Make these fun Zombie Eye Meatballs for your next Halloween party! The meatballs are juicy, tender, and packed with fresh flavor from shredded apple, onion, and thyme. Each meatball is topped with homemade spooky eyes made out of apple and olive!

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Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• 🍴Ingredient Notes
• Grass Fed Beef
• Recipe Variations
• 🍴Step by Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Serving Suggestions
• How to store leftovers
• Recipe Card
• Want more recipes?
• 💬 Reviews

Why You'll Love This Recipe

I'm not a big fan of decorating for Halloween, but I sure do love making fun Halloween Food!

Zombie Eye Meatballs are a spooky cute recipe that's perfect for Halloween Dinner or Halloween Parties!

The meatballs are juicy, tender, and have eyes made out of apples and olives. Not only is this recipe sure to be a huge hit with kids, it's also mom approved thanks to its simple and healthy ingredient list!

To complete the meal, serve with homemade or canned tomato sauce and spaghetti. (I used gluten-free pasta and sugar-free sauce.)

🍴Ingredient Notes

• Ground Beef - You can use ground turkey or ground chicken for a low-fat option.
• Egg - To help bind the meatballs and add moisture, I like using an egg in my meatballs. If you have an egg allergy, you can skip it.
• Shredded Apple - I recommend using a sweeter variety like Honeycrisp apples or Gala apples.
• Shredded Sweet Onion - You'll need about ½ of a large onion for this recipe.
• Salt - To bring out all the flavors, you'll need to add salt ot the meatballs.
• Dried Thyme - If you swap for fresh chopped thyme, you will need to use about 1 tablespoon.
• Black Pepper - A little black pepper goes a long way!
• Apple & Olive - For the zombie "eye" you will need small circles of thinly sliced apple for the white and tiny pieces of black olives or kalamata olives for the pupil.
• Gluten-Free Spaghetti - I used Jovial Gluten-Free spaghetti, but any type of spaghetti will work.
• Tomato Sauce - To save time, I suggest using store bought tomato or marinara sauce.

Grass Fed Beef

It's important to choose quality meat. I buy most of my meat from Butcher Box because it's high quality, and it gets sent right to my door!

When choosing meat, check to make sure there are no added hormones, and that the cows were grass fed AND grass finished. A lot of brands market their meat saying "grass fed" but that can mean they ate grass ONCE in their life!

Recipe Variations

• Instead of using traditional tomato sauce try my Pumpkin Sauce or Vegan Alfredo Sauce instead!
• After you brown the meatballs, add them to a crockpot with sauce and let them simmer on low for a few hours.
• If you can tolerate cheese, use a slice of cheese instead of apple to cut out circles for the eyeballs! (You can also use dairy-free cheese.)
• Skip the eyeballs altogether to make this more of a traditional spaghetti and meatballs meal that you can serve year-round!
• Save time by using store bought meatballs instead of homemade meatballs.

🍴Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Grate Apple & Onion

Start by shredding the apple and onion with a large box grater.

Step 2: Making Meatball Mixture

Add the ground beef, apple, onion, egg, black pepper, salt, and dried thyme into a mixing bowl. Use your hands or a wooden spoon to mix together.

Step 3: Scoop Meatballs

Next, use a cookie scoop or spoon to make about 20-25 meatballs. Place them on a parchment paper lined plate or baking sheet.

Step 4: Cook Meatballs

Add each meatball into a preheated skillet with avocado oil or olive oil. Cook on medium heat until meatballs are golden brown on all sides.

Cooking Pasta & Sauce

Cook gluten-free spaghetti according to package instructions and toss with your favorite tomato sauce.

How to make Zombie Eyeballs

To make the eyes, cut small circles out of an apple and a very tiny piece out of a black olive or kalamata olive. Place the olive dot on top of the apple circle to create the eye. Repeat until you have made enough for the meatballs.

Add the zombie eyes to each meatball and serve with the spaghetti and warm marinara sauce or tomato sauce. Enjoy!

Expert Tips

• Use a stand mixer to blend the meatball mixture to save time. Add all of your ingredients into the mixing bowl, turn the mixer on a low speed, and blend until it's fully combined! 
• It's important not to over mix or else the meatballs will be tough.
• Want the perfect size meatballs? Use a ice cream scoop! I use the scoop to get the mixture out of the bowl, then give them a quick touch up with my hand to make sure they're round.
• Because of the apple and onion, the meatballs will release a lot of water when they are cooking. Keep the cover off to release excess water and drain the meatballs before adding them to the sauce.

Serving Suggestions

Bread

If you're looking for a gluten-free bread to serve on the side, my Gluten-Free Focaccia Bread, or a toasted slice of my Paleo Garlic Herb Bread would be great!

Spaghetti

To make this dish Paleo & Whole30 friendly, you can use zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash! Never made spaghetti squash? Check out my How to Bake Spaghetti Squash Post!

Vegetables

Serve with a side of steamed broccoli or roasted vegetables to add more fiber to this dish. You can also serve with my Green Apple Salad!

Halloween Desserts

What would Halloween be without some tasty treats?! Try my Mummy Cake Pops, Pumpkin Butter Cups, Halloween Dirt Cups, or Spider Web Brownies!

How to store leftovers

Store leftover meatballs and sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

If the gluten-free spaghetti is already mixed with the sauce, just note that it might get a little softer because it will absorb moisture.

You can also store leftover meatballs and sauce in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months!

More Meatball Recipes!

After you make these Halloween Zombie Eye Meatballs, make sure to leave a comment & rate the recipe!

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