Juicy meatballs smothered in a rich creamy mushroom sauce is what’s for dinner tonight. We’re making from-scratch comfort food your whole family will love. This homemade mushroom cream sauce is made without a can of cream of mushroom soup…and it’s so easy!
I’ve got another great recipe you can whip up with grass-fed ground beef. We’re pairing a classic meatball with a homemade cream of mushroom sauce and it’s so yummy and rich.
Forget canned cream of mushroom soup, or bottled cream sauce filled with preservatives. I’ll show you how to make a homemade cream sauce with fresh mushrooms and garlic that is easy and delicious.
Ingredients to Make Meatballs with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Grass-fed ground beef meatballs
This recipe assumes you’re making beef meatballs from scratch. If you already have meatballs, such as a batch of my homemade meatballs without eggs, you can skip this step.
Tip: Because the creamy mushroom sauce is rich and flavorful, it’s important to pair it with neutral meatballs. I don’t recommend using Italian meatballs or heavily flavored store-bought meatballs with this mushroom cream sauce.
Grass-fed ground beef – One pound of grass-fed ground beef, or regular ground beef if you aren’t making grass-fed meatballs. Use at least 85% lean ground beef. I get local grass-fed ground beef from the farmers market and compiled a list of the best places to buy grass-fed beef if you need more ideas.
Almond flour – These are gluten-free meatballs because they’re made with almond flour rather than bread crumbs. They’re also low-carb meatballs.
Yellow onion – Chopped onion adds delicious flavor and a nice texture to the grass-fed meatballs.
Spices – These meatballs are seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper. I usually also add balsamic vinegar instead of Worcestershire sauce to my meatballs. But because the cream sauce is rich, I’m omitting additional seasoning from this version of my meatballs recipe.
Creamy Mushroom Sauce Ingredients
Half & Half – This homemade creamy mushroom sauce recipe is made with half & half. I’ve also made cream sauce with heavy cream and water. But because heavy cream costs more, we’ll stick with half and half. Half and half is made with half milk and half cream.
Baby bella mushrooms – Sliced baby bella (aka cremini) mushrooms are a main ingredient in this mushroom cream sauce recipe. I recommend baby bella over regular white button mushrooms for a more pronounced mushroom flavor.
Garlic – Mince two cloves of fresh garlic right before you start cooking.
Yellow onion – This cream sauce gets some of its flavor from real sliced onion, no onion powder here.
Butter and gluten-free flour – I’ll show you how to make a roux out of butter and gluten-free flour to thicken cream sauce. If you don’t need the cream sauce to be gluten-free, you can substitute regular flour instead.
Salt and black pepper to taste.
See the recipe card at the bottom of this page for exact quantity of each ingredient.
How to Make Meatballs with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
We’ll start this easy recipe by making the homemade meatballs.
If you already have cooked meatballs you can skip right to making the delicious creamy mushroom sauce.
1. Make and bake the meatballs
Combine the grass-fed meatballs ingredients in a large bowl and mix them together with your hands. Mix just until the ingredients are well incorporated so the ground beef doesn’t become too compacted.
Form the meat mixture into 1 inch balls and spread them out on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. This recipe makes 16 to 22 meatballs depending on their size.
Bake the meatballs for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Meanwhile you can start the creamy mushroom sauce.
2. Make the creamy mushroom sauce
Melt half a tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the sliced onions and cook until they’re soft.
When the onion is soft, add the half and half and stir well. Then add the minced garlic and sliced mushrooms to the sauce pan. Stir well to combine the ingredients and bring the cream sauce to a very gentle simmer.
Avoiding boiling the sauce. This can cause a film to develop on the surface.
Stir occasionally until the mushrooms are cooked. This will take about 15 minutes.
While the mushrooms are simmering we can make a roux to thicken the sauce.
Make a roux
Heat a small pot over very low heat on the stovetop. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the warm pot and wait while it melts.
When it’s melted, add 2 tablespoons of gluten-free flour and stir well to combine the flour with the melted butter. When it starts to smell like pie crust remove the pot from the heat.
The flour and butter mixture is your roux and it’s ready to use.
Add half of your roux to the creamy mushroom sauce and stir well. The sauce will begin to thicken. Slowly add more roux while continuing to stir until the mushroom sauce reaches your desired consistency.
3. Combine the meatballs and creamy mushroom sauce
When the meatballs are done baking, place them on paper towels to absorb any fat that released to the surface.
You can then add the meatballs to the skillet with the mushroom cream sauce, and serve directly from the saucepan onto plates. Or, place the meatballs into a serving dish and pour over the creamy sauce.
Store left over meatballs and extra sauce in an airtight container in your fridge. This easy dinner reheats well in the microwave.
What to Serve with Meatballs and Creamy Mushroom Sauce
- Sautéed green beans with garlic
- Fluffy mashed potatoes
- Egg noodles
- Brown rice
More Grass-Fed Ground Beef Recipes
Here are a few more healthy grass-fed ground beef recipes at Fed by the Farm:
- Grass-Fed Ground Beef and Summer Squash Skillet
- Shepherd’s Pie with Creamed Corn
- Gluten-Free Hamburger and Macaroni
Recipe Variations
Heavy cream instead of half and half: To make a cream sauce with heavy cream, substitute 1.5 cups of heavy cream and half a cup of water instead of 2 cups of half and half.
Ground chicken or chicken breast: Juicy chicken meatballs smothered in mushroom cream sauce is a marriage made in heaven. Or, you can pour this delicious creamy mushroom sauce over chicken breast.
Ground pork meatballs: Mushroom cream sauce also goes well with ground pork meatballs if you don’t have ground beef.
—
If you try this recipe and love it, I’d be thrilled if you gave it a 5-star rating!
Follow along on Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook for all my latest recipes and content. And if you’re curious, here are my favorite kitchen gadgets that I use to cook these recipes.
Beef Meatballs with Creamy Mushroom Sauce and Garlic
Ingredients
Grass-Fed Ground Beef Meatballs
- 1 lb grass-fed ground beef 85-93% lean
- 1/2 cup almond flour not almond meal
- 1/3 cup finely-diced yellow onion
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder not garlic salt
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Creamy Mushroom Sauce
- 2.5 tbsp grass-fed butter
- 1/2 cup sliced onion 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 cups half and half
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms sliced
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tbsp gluten-free flour blend
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the grass-fed meatballs ingredients in a large bowl and mix them together with your hands. Mix just until the ingredients are well incorporated so the ground beef doesn’t become too compacted.
- Form the meat mixture into 1 inch balls and spread them out on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake the meatballs for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. While the meatballs bake, make the creamy mushroom sauce.
- Melt half a tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the sliced onions and cook until they’re soft.
- When the onion is soft, add the half and half and stir well. Then add the minced garlic and sliced mushrooms to the sauce pan. Stir well to combine the ingredients and bring the cream sauce to a very gentle simmer. (Do not boil the sauce!)
- Stir occasionally until the mushrooms are cooked. This will take about 15 minutes. While the mushrooms simmer, we'll make the roux to thicken the cream sauce.
- Heat a small pot over very low heat on the stovetop. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the warm pot and wait while it melts.When it’s melted, add 2 tablespoons of gluten-free flour and stir well to combine the flour with the melted butter. When it starts to smell like pie crust remove the pot from the heat.
- When the mushrooms are cooked, add half of your roux to the creamy mushroom sauce and stir well. The sauce will begin to thicken. Slowly add more roux while continuing to stir until the mushroom sauce reaches your desired consistency.
- When the meatballs are done baking, place them on paper towels to absorb any fat that released to the surface.You can then add the meatballs to the skillet with the mushroom cream sauce, and serve directly from the saucepan onto plates. Or, place the meatballs into a serving dish and pour over the creamy sauce.
We made these for dinner last night…didn’t have baby bella so we used white mushrooms. It was still delicious! My son said it was the best meatball sauce he ever had.
Thank you for the 5-star review Sheri! I’m always happy to hear when people love these recipes. 🙂