Easy, delicious, and GAPS Intro Diet friendly, these spinach garlic meatballs are sure to become a family favorite. And they have the added bonus of being made in the Instant Pot!
GAPS… with a chance of meatballs.
Meatballs are a favorite food in my family. The kiddos go crazy over my porcupine meatballs, and I’m a little partial to my stuffed Italian meatballs.
As delicious as those dishes are, they’re sadly not compliant with the GAPS Intro Diet. Not that much really is...
But if there’s one thing I learned on my first short stint with the diet, it’s that if you have to partially live off boiled beef, meatballs are the way to go. They’re easy to make, easy to eat, and easy to store as leftovers and reheat. All these things make them perfect for a super crazy diet… or any other time of life, really.
Spinach love.
For the first week of GAPS stage 1, I was pretty boring with my meatballs. Just plain ol’ beef with salt. Not that it’s bad, but it does get old pretty quickly when you’re eating it every other day. So I did something that surprised myself.
I added spinach.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love spinach… when it’s fresh. You know, like in a nice salad, or hidden in a delicious smoothie. But cooked spinach is another thing altogether. Cooked spinach and I do not really get along that well.
But hidden in these tasty little meatballs, paired with a hefty dose of minced garlic, it’s divine.
All the GAPS stages.
Even though these are a GAPS intro stage 1 meal, I’ve been eating them on every stage after that, as well! They’re that good. And I don’t just eat them for lunches and dinners, they make a pretty good breakfast, too. ;)
If you’re on the higher intro stages, or not on GAPS at all, you can add in some fresh herbs, like parsley and/or basil. But that’s totally just for fun. These spinach garlic meatballs are good just as is!
And just in case you’re wondering, Dr. Natasha doesn’t recommend cooking all your GAPS food in a pressure cooker, but every now and again it won’t hurt. You do a lot of cooking on the GAPS diet, and it’s okay to give yourself a little break. I like to use the Instant Pot for these meatballs and to make my bone broth.
If you’re not convinced, or don’t have an Instant Pot/pressure cooker, you can just boil these in a covered pot, like normal meatballs.
Stage 1 safe foods.
Need more recipes for stage 1 of the GAPS diet? Here are a few more…
- Healing Ginger Lemon Gummies
- DIY Pumpkin Puree in the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
- 1-Ingredient Carrot Fettuccini
- Homemade 24-Hour Yogurt in the Instant Pot
- 2-Ingredient Squash Custard
In the recipe card I’ve linked to some of the products from my affiliate partners that I like to use. Purchasing through these links won’t cost you anything extra. Thanks!
Spinach Garlic Meatballs in the Instant Pot
Free of grain, gluten, eggs, dairy, and sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 pound grass-fed ground beef
- 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen spinach
- 1/4 cup minced garlic
- real salt & pepper, to taste
- 4 large carrots
- bone broth
Instructions
Chop the carrots into 1/2 inch chunks and place in the Instant Pot pot. Cover with bone broth.
In a large bowl, mix and mash the beef, spinach, garlic, salt, and pepper until well combined.
Roll into golf ball-ish sized balls, or whatever size you want. Place meatballs on top of the carrots.
Close the pressure cooker lid and set the vent to ‘sealed.’
Press ‘manual’ and set the time to 20 minutes.
When the Instant Pot is done, quick release the pressure.
Serve as a soup, or with the carrots and meatballs on a plate, and the broth in a mug.
Pin these Spinach Garlic Meatballs for later!
I don’t mind cooked spinach and fresh spinach. I can’ do spinach in a smoothie though haha. These look delicious!
Haha! Thanks, Cindy. ;)
The more veggies in a dish the better! These look like a great way to get some greens in.
Thanks, Jennifer! I love sneaking them any way I can. ;)
I’m so glad I have an instant pot now!
Aren’t they amazing?
I LOVE meatball soup and haven’t made it in ages! Thanks for the reminder, and have seen so much about the instant pot lately!
It’s currently my favorite soup! :) And you should definitely check out the Instant Pot, it’s wonnnnnnderful. :)
This looks yummy. And your content has inspired me to look into the GAPS diet. I haven’t heard of it.
Glad to be an inspiration, Brandi! I have found so much healing through GAPS. If you struggle with any digestive or autoimmune issues I would highly recommend you give it a try!
I still haven’t tried an Instant Pot!!! They look so cool!
You NEED to! Haha. It’s every foodie’s dream. ;)
Oh boy, I really need to get my Instant Pot out of the box. This sounds like a great recipe to try!
Haha! Yes, you do. ;)
I love how nourishing and easy this soup is. Plus you can’t go wrong with that fast cook time in the Instant Pot!
Exactly. ;) The IP is always a winning idea! Thanks, Emily!
Love how easy these meatballs are!
Me too! ;)
Ok, I SERIOUSLY need to consider getting an instant pot! :)
Yes, you seriously should! They’re amazing!
Give me all the instant pot recipes…seriously, how did we cook before them??
Haha! I totally feel ya! They are AMAZING!
These look tasty. Can you give an approximation of cook time for these meatballs to be boiled on the stove? I’m looking to keep my appliances to a minimum. Thanks!
You can drop them into boiling water and cook them for about 20-25 minutes. :) I hope you enjoy them!
How much broth are you using in this recipe? The recipe says to cover the carrots so I’m wondering if you are just covering the carrots and basically steaming the meat or if you use enough broth that the meatballs are submerged in the broth as well. Thanks!
I just use enough to cover the carrots, but you can definitely cover the meatballs, too, if you like!
How long and at what pressure for a stove top pressure cooker?
I haven’t tried them on a stove top pressure cooker, because I don’t own one. But I would guess that you could do them on high pressure for the same amount of time. If there’s no quick release on your pressure cooker, then do less time (maybe 10 minutes) and a natural release.
This looks amazing and easy to make; I can’t wait to try it.
I hope you enjoy it!