Even though my kiddo with milk allergy can have a few sub sandwiches out and about, restaurant meatball subs are a no-go with his food allergies.
That’s why we had to create them at home, dairy-free. These are also egg-free and nut free…using our popular meatball recipe from scratch.
See recipe below!
That’s right, one of our most popular recipes here at Milk Allergy Mom is our homemade meatballs.
No milk, no egg, no nuts, and even no wheat!
Of course, if you put them on a sub bun the chances are high that they will then contain wheat.
But they are so good plain, too. Promise!
There are two reasons we started enjoying meatball subs at home.
One, my kiddo kept asking for them at Subway but they contain milk there.
Two, when we make a big batch of meatballs from scratch…making subs the next night with leftovers is a no-brainer!
We just had to find a sub bread that worked for our food allergies, and it was on like Donkey Kong.
Thankfully, we found one, and I’ll link it for you below. Just be sure to double-check ingredients.
There are other dairy-free brands of sub buns out there, too. Keep your eye out.
Now how to make these amazing meatball subs.
Yes, first you’re going to have to start with a batch of homemade meatballs.
Again, these are milk, egg, nut, and wheat free.
And they get rave reviews! Makes my heart happy.
These do take a little work, but I promise it’s worth it.
Enjoy them the first night as a delicious spaghetti dinner.
That’s my kids’ favorite.
Then on day two, enjoy a FAST meatball sub dinner with the leftovers.
We call that “cook once, eat twice”.
This is one of the best recipes for that because it tastes like we worked our tails off in the kitchen two nights in a row.
As for typical cheese on meatball subs, melting dairy-free cheese on the subs is a possibility but not necessary.
Our family prefers to just eat them with no cheese.
See our quick steps below for how to make easy meatball subs your family will love.
HOW TO MAKE MEATBALL SUBS
1. MEATBALLS. Make homemade meatballs. No milk, egg, nuts. Takes about 1.5 hours.
2. SIMMER. In a pan over medium heat, combine meatballs and allergy-friendly marinara until heated. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
3. ROLLS. Gather sub sandwich rolls safe for your allergies. Cut bread open and butter inside with dairy-free butter and sprinkle with garlic salt.
4. TOAST. On a cookie sheet, bake just the buttered buns for 3 minutes until lightly toasted. Then place the meatballs in the subs, spread on extra marina, top with dairy-free cheese shreds (optional), and bake another 3-5 minutes until toasty and cheese is melted.
5. GARNISH. Sprinkle with dried parsley and enjoy warm!
We hope you love these dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free meatball subs as much as we do!
For more of our yummy, kid-approved meatball recipes, see below.