Pastured Pork Meatballs Recipe

My kids are in love with the pork meatballs I make with quality pastured meat I obtain from a local farm. This tasty, nutrient dense meat comes from happy pigs that are free to run around outside in the sunshine. Pastured pigs that are exposed to UVB rays produce lots of vitamin D which is stored in the lard.

These happy hogs compare with the unfortunate and miserable animals from huge hog confinement operations known as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). Believe it or not, a single CAFO building housing confined pigs might hold 1,000 or more sows or 10,000 or more market hogs! These poor animals don’t even have enough room to turn around in most cases!

Do you want your pork to come from these animals?  I sure don’t!

There’s no way I want one red cent of my food dollars to go to the companies that treat animals this way not to mention that this type of industrialized farm is detrimental to the environment and the food produced from it will not compare with the nutrition from hogs living outside in the fresh air and sunlight.

When you make the effort to obtain truly pastured meat from happy hogs to make pork meatballs, you will be delighted to discover very little seasoning is required as the taste is fabulous and rich all on its own.

These pastured pork meatballs can be served alone with veggies cooked in butter (my usual way) or can be used for that occasional bowl of spaghetti and meatballs if you desire.  Another idea is to slice them in half, add a homemade pizza sauce, melt some cheese on top and serve on sourdough buns.

Leftover pork meatballs are great to pack in lunchboxes the next day too. My problem is that most of the pork meatballs are gone so fast I don’t have hardly any leftovers.  I had to practically arm wrestle my teenager to snap the picture above before all the meatballs were gone from the baking pan!

Pastured Pork Meatballs

Makes about 30 meatballs

Ingredients

1 – 1 1/2 lb pastured ground pork

1 egg

2 slices sourdough or sprouted bread (sources)

1/4 cup traditionally brewed soy sauce (sources)

1/2 tsp sea salt (sources)

1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Marinate ground pork in 1 cup of apple cider vinegar in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Dry the meat thoroughly with paper towels or a clean dishcloth.

Place bread slices in a food processor and pulse until you have made bread crumbs.

Place marinated ground pork in a bowl and mix in bread crumbs and egg with your hands.  Add sea salt, pepper and soy sauce and mix again.

Form meatballs with your hands slightly smaller than the size of a ping pong ball.  Place meatballs on a stainless steel baking pan or a glass baking dish and bake on 350F until browned and thoroughly cooked (about 40 minutes).

Serve immediately.

Enjoy this recipe? Try this recipe for breakfast sausage too.

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

Sarah

The Healthy Home Economist holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Mother to 3 healthy children, blogger, and best-selling author, she writes about the practical application of Traditional Diet and evidence-based wellness within the modern household. Her work has been featured by USA Today, The New York Times, ABC, NBC, and many others.