Turkey Free Cassava Flour Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Sweet, tangy, and deeply savory all at once, these meatballs deliver a bold flavor punch that makes them feel like anything but a weeknight shortcut. Ground beef is seasoned with garlic, fresh ginger, turmeric, and coconut aminos before being seared and finished in the oven, giving each meatball a beautifully browned crust and a juicy, fully cooked center. The sauce is where things get really interesting — pineapple juice, sweet potato purée, apple cider vinegar, and honey simmer together into something glossy and complex, thickened naturally with arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch or any grain-based thickener. Cassava flour binds the meatballs without changing their texture, so you get that classic tender bite you'd expect from a traditional recipe. Fresh pineapple chunks stirred in at the end add bright, juicy contrast to the rich, sticky sauce. This is a genuinely crowd-pleasing dish that happens to be built entirely from whole, recognizable ingredients — no mystery fillers, no processed binders, nothing to second-guess.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the meatballs
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 2 tbsp cassava flour
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
For the sauce
- 1 cup pineapple juice (unsweetened)
- ⅓ cup sweet potato purée
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tsp arrowroot starch
- 1 tbsp cold water
- 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks (about 1-inch pieces)
For serving
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, cassava flour, 2 tbsp coconut aminos, garlic, 1 tsp grated ginger, salt, and turmeric. Mix with your hands until just combined — do not overwork the meat. Roll into balls about 1½ inches in diameter (roughly 20–22 meatballs) and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.
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