Baked Turkey Meatballs

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.

**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.

Then add ground turkey and mix to combine. 

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!

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.

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.