If you’re an Italian-Sunday dinner traditionalist, this may not be for you.  For one, these meatballs are made with ground turkey.  And I don’t fry them; these are baked.  Plus I add a little sumthin’ sumthin’ to them that gives them a tangy, moist kick – BBQ sauce!  You can still use your favorite tomato sauce, or if you’re looking for a recipe, try mine (give the eggplant parm a try too!)  What I really like about this recipe is that the meatballs are light and healthier for you than the traditional ones.

Baked Turkey Meatballs

1 small onion, finely grated

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large egg

1/4 cup plain bread crumbs

2 tbsp BBQ sauce

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup grated Pecorino

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lb ground turkey

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.   In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients except the ground turkey.

All ingredients except ground turkey

**You may notice in my picture that there are some bigger pieces of onion.  That was my mistake, I didn’t grate them fine enough.  You will probably want to try to grate them finer/smaller.

Using a wooden spoon, mix until combined.

Combine all the ingredients BEFORE adding the turkey

Then add ground turkey and mix to combine. 

All ingredients combined

If the mixture looks too dry, add a little more BBQ sauce.  If the mixture looks too wet, add a little more bread crumbs.    Basically you want to turkey mixture to be the right consistency to form a ball and stay together.  Now this is where it gets fun -get your kids to help too!  Using your fingers, scoop up a little of the mixture and roll into a ball.   Place the meatballs on a baking sheet that’s been covered with aluminum foil and sprayed with a little Pam.  Easy cleanup when these meatballs are done baking!

Tray of meatballs, ready for the oven

I typically make mine a little bigger than bite-size – maybe about 2 bites?   This recipe yields about 2 dozen of these smallish meatballs.    Place your tray into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes; internal temperature should reach 165 degrees.

Baked meatballs

Add the meatballs to your sauce and serve.  Or you can store these in an air-tight container and freeze them; reheat them in tomato sauce for a quick meal some other night.