Low-Carb Baked Ricotta Dumplings

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Happy New Year everyone!

Is there anything more comforting than a bowl of pasta? These meat-free dumplings, a riff on gnudi which is basically ‘nude’ ravioli (ie the filling only, without the pasta), are fluffy and flavoursome, and are perfect on top of a bed of zucchini noodles.

The vegetarian keto dumplings are baked in a sugar-free tomato sauce, which may seem a lot at first but they will soak up some of that sauce as they bake, taking on all the delicious flavours. If you follow a vegetarian keto diet, Parmesan cheese is technically not vegetarian but you can find vegetarian alternatives.

A few things to get the best outcome with this dish. The amount of eggs required will depend on how wet your ricotta is. I would suggest mixing in one egg to start, and then the other if needed.

The coconut flour is kept to a minimum so that you can’t taste the coconut, but you do need it to help bind, the mixture holds together much better with it.

If you want to make this keto recipe nut-free, use about 2 tablespoons of flax meal to replace the almond flour.

Lastly, you can use your fingers to shape into more compact little dumplings, however I prefer to use two teaspoons which creates a more loosely-formed, rustic dumpling, which cling to the sauce better.

Nutritional values (per serving, 2 dumplings + sauce + zoodles)

Ingredients (makes 6 servings)

Dumplings:

• 1 pack fresh spinach (100 g/ 3.5 oz)
• 1 pack firm full-fat ricotta cheese (250 g/ 8.8 oz)
• 2 medium eggs
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• ¹/₃ cup almond flour (33 g/ 1.2 oz)
• 2 ¹/₂ level tbsp coconut flour (20 g/ 0.7 oz)
• ¹/₂ cup grated Parmesan or other Italian hard cheese (45 g/ 1.5 oz)
• ¹/₂ tsp sea salt
• ¹/₂ tsp black pepper

Sauce and noodles:

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (45 ml)
• 3 cups sugar-free tomato pasta sauce (720 g/ 1.6 lb) - you can make your own Marinara Sauce
• 3 medium zucchini, spiralized (600 g/ 1.3 lb)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C/ 355 °F (conventional), or 160 °C/ 320 °F (fan assisted). Instead of fresh spinach, you can use frozen & thawed spinach (make sure to squeeze any excess water out).
2. Prepare the spinach first by blanching it in boiling water until wilted, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and place in a colander. Once cool, wring out excess moisture, and finely chop.
   
   
3. Combine all dumpling ingredients in a bowl, and mix well. Shape the dumplings into small balls, a little smaller than a golf ball, either using two teaspoons or your hands. You can either make 12 larger dumplings (about 45 g/ 1.5 oz each, 2 dumplings per serving), or 18 smaller dumplings (about 30 g/ 1.1 oz each, 3 dumplings per serving). If the mixture is too wet (in case you used large eggs instead of medium), add a bit more coconut flour or almond flour.
   
4. Pour the tomato sauce into an oven proof dish. Place the meatballs on top of the tomato sauce.
   
   
5. Drizzle with olive oil, and bake 35–40 minutes, until starting to brown on top.
   
   
6. Serve immediately on top of lightly cooked or raw zucchini noodles.
   
   

Ingredient nutritional breakdown (per serving, 2 dumplings + sauce + zoodles)

Net carbs	Protein	Fat	Calories
Spinach, fresh
0.2 g	0.5 g	0.1 g	4 kcal
Ricotta cheese, full-fat
1.3 g	4.7 g	5.4 g	73 kcal
Egg, whole, fresh, raw (free-range or organic eggs)
0.1 g	1.8 g	1.4 g	21 kcal
Nutmeg, spices
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Almond flour (blanched ground almonds, almond meal)
0.5 g	1.2 g	2.9 g	33 kcal
Coconut flour, organic
0.4 g	0.6 g	0.5 g	12 kcal
Parmesan cheese
0.2 g	2.7 g	1.9 g	29 kcal
Salt, sea salt
0 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Pepper, black, spices
0.1 g	0 g	0 g	0 kcal
Olive oil, extra virgin
0 g	0 g	6.8 g	60 kcal
Marinara sauce
5.3 g	1.3 g	19.6 g	203 kcal
Zucchini (summer squash, courgette)
2.1 g	1.2 g	0.3 g	17 kcal
Total per serving, 2 dumplings + sauce + zoodles
10.2 g	14 g	38.9 g	452 kcal

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