Breakfast Bacon and Maple Meatballs

People are always asking me for recipe ideas for people who can’t eat eggs. Welp, here ya go. Breakfast meatballs. No eggs. No nuts. Just happiness. And for you people who do love nuts, I paired it next to Steve’s Original PaleoKrunch Cereal. It’s stupid good. Like, seriously.

Getting back to reality can be hard sometimes. Especially when it includes a 4am alarm clock with a 10 degree welcoming temperature outside. I was impressed my little oh-so-wanted civic even started. Well really, I was just impressed it wasn’t stolen in the few days I was gone. Must have been too cold to want to steal cars. She has a rough time getting through the winters, that civic of mine. It makes sounds that definitely aren’t normal and likes to sputter a bit when I start it. She’s funny. Always testing my patience.

Anywho, yesterday was a tough day. Probably because I was hauling around an extra ten pounds or so. So not only did my clothes fit a bit on the uncomfortable side, but I was sluggish AND didn’t get hungry until night. Those are some of the signs that show you ate too much. And too many weird things. My body doesn’t love the French fries and cheese sauce that ended up on my plate a few too many times over the weekend. F*cking cheese fries.

So thankfully, when I was ready to leave the gym in the morning, I had Jason there to talk me into an extra workout. But first visual this. I had woken up at 4am that morning, after getting about 4 or 5 hours of sleep and could barely apply my make up. So I was wearing sweatpants…the ones I wore to bed….and some baggy shirt to hide my weekend shame. Thankfully I put a bra on that morning, I was surprised I actually remembered to. So when Jason asked to workout, I was a bit worried. So I rolled my pants up as high as I could into shorts, tied them extra tight, and sucked it up. It looked like I was wearing a diaper. I don’t even want to know what I looked like while doing handstand push ups. But I got the little three rounder workout done, diaper and all, not as far behind Jason as I thought I would be. I was fueled by carbs. Meaning cheese fries.

The rest of my Monday was spent not eating, because I still wasn’t hungry. Making food that I didn’t eat. I literally didn’t eat until 7pm. That’s SO not me. Kinda creepy what sh*tty food does to us. And then I worked out more. I ran to the gym. Gross. I had to shoot so many snot rockets because it was so damn cold. No wonder I’m single. Whatever. I’m finally getting better at running, snot rockets and all. Then I did the workout. With front squats. Ew. But the best part was I didn’t have to run home in the quickly dropping temperature. Because Ryan, a wonderful guy from the gym, took me home. You know why he’s wonderful? Because he reads my blog, so I KNOW he’s cool. I trust people who read my blog. Well, most.

Are you wondering what I finally ate at 7pm? Of course you are. I ate these fantastic little meatballs. All meat should be in ball form.

Print

Breakfast Bacon and Maple Meatballs

  • Yield: 4 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1lb breakfast sausage
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 4oz button mushrooms (I used half a container of sliced button mushrooms)
  • ½ yellow onion, peeled
  • 2 tablespoonsmaple syrup
  • 56 slices of bacon
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Place your bacon slices in a pan over medium heat. Cook on both sides until crispy, place on a paper towel to soak up the excess fat and cool, then dice up into small pieces that would fit well in meatballs. Duh.
  3. Place your sweet potato in a food processor with the shredding attachment. Shred your sweet potato, remove contents, then shred it once more. You want it pretty fine.
  4. Then shred your onion and mushrooms in the same container with the sweet potato that was shredded twice.
  5. Add your sweet potato, mushrooms, and yellow onion to a bowl along with your breakfast sausage, maple syrup, garlic clove, diced bacon, and salt and pepper and mix well. Your hands are your best tools.
  6. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet then start making your meatballs.
  7. What is helpful is using anice cream scoopso they are all the same size. Roll the scooped out balls in your hands and place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all your ingredients are gone.
  8. Bake for 30-35 minutes until meatballs are golden brown and completely cooked through. Be sure to check one before you turn the oven off!
  9. Pair your breakfast meatballs with Steve’s PaleoKrunch Cereal and some almond milk!

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Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.

I’m a food hoarder. And a really bad dancer. If you don’t know me well, you will probably not understand my humor. Therefore, I apologize ahead of time. Thanks for listening to my ramblings of my ever-changing life and trusting my kitchen mishaps. Your trust in me is appreciated.

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109 thoughts on “Breakfast Bacon and Maple Meatballs”

  1. Sounds great! I may make them smaller & take them as an appetizer to a holiday party this weekend.

    Where do you get sugar-free sausage? I found it once & not since, it’s a tough one.

    Was LOL at your snot rockets! 😉

    1. Holy Hell JB!!!! This recipe is beyond AWESOME! A new breakfast go to from now on. I used Isernios Chicken Breakfast Sausage. I can only find it on the Navy Base at the commissary every so often, so when I find it I get 10 rolls of it. Its by the breakfast sausage/smoked sausage. Otherwise, I make my own breakfast sausage. Google it and make paleo adjustments. i.e. raw honey instead of sugars. thanks again Juli for another awesome recipe!

  2. Sorry about your diaper (but secretly I’m laughing). I have a habit for forgetting my workout socks and end up wear dress socks that I wore to work – like thin, black, pantyhose-like socks. *face palm*

    Also, *highfive* on the breakfasts. I’ve been making your breakfast meatza (double meat, half sausage, half ground beef – genius!) and it’s amazeballs.

  3. Oooh, super excited about this recipe! I have a daughter who is allergic to eggs and happens to LOVE maple syrup with her breakfast meats! Thank you!

    I have a food blog as well, but it’s dedicated to those who suffer with food allergies. But, being a paleo fan myself, I continue to add paleo recipes which are free of eggs and nuts: http://www.consciouseatery.com/p/paleo.html

  4. These meatballs look AWESOME!!

    Kind of funny….I did our WOD outside today too in the frigid cold of Illinois and had to resort to the snot rocket….it’s better than having snot running down your face! I felt so lady-like….NOT. My husband would be proud….kind of.

  5. “All meat should be in ball form.” = that’s just smart thinking, right there. Holy balls! I can’t wait to make this.

  6. First off, I love your blog and your food and I’m super duper anxious for you cookbook.

    Second, that’s totally blowing snot rockets. I thought that was my problem too when I was single for so long. But you just have to find someone who appreciates your snot rockets. There’s guys like that out there. I didn’t think there was either. My mom always told me I would never find anyone who would take me out on a second date because I’m messy and I fart and burp and blow snot rockets. But I did. And now I have a wonderful boyfriend, who I met at my CrossFit gym, and we do all those fun, 100% normal things together! If I can find a boyfriend, then you DEFINITELY can! I have hope for you! So just keep being fabulous and the right one will come around!

  7. these look great. i keep telling myself to order pork from US Wellness Meats but every time i send an order, i end up buying weird things like chicken feet and beef knuckle. i will have to put pork sausage AND pork chops in my next order because i was scanning your pork chops recipes and fainted. that blackberry sauce one and the grapes sauce one look so good. i love fruit with meat.

    1. It’s super easy to make…especially if you’re making meatballs…you just put ground pork into the bowl with some extra spices….sage and whatever else you want. Ground pork is easy to find and you don’t have to worry about weird ingredients (like sugar) in whatever you’re using it for.

  8. Yeah! Egg and nut free woo hoo.
    If I want them now but have ground chic and ground turkey in the house,do you think I can use them? Maybe add some sea salt or sage or something?

  9. Yay! I love meatballs, especially for breakfast because you can make them the night before and put them in the fridge and cook them in the am with no work or cleanup.

  10. love it! i made a liver meatball version…. but i have to saw sweet tater and bacon sounds a bit better. THANKS for this.
    ps we’d love you to see your workout outfit. we wont laugh. really. 😉

  11. I am making these right now! They smell so good. My 5 and 3 year old even can’t wait to try them…they like anything with bacon and syrup 🙂 Making some scrambled eggs too go along with!

  12. One of the best recipes I have had in a long time! Thank you so much for an egg free and nut free recipe. Just what I have been looking for for breakfasts. I don’t know what I would do without your creations

  13. I used this recipe as a jump-off point and made some beef-bacon balls with just diced red onion, fresh garlic, oregano, black pepper, fennel seeds, and ancho chili powder. I’ve eaten all but three of those delectable balls. The combination of beef, bacon, and the herbs and spices make them quite reminiscent of pepperoni/sausage pizza, which is welcome in my mouth. Try it.

  14. I would eat these any time of day….meatballs are kind of my current obsession….so these are a must….i’m not egg-free, so i’m with megan, i want a runny egg on top!

  15. I love your blog and pretty much everything you make is maze balls!! Can’t wait to order your cookbook!! I noticed on an older post you were ranting about your skin, the picture with the zit! lol Anyway, I would love to send you some samples of my non- toxic chemical free skin care line?? Let me know. Thanks for the awesome recipes!! Pumpkin pie blizzard is my fav!! Dessert duh!!! 🙂

  16. I made these for dinner tonight. I used turkey chop meat b/c it’s all I had. They were awesome- but I know beef would be better. Husband and daughter weren’t so impressed, but I’m convinced they don’t have taste buds. And whatever- that just means I’ll be *forced* to finish the batch all by myself! Thanks Julie!

  17. OMG Thank you Thank you Thank you… One of my wonderful symptoms of hormonal havoc is that I developed an egg allergy… and it’s hard to find things without eggs unless they are vegan, especially when it comes to breakfast. I’ll probably replace the maple with agave but I can’t wait to try these. 🙂

    1. DON/T DO THAT–MAPLE SYRUP IS A HUGE PART/FLAVOR IN THE RECIPE…AND IT IS GOOD FOR YOU IF YOU GET 100% MAPLE SYRUP(IT IS A NATURAL ORGANIC FOOD STRAIT FROM THE TREE).
      ALSO, AGAVE IS REALLY BAD FOR YOU–JUST FOUND OUT (BEEN USING IT FOR YEARS)(IT CAUSES LEAKY GUT SYNDROME BY EATING HOLES IN YOUR INTESTINES) !! CHECK OUT DR. BRENDA WATSON ON CH 9. I WAS IN SHOCK–MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN EATING CORN SYRUP….. MY NEW FAVE SWEETENER IS ORGANIC COCONUT SUGER–DELISH!!

  18. OMG, these were excellent!!! Made them tonight for dinner with a side of rice and a green salad. Hubby can’t have eggs, so these were perfect. The flavor was delicious! These are definitely a keeper! Thank you for your great recipes.

  19. I made these, but low-carb’d it by using butternut squash versus the sweet potato. Also left out the maple syrup & added in sage & Bavarian seasoning – they are delicious! Using my smaller scoop it made 27 meatballs. I made them on Sunday & we just reheat enough for everyone each morning…everyone in the house loves them!

  20. In the process of making them (i.e. they’re in the oven). They wouldn’t stick together (my food processor died halfway through, that might be why), so I added two eggs. Oh how terrible. 😉 Looking yummy thus far.

  21. THESE WERE AWESOME!! I’m always looking for alternatives to eggs– I added a little jalapeno just because and they were soo good!!- I love you blog- you’re funny and creative- your recipes keep me on the paleo path 🙂

  22. These were AWESOME! My kid loved helping me out and was impressed with the flavors. We’ll be making these again…thought the mix might be nice in stuffing a mushroom!

  23. I love Steve’s paleokrunch i really have to limit myself though because I will eat all 5 servings in one sitting.
    Can’t wait to try these bfast meatballs! thanks!

    1. I would double it, but it depends how big you make them. I want to say it made about 12-18 meatballs, but I haven’t made them in a while so I’ve forgotten

  24. These are sooooooo amazing! I cannot, for the life of me, find my shredder attachment on my food processor, so I used a microplane. It’s a P.A.I.N, but it will work. My son doesn’t like the crusty bottom, so I ate his (my favorite part), but next time I think I’ll flip some of them halfway to make him happy. I also don’t buy breakfast sausage because there a lot of spices I can’t have right now, so I mixed some spices together to make my own sausage. I used this recipe: http://www.ehow.com/how_4574619_breakfast-sausage-seasoning-mix.html

  25. Jessica Namynanik

    Making my second batch of these today. My husband loved them. I’m making a double batch today and freezing some. It’s an easy breakfast to just take a few out in the morning, heat up and be on your way. Love your recipes. This morning i’m making the Breakfast Lasagna!!!

  26. Just started paleo (seeing great results!) and was recommended your site. I love it! You are so inspirational, real… your posts are great. These breakfast meatballs are perfect and my kids absolutely LOVE bacon… Can’t wait to make these this weekend. Thanks for the FB post of this recipe.

  27. A friend brought these to our Paleo Potluck last night…AMAZING! My husband has requested these for his grab-n-go breakfasts for the week. They are really really good.

  28. I made these last week and they are fantastic. My wife loved them as well. A couple of scrambled eggs and 3 or 4 of the meatballs, excellent breakfast.

    These have been added to my recipes.

  29. First, I just found this site and I am thrilled. Not only are you entertaining as hell, the recipes are delicious! I have already made two and there are SO many on my list.

    I wanted to ask for a pairing recommendation other than the cereal. I am fairly new to Paleo, so not quite comfortable with what makes a meal balanced. I don’t have the cereal, so I was just curious what else I could eat with these!

    Thanks in advance!

  30. This recipe looks, sounds and kinda smells–in my brain-nose–fantastic. One question: how big should the sweet potato be? And if I were to substitute carrots, about how much in grams or ounces?

    I look forward to making this very soon, but these guys will definitely accompany a couple of fried eggs.

    Thanks for the recipe, and I’m very happy to have discovered your blog!

    1. oh goodness bob, those are good questions. the size of the sweet potato really isn’t important, I’ve used a different size every time. just a medium one works fine. and as for ounces of carrots, i’m guessing 3-5 ounces

  31. These were amazing! I bought freshly made sausage from a local butcher, had some maple syrup from a friend who visited Vermont and they turned out heavenly! I made them slightly larger than a typical sausage ball and 2 + 1 hard boiled egg made for a great breakfast.

  32. Just made these for the umpteenth time – a real go to food for us. I make them with freshly ground chuck and Italian sausage (Trader Joe`s) . All our non-paleo family and friends ask for the recipe. BTW, I just bought your cookbook X 6 – pressies.

  33. How many ice-cream-scoop sized does this make? (Really, just wondering what the portion size is to know if I need to double the recipe or not.) Thanks!

  34. I’m doing Whole30 – anything I can use instead of maple syrup, or should I just use the recipe without it?

  35. Instead of going through the hassle of the double shredding, can you bake the sweet potato in advance and mash them? It would still give the flavor and binding qualities wouldn’t it?

  36. I just made these and they are fantastic! I put everything into my Ninja blender since I don’t have a food processor and it was great since this calls for a fine shred. When I mixed everything together it was very wet, so I added a bit of coconut flour to bind it, which worked. Also dusted my hands with some when I was shaping the meatballs. Anyway, these are great and the recipe made a TON of bite-sized goodness. Thank you Juli!

  37. Hi Juli, I made something similar last night. My metrics are different from yours so just convert 🙂
    500g lean pork mince
    1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
    1 whole egg
    few grinds of garlic flakes
    salt and pepper to taste
    3 sprinkles of mixed spice (Don’t know what your equivalent is, but its ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, aniseed etc, pumpkin spice?)

    Mix all together (the consistency is quite soft but still pliable. Shape burger patties and cook in about 1T coconut oil. Et voila!
    The apple is just the right flavour to compliment the yummy pork.
    PS I love you for your nut free banana loaf 3 ways. I love you for that man

  38. I made these AND OMG is right! I love your blog and your style 🙂 you’re awesome. Thank you for sharing your experiences and amazing recipes.

  39. Made this today and love them! They have a much lighter feel than regular meatballs. I’ve been struggling to find paleo friendly portable breakfasts that don’t contain eggs and I think this one might be a winner! Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.

  40. Embarking on AutoImmune Paleo and found your site! Excited to make meatballs but – Question: can’t do maple syrup for AIP, coconut flakes? Or do you (or anyone else here) have a suggestion? No sugar stuff allowed, at all, even stevia, on AIP. Perhaps just eliminate it all together? Thanks for the humor and the recipes! Making my life shifts a lot easier :0)

  41. Cheers to no longer choosing between sausage or bacon, now it’s sausage AND bacon. Whoever wrote that stupid commercial about and being better than or was right.

  42. My goodness, these are wonderful just the way they are. Already a favorite recipe and I have already given out the site for the recipe four times this week!

  43. These are freaking amazing!! I pre cooked them for dinner two nights from now…I may have to make more because I doubt they make it until then!!! My picky 10 yer old even loved them and she likes NOTHING!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

  44. These look incredible. I’m so excited to try these. Did you you ground pork meat? I’m avoiding all sugars….so do you think I could use some maple extract vs the maple syrup???

    I’m avoiding eggs and it’s really hard to find paleo/keto recipes that are egg free….this looks like a winner!!

    Tracy Lynn

  45. I literally just cried out with joy when I read your ingredient list on the above Breakfast Bacon & Maple Meatballs!! They look great and (my 25-yr old daughter and I have Hashimoto Auto-Immune) I can have ALL the ingredients, yeah!! By the way, I look forward to your posts, they are witty, fun and cute! I’m probably old enough to be your Mom and since being diagnosed, am new to this whole Paleo movement. Although, I feel like I have taken a couple of college courses after researching mega-hours online and being a part of the Gluten Summit, Calorie Myth and other conferences. I REALLY appreciate all you do!!

  46. Juli, these are SO DANG GOOD. I love them so much and I always have to make a double batch since between myself and my 6yo daughter, they do not last long!

    I like to make my own simple breakfast sausage to use with these (1 tsp Penzey’s sage/1 tsp salt per lb of ground pork), and tonight I sweated the onions out a bit to ensure they were cooked (and didn’t bother my reflux.)

    You rock, woman!

  47. I made them this morning subbing celery and fresh parsley for mushroom (what I have on hand). I never buy sausage as ground beef is cheaper, so I just added sage, fennel, anise and red pepper flakes to make it sausage-y. They were good but a little too soft after 35 minutes. After eating them I realize I used 350 instead of 375! Will make them again soon.

  48. These are AMAZING. I’ve actually been making the recipe in a loose form for a few months now. Last night was the first time I made them into meatball form. And this morning: I’m very happy. They’re delish. I ate 4 good sized meatballs. Which may have been one too many, as I’m very full. But they’re so tasty. These might be the perfect breakfast for me. Thank you!

  49. Oh, and I meant to say that I just use plain ground pork because it’s so hard to find pork sausage without MSG or junk in my area. And I’ve subbed out carrots for the sweet potato a few times (in the loose hash form).

  50. Thank you so much for this recipe! I modified the recipe to use shredded butternut squash because it’s what I had. I used 5.5 oz of squash and shredded it twice like the recipe calls for. And it worked great! Really delicious change from eggs.

  51. I know this is an old recipe, but has anyone ever tried to make this in more of a meatloaf type fashion? Maybe with some hardboiled eggs inside? I know that is changing up the recipe, but that flavor is just so great, I’m trying to expand upon it.

  52. Have made these at least a dozen times! They are amazing! My 1 year old is extremely picky and LOVES these!
    Have you ever cooked them then frozen them for later? If so were they good after defrosting?
    Thank you!!

  53. Wow, these are fabulous!! Super moist and flavorful, so glad to have these on hand for quick breakfasts 🙂

  54. So I made these last night after getting the recipe from a friend at work who brings them in and has everyone wondering what that great smell is coming from the kitchen. A little challenged with the food processor (first time using) but finally caught on (after a bit of a mess) LOL. These are the BOMB! Only problem is I couldn’t stop eating them. Do you have any idea of the nutrition facts per serving and what’s considered a “serving”? These are addicting!! but I’m trying to eat healthy and lose some weight.

    1. awesome!! glad to hear it! and i have no clue what the nutritional facts are but you could plug that info into an online nutritional calculator to find out!

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