One of my favorite healthy meats to use when cooking is ground turkey. Ground turkey is more heart healthy than ground beef. My family eats ground turkey as the meat in an entree at least once a week, and I love that it is super high in protein. These meatballs made with ground turkey are flavorful, filling, and versatile.
Ways to Eat Ground Turkey Meatballs
These ground turkey meatballs work as a meatball to pair with spaghetti. They work as meatballs for a meatball sub, which is one of my kids’ favorite ways to eat meatballs (great for using up leftovers!), and they work as an entree in meal prep for lunch boxes.
You can see a video of me making the turkey meatballs for lunch meal prep in this video on my youtube channel:
How do you make ground turkey taste good?
The key to making ground turkey more flavorful is to use the right seasonings. The seasonings in these ground turkey meatballs are garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and a little bit of crushed red pepper. Please trust me that these meatballs are not spicy. The crushed red pepper adds a flavor to the meatballs; it really doesn’t add spice. If you want your meatballs spicy, try doubling the crushed red pepper.
Are ground turkey meatballs easy to make?
In my experience when I make ground beef meatballs, the hardest part is keeping the meatballs together when rolling. Usually, you have to add ground pork to get a really tight ground beef meatball, and I certainly do that because homemade beef and pork meatballs are definitely delicious. However, when making meatballs with ground turkey, using a regular binding of egg and bread crumbs is enough to easily roll the meatballs. These meatballs do not fall apart when you roll them. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake to perfection.
Are ground turkey meatballs good leftover?
If you don’t like spending a lot of money on lunch, you’re tired of processed food, or if you work from home and you need a quick lunch that you can heat up, you can easily make these ground turkey meatballs in a meal prep lunch box. Not only do they taste good, but they reheat well. The best way to reheat the meatballs is to cover the container with a damp paper towel and microwave for 1 minute. Stir the meatballs, flip them over, check the temperature, and then heat for another 30 seconds and check them again. Easy, right?
High Protein Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all of the meatball ingredients together until uniform. Roll the meatballs into 1″ meatballs. Place them on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes. If you made larger meatballs, flip the meatballs over, and bake for 3-5 more minutes or until cooked through.
Video
*Please consult your health professional for health and nutritional advice.
Step by Step Ground Turkey Meatballs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
This recipe is forgiving! You can use 1 to 1.5 pounds of ground turkey to start. Add all ingredients to a bowl.
Use your hands to mix until uniform.
Before rolling, split the ground turkey into four quadrants. Then, use each quadrant to roll 4 equally sized meatballs. This will ensure even cooking times.
I like my meatballs to be a little over 1 inch large.
Evenly space the meatballs on a parchment lined baking sheet. Then, bake for 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, check for doneness and a little browning. If not sufficiently cooked, flip, and bake for 3 more minutes.
I love these meatballs with marinara or as leftovers for lunch!
