Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce are a delicious low-carb main dish that the whole family is going to love! And these tasty meatballs are extra flavorful from using both beef and sausage, and they’re easy to cook in the oven smothered with sauce.
PIN the Beef and Sausage Meatballs to make them later!
One fun thing that happened when I was calculating nutritional information for my recipes is that while I was revisiting every recipe on the blog I found some real gems in the archives that could easily be made lower in carbs! These Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce are a dinner idea that used to be one of my favorites, and when Kara and I worked on updating this recipe we switched out the breadcrumbs for flaxseed meal, and we loved these tasty low-carb meatballs!
The meatballs and sauce cook together in the oven, which means that the ground beef and Italian sausage used in the meatballs flavors the sauce even more. And even if you’ve never made meatballs from scratch, trust me when I say this is a dinner that was really easy to make!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- ground beef
- Turkey or Pork Italian Sausage
- Flaxseed Meal or Hemp Hearts (affiliate links)
- eggs
- Garlic Powder (affiliate link)
- Dried Basil (affiliate link)
- Dried Oregano (affiliate link)
- coarsely-grated Parmesan cheese
- salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
- Rao’s Pasta Sauce (affiliate link)
What sauce did we use for the Beef and Sausage Meatballs?
When we updated the recipe we decided to use Rao’s Pasta Sauce (affiliate link) for the tomato sauce that covers the meatballs. I love Rao’s sauce, which is the lowest-carb purchased sauce I’ve found, and their marinara sauce was perfect for this recipe.
What makes the Beef and Sausage Meatballs low in carbs?
Using Flaxseed Meal or Hemp Hearts to bind the meatballs together makes these much lower in carbs than meatballs made with breadcrumbs. The meatballs with ground beef and Italian Sausage have only about 11 net carbs in four large meatballs and 54 grams of protein! (This was previously tagged Keto, but I have removed that tag, but depending on how strict you are it might work for some people who are eating Keto.)
How to make Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Preheat oven to 400F/205C.
- Put ground beef and Italian sausage into a mixing bowl, squeezing sausage out of the casings.
- Add flaxseed meal or hemp hearts, lightly beaten eggs, garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Use clean hands to mix together.
- We used about 2 tablespoons of meat for each meatball.
- Laying the finished meatballs out on a cutting board helps you judge the size of baking dish.
- Pour Rao’s Marinara Sauce (or another low-sugar pasta sauce) over the meatballs.
- Bake 30 minutes, or until meatballs are firm and sauce is bubbling hot.
- Sprinkle meatballs with the other 1/2 cup of coarsely-grated Parmesan and serve hot.
Want more low-carb recipes using Rao’s Pasta Sauce?
Using Rao’s Pasta Sauce (affiliate link) is one of the things that keeps the beef and sausage meatballs low in carbs, and I love Rao’s! To see more low-carb dinner ideas using sauces from Rao’s, check out my post for 20 Recipes with Raos Pasta and Pizza Sauce.
Weekend Food Prep:
The recipe for Beef and Sausage Meatballs has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce are delicious for low-carb meal, and everyone is going to love homemade meatballs for dinner!
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- one 19.5 oz. package Turkey Italian Sausage
- 1/2 cup flax seed meal (or hemp hearts)
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 cup coarsely-grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
- one 24 oz. jar Rao's Marinara Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/205C.
- Remove ground beef and Italian sausage from the fridge and put it into a mixing bowl, squeezing sausage out of the casings.
- Add flaxseed meal, lightly beaten eggs, garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste to the bowl.
- Use clean hands to mix together just until ingredients are well-combined.
- We used a tablespoon-sized measuring spoon to scoop about 2 tablespoons of meat for each meatball.
- You should cook these in a baking dish where the meatballs are close to together, so laying the finished meatballs out on a cutting board helps you judge the size of dish you need.
- We made 20 meatballs and used a dish that was 9 inches x 14 inches.
- Pour the Rao's Marinara Sauce (or another low-sugar pasta sauce) over the meatballs, making sure each meatball is covered with a little sauce.
- Bake 30 minutes, or until meatballs are firm and sauce is bubbling hot.
- Sprinkle meatballs with the other 1/2 cup of coarsely-grated Parmesan and serve hot.
Notes
Most stores probably carry Flaxseed Meal (affiliate link), and it's a great low-carb option to replace breadcrumbs for binding meatloaf and meatballs. This recipe can also be made with Hemp Hearts (affiliate link). The nutritional information was calculated with Flaxseed Meal which seems to be slightly lower in carbs than Hemp Hearts, but both are very low in carbs.
Nutritional information is calculated on 4 large meatballs per serving.
Recipe adapted from Old Fashioned Meatballs at Epicurious.com.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 605Total Fat 35gSaturated Fat 11gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 18gCholesterol 235mgSodium 1714mgCarbohydrates 16gFiber 5gSugar 7gProtein 54g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce is a great dish for low-carb or low-glycemic diets or for any phase of the original South Beach Diet. South Beach would prefer lean ground beef and low-fat turkey sausage; other diet plans might prefer pork sausage or beef with more fat, although with higher-fat meats some of the fat will ooze out of the meatballs into the sauce so I’d still prefer turkey sausage for this if you can find some.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Oven Dinners to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
The Beef and Sausage Meatballs were first posted in 2006! This recipe was updated with better photos in 2023 and last updated with more information in 2025.
24 Comments on “Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce”
These made me so excited!!! I’m serving them tonight with a homemade peanut sauce that is keto. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Sorry that was confusing for you. I calculated the nutritional information again and it came out the same. Yield: 5 means this recipe makes 5 servings. (There is a note below that which says “Nutritional information is calculated on 4 large meatballs per serving.” Serving size 1 just means the nutritional information is for one serving. That’s how the nutritional calculator displays it unless you put a specific amount for a serving. And it did come out 745 calories again, which I am guessing is partly because this recipe has quite a bit Parmesan cheese. You could cut that down quite a bit if you wanted.
Always glad to hear that; thanks for letting me know.
Wow! I loved these. I took them to a picnic and they were a bit hit.
~m, that version does sound good. I don’t have a cookie scooper, so that’s why I use a tablespoon. You can definitely mix ground turkey or chicken with meat, because this recipe uses turkey sausage, so I’d use one of those for Swedish meatballs. I don’t remember the original recipe, but I think there is a link there back to Anne’s food where I found the recipe.
Hi Kalyn,
I’m back to let you know that I made these even lower in carbs – and they still rock and are a huge staple around here. I use the “butcher’s mixture” that I mentioned previously, add diced pepper and shredded carrots, omit the cheese, and add flax seed meal and almond meal (you could probably bind with just one of these too) until I get the necessary texture (no, I don’t measure! :)).
I also had two questions about your Swedish meatballs. First, how much cinnamon did the original recipe call for? Also, if I don’t eat pork, what other meat should I substitute? Veal? Lamb? I’ve heard that it’s unwise to mix poultry and red meat since they need to cook at different temperatures, but it might not be a problem here, as the ground meatballs cook completely through (I do eat chicken and turkey, too).
By the way, I highly recommend using a cookie scooper to make meatballs (or falafel) – super easy and quick!
Take care!
Hi M, thanks for the update. Glad to hear you liked how it turned out. I do love the Lundberg brown basmati rice too, one of my favorite brands of brown rice for sure!
Hi Kalyn! The meatballs were a huge success! I made them with just 1 lb of ground meat – 1/3 beef, 1/3 lamb, 1/3 veal, and added diced red pepper and onion and served over brown rice Tinkyada spaghetti. The leftover short grain “Lundberg Brown Sweet Rice” that I used in lieu of the whole wheat crumbs and flax does not have added sugar or other ingredients – just “organic brown sweet rice.” Honestly, I wouldn’t buy this rice again since I don’t like its mouthfeel – too sticky – but it works well for salmon patties and meatballs. For eating, I really enjoy Lundberg’s brown basmati, which is probably less starchy. Thanks for the great and easy recipe – we were craving meat and now we got to eat three kinds!
M, good suggestion to include the sausage by weight; I will edit when I get done writing this comment. The brand of turkey sausage I buy comes in a package where 5 links = 19.5 oz. so three links would be not quite 12 oz. I think it wouldn’t need to be that exact on the sausage.
Yes, brown rice is good for South Beach, but I’m not familiar with sweet brown rice. Is there added sugar? That would not be SB friendly, and in general sticky rice wouldn’t be as good for SB as long grain rice (less starchy.)
Yumm! I’m going to try to adapt this recipe to be gluten-free by using some leftover Lundberg sticky/sweet brown rice (I think the brown rice still allows it to qualify for South Beach friendliness, right?). But first, a quick question: How much does the turkey sausage weigh? Thanks, Kayln!
I don’t know whay I don’t do meatballs more often – I love them! Particularly with a generous helping of cheese on top 😉
OMG! I’m long term…Yikes!
Love meatballs. I think I update recipes every time I use them… As we learn more about nutrition and find new ingredients, we refine.
Love your version of meatballs…seems less fussy than my version!
I’m a huge meatball fan. I prefer baking them in the oven too. The picture looks so good, I think I’m going to make some meatballs this week!
This looks so good, Kalyn. Thanks for making me hungry!
Yum! I could eat this on low-carb noodles, and DH could eat it on a crusty roll for a meatball sub. Great recipe, Kalyn.
Ooooh, those look great. I love meatballs.
Sounds so good! I think sausage always makes meatballs taste so much better.
Neil, I love the Penzeys spice blends and their other regular spices too. I think I’m their best customer. I’m hoping they will give me free spices for all free advertising I’m giving them.
I love meatballs, too! These look scrumptious – I’m going to make some this weekend!
Looks good. Do you use many of the Penzeys spice mixtures?
i love meatballs. ground beef is so underrated. this looks tempting…
I like the idea of just putting it all in the oven to bake and it sounds delicious too!