant Pot to the high saute setting. Once hot, add oil.
  4. Add meatballs and brown on each side, 3-5 minutes. Remove meatballs from pressure cooker. You might have to brown them in batches.
  5. Add sauce ingredients and stir to mix well. If needed, deglaze the bottom of the pressure cooker by scraping all the bits off with a wooden spoon. Add the meatballs back into the pressure cooker.
  6. Close and seal vent. Select manual setting and set time for high pressure,  7 minutes. Quick-release pressure when cook time is completed.
overhead shot of cooked mozzarella stuffed meatballs in a tomato sauce in a black slow cooker

after (slow cooker)

Homemade Low-Carb Meatballs

I us ground beef for my meatballs but by all means, use your preferred ground meat whether it’s beef, turkey, pork, chicken or sausage. make my meatballs low-carb & keto friendly by using almond flour instead of breadcrumbs. If you have a preferred meatball recipe, of course you can use that instead of the one I provide in the recipe box.

How Many Meatballs To Make

How many meatballs should you make? I use a 6-quart slow cooker and I purposely made my mozzarella stuffed meatballs larger than usual so I got 9 meatballs. Make as many meatballs as your slow cooker or Instant Pot will hold and yes you can stack them on top of each other if you are using a smaller appliance.  You should get anywhere from 9 to 12 meatballs using one pound of meat. If you’re feeding a large crowd, you can double the recipe.

Adding The Mozzarella

I stuffed one single 1/3 oz ciliegine mozzarella balls in each meatball. You doesn’t matter what form your mozzarella comes in. Meaning, you don’t have to go out and buy ciliegine mozzarella balls. They can be expensive, I know. Another options is to take shredded mozzarella and ball it up with your hands. What’s most important is that you use mozzarella that’s a good ratio to the meatball. Trust me, it’s rather disappointing to open up a large meatball and have barely any mozzarella oozing out.

How To Serve These Meatballs

Are you living a specific dietary lifestyle? For low-carb/keto I suggest serving these over zucchini noodles (zoodles),  spaghetti squash, riced or mashed cauliflower or eat them as-is with a nice simple salad.  If you’re not on a particular diet, serve these mozzarella stuffed meatballs the old-fashioned way – with pasta!

FAQs & Tips

Meatball Recipes 

Print
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overhead shot of a sliced meatball on a fork with mozzarella oozing out

Slow Cooker Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.6 from 5 reviews

Slow cooker mozzarella stuffed meatballs is an easy recipe that will impress any crowd. Succulent beef or turkey meatballs oozing with melted mozzarella cheese as you cut into them. The aroma while this cooks in the crockpot will draw everyone to the kitchen! Instructions to make this low-carb & keto friendly recipe in the Instant Pot are also included.

  • Total Time: 3 hours 10 mins
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 46 ounces mozzarella
  • 1 tablespoon oil (for Instant Pot only)

Sauce

  • 28 ounces crushed or diced tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes or 1/2 cup onion, diced)
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

Meatballs

  • 1 pound ground meat
  • 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons almond flour
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Slow Cooker

  1. In a large bowl, mix together MEATBALLS ingredients. Taking 2-4 tbsp of meat, form into a ball and then flatten the ball in the middle.
  2. Add mozzarella to the center of the flattened meat. Re-form meat around the mozzarella and shape into a ball. Repeat until all the meat is used.
  3. Pour SAUCE ingredients into the slow cooker. Add the meatballs.
  4. Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.

Instant Pot

  1. In a large bowl, mix together MEATBALLS ingredients. Taking 2-4 tbsp of meat*, form into a ball and then flatten the ball in the middle.
  2. Add mozzarella to the center of the flattened meat. Re-form meat around the mozzarella and shape into a ball. Repeat until all the meat is used.
  3. Set Instant Pot to the high saute setting. Once hot, add oil.
  4. Add meatballs and brown on each side, 3-5 minutes. Remove meatballs from pressure cooker. You might have to brown them in batches.
  5. Add sauce ingredients and stir to mix well. If needed, deglaze the bottom of the pressure cooker by scraping all the bits off with a wooden spoon. Add the meatballs back into the pressure cooker.
  6. Close and seal vent. Select manual setting and set time for high pressure,  7 minutes. Quick-release pressure when cook time is completed.

Notes

*You can make the meatballs as large or as small as your slow cooker will hold.

  • Author: Shannon Epstein
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 3 hours

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 239
  • Sugar: 0.5 g
  • Fat: 10.4 g
  • Saturated Fat: 4 g
  • Carbohydrates: 11 g
  • Fiber: 0.3 g
  • Protein: 20.5 g
  • Cholesterol: 95.4 mg

If some of the cheese seeps out of the meatballs when they cook, don’t worry it’s normal. I think of it as a good thing because it makes the sauce nice & cheesy. For the seasoning, if you don’t have an Italian seasoning already, use this one:

 

 

 

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on one of the product links, I might receive compensation. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”2V4cBQ83″ upload-date=”2019-08-09T17:36:28.000Z” name=”Slow Cooker Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs” description=”These easy mozzarella stuffed meatballs are simple yet flavorful. Make these low-carb, cheese-filled meatballs in your slow cooker or Instant Pot.”]

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

Jen

Friday 18th of September 2020

Disappointed. I was looking forward to the oozy melted cheesiness but ALL the cheese disappeared from nearly every meatball and the sauce was greasy and watery-like. I spent a good hour meticulously crafting those meatballs and was ultimately let down. I'm going to try to thicken the sauce with cornstarch tomorrow, and hopefully make it usable. I will likely post my results.

Jen

Friday 18th of September 2020

I used Gluten Free Panko bread crumbs. My meatballs are falling apart. Any idea why? Does being Gluten Free matter? Being Panko?

Jen

Friday 18th of September 2020

Only a few fell apart. Namely the ones I tried to brown.i used enough oil, but no matter what, they kept sticking to the bottom and getting ripped apart when trying to (gently) loosen them. I only attempted to brown 1 batch because of this.

Jen

Tuesday 15th of September 2020

Can you just use store bought spaghetti sauce instead of making your sauce?

Fit SlowCooker Queen

Wednesday 16th of September 2020

Absolutely!!

Ashley Del Vasto

Tuesday 15th of September 2020

SO GOOD!! Obsessed with how yummy these were. Going to make them for the second time in a row!

Betty Pelton

Saturday 5th of September 2020

I made these last night. Everybody really liked them. I didn’t take a picture. In the future I will take a picture. Also are used shredded cheese instead of the Mozzarella balls. Next time I will use the mozzzarella balls.