Happy 2015! I hope the new year is treating you well so far. Way back on January 1st {can you believe it is the 5th already?!}, I started Whole30 with at least half of the rest of the population it seems. Unlike last time I tried it, I went into this one completely prepared with menus, shopping lists and tons of initiative. I hope that is a winning combination! One of my absolute favorite things to make for Whole30 are these paleo balls of fire.
My friend Liz introduced me to the recipe these were inspired by. I made some tweaks to make them more to my liking and now I make them almost every week. My co-workers sometimes give me weird looks because I’ll even have these for breakfast! For me, they are the one item that you will always find in my refrigerator during Whole30.
Paleo Balls of Fire Ingredients:
2 lbs ground pork
1 15oz can crushed pineapple
2 tsp cayenne pepper, divided {I like mine spicy so feel free to dial this back}
2 tsp ground, fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small jalapenos, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups shredded coconut, roughly chopped {or buy Bob’s Red Mill which is already fine}
Let’s Make Some Balls:
1) Preheat the oven to 375. Line two large baking sheets with foil. Set aside.
2) In a large skillet, add coconut. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
3) Drain pineapple, saving the juice. Press the pineapple in a sieve to remove the excess juice. Add the pineapple pulp to a large bowl.
3) Add remaining 1 tsp cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, eggs and pork to the bowl with the pineapple. Mix well {I use my hands}.
4) Prepare an assembly line of reserved pineapple juice, bowl of coconut milk and the pan of coconut. Scoop pork mixture in 1 Tbsp amounts and dip in pineapple juice and then coconut milk. Roll in the spiced coconut and place on prepared pan. Repeat for all of the pork mixture.
5) Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven. Remove from oven and try not to eat an entire pan.
So a small warning: As I mentioned above, I like mine spicy. If you want to cut back on the spice some, feel free to reduce the cayenne pepper. You can also drop back to just one jalapeno too. Otherwise, enjoy the fire 🙂
Are you doing Whole30 or some other kind eating changes this January? Do you have a favorite healthy recipe that you make over and over?
Important Items Used in This Recipe:
Shredded coconut // Meatball scoop // Large rimmed baking sheets // Nonstick foil
- 2 lbs ground pork
- 1 15oz can crushed pineapple
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper, divided {I like mine spicy so feel free to dial this back}
- 2 tsp ground, fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 small jalapenos, minced
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 cups shredded coconut, roughly chopped {or buy Bob's Red Mill which is already fine}
- Preheat the oven to 375. Line two large baking sheets with foil. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, add coconut. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly toasted. Stir in 1 teaspoon or cayenne pepper.
- Drain pineapple saving the juice. Press the pineapple in a sieve to remove the excess juice. Add to a large bowl.
- Add remaining 1 tsp cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, eggs and pork to the bowl with the pineapple. Mix well {I use my hands}.
- Prepare an assembly line of reserved pineapple juice, bowl of coconut milk and the pan of coconut. Scoop pork mixture in 1 Tbsp amounts and dip in pineapple juice and then coconut milk. Roll in the spiced coconut and place on prepared pan. Repeat for all of the pork mixture.
- Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven. Remove from oven and try not to eat an entire pan.
These resources are also available to help you on your Whole30 or Paleo eating adventure!
EVERYTHING You need to be Successful on Whole30
These look so yummy. I like the everyday ingredient list- I have most of it already 🙂 can’t wait to try them
Thanks! These are my absolute favorite. I make them so often.
These look wonderful. Is there another meat you would substitute for the pork, besides ground round beef/turkey? Or is there a good vegetable substitution in your opinion? Thank you for your thoughts.
Hmm…It would need to be something with a reasonable amount of fat to hold them together. Without testing it out, I can’t think of anything besides perhaps tofu. You could obviously do a ground beef, pork, turkey or even bison for these but I am not sure of a vegetable that would realistically work.
Saving this for our next family potluck. My nephew has celiacs and would love to have these there!! Thanks for sharing on the What’s for Dinner link up!
These look delicious! Thanks for sharing on Monday Funday!
Wow! These look loaded with flavor. Thanks for sharing on #TastyTuesdays.
These sound so good! Thanks for sharing the Whole 30 links too! Hope to see you back at Funtastic Friday!
These are great and so easy to make. Thank you for sharing at Dishing it and Digging it link party.
Thanks for sharing these at Saucy Saturdays! So many of us are going paleo or whole 30 for the month and beyond and are needing recipes! I am doing a round-up of paleo whole 30 compliant snack balls for my blog. Would you mind I include this post in that round up too?
Hi! Thanks so much. Yes, please feel free to include this in your round up.
Those look spicy and full of flavor!
These look delicious!
Wow such a wonderful recipes, looks delicious!
Do you think these would work woth egg beaters?
I have never tried with those so I am not quite sure. The purpose of the egg is to bind the ingredients together. With egg beaters being more liquid than a traditional egg, you might half it if you try that route.
For the ginger, is that ground ginger powder? Or fresh minced from jar? Or actual fresh grated ginger? I know you need less ground than if you use fresh. Just don’t want to use too much.
I use fresh from a jar or actual fresh ginger. If you use powdered ginger, definitely reduce the amount.