Buy Now → Asian Meatballs with Thai ‘Peanut’ Sauce
These tender, well seasoned Asian Meatballs are dipped in a delicious, slightly sweet Thai sauce with a hit of spice. Paleo and gluten-free.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings of 4 meatballs 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Main Dish
- Method: Bake or Air-fry
- Cuisine: Paleo, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Grain-Free
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked for at least 30 minutes in hot water, 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped
- 1/4 pound peeled and deveined shrimp 5-6 peeled shrimp
- 1 pound ground meat, turkey, chicken (dark meat) or pork
- 1/3 cup scallions, coarsely chopped (about 3 scallions)
- 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
- 1 tablespoon gluten free tamari or coconut aminos
- 1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Asian ‘Peanut’ Sauce (recipe below)
Asian ‘Peanut’ Sauce**
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons gluten free tamari or coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1/2 Serrano chili or Thai chili, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced or pinch of chili flakes (optional)
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Soak your dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling water for at least 30 minutes.
- Cut off the hard stems, discard. Squeeze the water out of the shiitake mushrooms and coarsely chop them. You should have about 3 tablespoons. Put into a food processor.
- Coarsely chop the shrimp. Add to the food processor.
- Process the shiitake mushrooms and shrimp until you get a coarse paste.
- Add the scallions and cilantro and pulse until chopped.
- Place the meat into a large bowl. Add the shrimp-mushrooms-scallions-cilantro paste.
- Add tamari, salt, fish sauce, white pepper, and sesame oil.
- Use your hands to mix the meatball mixture until evenly combined.*
- Scoop out about 1 ½ tablespoons of the mixture and form into 1 ½-inch balls. I use a heaping 1 tablespoon scoop to make it easy.
- Use your hands to roll into round balls and arrange on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. You should end up with about a 20 little meatballs.
- Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes until almost cooked through and then broil for 5 minutes to brown the top. You can also air fry at 375°F for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with Asian ‘Peanut’ Sauce.
Asian ‘Peanut’ Sauce
- Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste to adjust seasonings.
- Let sit for 15 minutes to allow flavors to combine.
Notes
If you want to taste the meatballs to check for salt before you make them into balls, heat up a small frying pan over medium heat and add a little coconut oil. When the pan is hot, form a little patty and cook it in the pan. Taste it to see if the seasoning is right. Adjust with additional salt if needed.
If you don’t want to cook them immediately, you can store the meatball mixture in the fridge for up to 12 hours.
Nutrition information is for 4 meatballs with sauce.