Carrot Meatballs With Mint Cauliflower Rice is an easy, 15-minute meal prep meatballs recipe loaded with Italian flavor and a hidden veggie. Pair it with lemon mint cauliflower rice for a filling, low-carb meal!
You know our obsession with meatballs is kind of insane. I mean, did you read our Ultimate Guide To Meatballs post? (#SorryNotSorry) We just love meatballs! They are quick, easy, can be done in a zillion different flavor profiles (have you tried our Thai Almond Butter Meatballs or our Greek Meatballs yet?), and can be cooked in a single pan! They are an all-around meal prep win, especially because you can also make them ahead of time and switch up the type of ground meat you use, based on what you have on hand. Flexible recipes like this one for carrot meatballs with mint cauliflower rice help get dinner on the table.
The Secret to Good Meatballs
More often than not, meatballs can go sideways in a couple of ways. They can either fall apart because they're not bound together well enough, or they come out kind of tough, from overhandling the meat mixture. In the worst case scenario-yikes-both things can happen. (Thankfully, you won't have that problem here!)
This recipe for carrot meatballs with mint cauliflower rice avoids those pitfalls, because the carrots add both moisture and flavor. What's more, the recipe manages to be gluten-free, because it doesn't require breadcrumbs. Score!
Should I Bake or Fry Meatballs?
Italian grandmas might debate the best way to make meatballs, but for the sake of this recipe, these carrot meatballs are small and therefore can be pan-fried pretty quickly in a skillet with some olive oil. Then, once they're cooked, we remove them from the skillet while the mint cauliflower rice cooks in the same pan. This keeps meal prep moving along efficiently, but cooking the rice in the same pan lends a lot of extra flavor to the "rice" and makes clean-up a breeze. Hurrah for #oneskilletdinners!
How to Make Cauliflower Rice
If you're new to this concept, we show you how to make cauliflower rice and introduce it to your meal prep repertoire elsewhere on this site. It's foolproof and, like the meatballs, can take on almost any flavors you want. Cauliflower, like eggs, is kind of a blank slate when it comes to cooking, which means you can pretty much never run out of ways to prep it. (It also freezes well, should you want to make a whole bunch ahead of time).
Of course, you can use whatever kind of starch-like side you like (white or brown rice); quinoa would also work, too. Whatever you do, just be sure to pair these tasty protein bombs with your favorite starch and vegetable for a healthy, wholesome, and super-easy lunch (or dinner)!
Bonus: This entire prep is less than $4 per serving. You're welcome! Leftovers reheat well, too, if for some reason you don't scarf these down!
READ MORE: 40 Meal Prep Recipes Under 400 Calories
Carrot Meatballs With Mint Cauliflower Rice Ingredients:
For the Meatballs
- 1 lb. lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup grated carrots
- 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
For the Cauliflower Rice
- 4 cups riced cauliflower
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 4 mint leaves
- Salt & pepper to taste
- ½ cup water
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb. lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup carrots grated
- 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Cauliflower Rice
- 4 cups cauliflower riced
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 4 mint leaves
- Salt & pepper to taste
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together egg with Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
- Add carrots and ground meat to the bowl. Using your hands, mix the ingredients together thoroughly but don't overwork it. With a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out and roll the meat into balls until 18 meatballs are made and the meat is gone.
- Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to the pan and heat 4 minutes, and then add the meatballs to the pan.
- Cook meatballs 5 minutes. Then, flip to cook on the other side another 5 minutes. Rotate the meatballs a few more times in the pan, cooking 1-2 minutes until cooked through. Remove meatballs from the pan to a warm plate.
- Add ¼ cup water to the skillet with riced cauliflower. Cook 5 minutes until softened, and then add lemon juice and mint leaves. Stir to combine.
- Divide the meatballs and cauliflower rice into 4 even servings. Next, place them in meal prep containers with fresh lemon wedges and store in the fridge until you're ready to eat them.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Cheryl says
Delicious! I bought frozen, pre-packaged cauliflower rice and didn't use the mint, but it was still delicious.
Meal Prep on Fleek says
That’s great Cheryl! Thank you for the feedback. We’re so glad you tried it.
ROBYN says
I DON'T SEE ANY CALORIE COUNT, THE MEALS LOOK LOVELY BUT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW MANY CALORIES PER MEAL I AM CONSUMING. IF IT IS HERE AND I HAVENT SEEN IT MY APOLOGIES.
Sarah Kesseli says
Hi Robyn - we only share the macros on most recipes, but due to a high request for calories we have started including them. You can easily calculate the calories by adding together your protein and carb grams and multiplying by 4. Then multiplying your fat grams by 9 and finally adding together the total fat + total protein/carb numbers.
Brigitte says
I use zuchini instead of carrot and ground turkey. SO YUMMY. also a table spoon of Trader Joe’s tzaziki yogurt. T dip the meatballs in is FABULOUS!
Sarah Kesseli says
That sounds so delicious Brigitte! We will need to try that! Thank you for sharing!
Sarah Kalkowski says
If I were to meal prep this for lunches, how long would the meatballs and rice stay good in the fridge?
Thank you in advance!
Meal Prep on Fleek says
They should be fine for at least 4 days.
Dee says
Thank you, this looks delicious! We aren't mint fans, have you tried it with anything else? We may just do the plain with salt and pepper since we like cauliflower.
Meal Prep on Fleek says
Are you good with Cilantro? If so, a little cilantro and lime would be great as well!
Maria says
I used plant based meatball and riced cauliflower with cilantro salt and pepper and lime juice. Was delicious