Gentle Spaghetti & Meatballs
By Robin Tasker · Serves 5 · 45 min
Omega-3 fats +
SalmonSardinesCanned tunaThree lenses: how gentle on the gut, how nourishing, how tasty — because gentle isn't the same as healthy. How the scores work →
Soft, herby beef-and-pork meatballs in a gentle tomato sauce over white spaghetti — onion- and garlic-free, but full of flavour. A proper family dinner that won't cost you the night.
There's something about meatballs that makes a weeknight feel like an occasion. These keep all of that comfort and lose the parts that tend to upset a pouch.
The meatballs are soft and tender — beef and pork with a little bread and egg to keep them light, parmesan and oregano for flavour. The sauce leans on garlic-infused oil, sweet grated carrot and a little tomato paste rather than onion, garlic and tins of tomatoes. Pile it all on soft white spaghetti and you've got a dinner the whole table fights over.
Ingredients
- Meatballs*
- 350 g beef mince
- 150 g pork mince
- 40 g white bread, crumbed
- 1 egg
- 20 g parmesan, finely grated
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 /4 tsp salt
- 1 /4 tsp black pepper
- Sauce*
- 1 tbsp garlic-infused oil
- 100 g carrot, peeled and grated
- 30 g tomato paste
- 450 ml onion-free stock (or other low-FODMAP stock)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- To serve*
- 350 g spaghetti (white pasta)
- 30 g parmesan, finely grated
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C. In a bowl, mix the beef and pork mince with the breadcrumbs, egg, parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper until just combined. Roll into about 20 small meatballs.
- Sit the meatballs on a lined tray and bake for 18–20 minutes, until cooked through and lightly golden.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce: heat the garlic-infused oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the grated carrot and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute, then pour in the stock and add the oregano. Simmer gently for 15–20 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- Slip the baked meatballs into the sauce and simmer for 5 more minutes.
- Cook the spaghetti until just tender, drain, and serve topped with the meatballs, sauce and parmesan.
Gentler swaps
Which pasta? Plain white spaghetti is the gentlest and cheapest. Wholemeal brings more fibre but more roughage, which can loosen output and lifts the score a little.
Breadcrumbs: a slice of white bread, crumbed, keeps the meatballs soft. Use gluten-free bread if you avoid wheat.
Stock & garlic: our onion-free, garlic-free stock and garlic-infused oil give a savoury, garlicky base without the onion and garlic that tend to cause wind.
For the family
Cook once — your gentle version, plus how to pep it up for everyone else.
Make the one batch of meatballs and sauce. Once your gentle bowls are served, stir a tin of chopped tomatoes, a clove of garlic and a pinch of chilli into the rest of the sauce and simmer a few minutes. A scatter of fresh basil and extra parmesan, and theirs is done — same meatballs, louder sauce.
Scores are modelled estimates, not medical advice. Everyone's gut is different, and tolerance changes over time. Reintroduce foods one at a time, and follow your own medical team's advice.