These turkey meatballs are so easy you’ll want to add them to your weeknight dinner rotation!
Easy Turkey Meatballs
More often than not I set aside a random Sunday to make big batches of classic meatballs to keep on hand in the freezer. Sometimes I keep an emergency bag of frozen store-bought meatballs on hand because I’ve found that spaghetti and meatball cravings hit at unusual times and it is the worst (!) to not have what you need on hand to feed that comfort food craving. So, long story short, for a long time I didn’t think spaghetti and meatballs was a doable dinner on a random weeknight.
And, as is the case with a lot of my long-held beliefs, I proved myself wrong recently. Some days call for long drawn-out prep and cooking and others, like a Tuesday night, need a few shortcuts. These easy turkey meatballs take advantage of the pantry and cook quickly on the stovetop. Translation: Tuesday night spaghetti and meatball craving resolved.
Some Notes
- Turkey meat is less fatty than beef and sometimes it’s nice to have lightened-up meatballs, but you can substitute beef or pork (or combination of both!).
- Put your spice rack to good use! Using onion and garlic powder and dried oregano (or Italian seasoning) means you don’t have to chop or dice anything beforehand.
- I add some tomato paste to the meatballs for extra flavor.
- For the cheese, use what you already have on hand. I used feta because it’s what I had on hand when I first made these, but Parmesan, Asiago, or Romano work, too!
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Easy Turkey Meatballs
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 18 meatballs 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
These turkey meatballs are so easy you’ll want to add them to your weeknight dinner rotation!
Scale
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper, 5-6 turns of the mill
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 cups store-bought marinara sauce
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the breadcrumbs, egg, cheese, tomato paste, oregano, garlic and onion powders, salt, black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the ground turkey and, mix until just combined.
- In a large pan heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. While the pan is preheating quickly form golf ball sized meatballs. Add the meatballs to the pan. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this in batches. You want the meatballs to have some space so they brown properly. I used a 5 quart saute pan.
- Give the meatballs a chance to brown all over by periodically rolling them around. You may need to adjust the heat up or down. Once browned, lower the heat to medium and add the tomato sauce. Gently stir the meatballs around so they get coated with the sauce. You want the sauce to simmer, so adjust the heat to medium or medium-low. Allow the meatballs to simmer in the sauce for at least another 10 minutes. Serve with pasta.
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 meatballs
- Calories: 301
- Fat: 19.1g
- Carbohydrates: 14.6g
- Fiber: 3.2g
- Protein: 19.7g
Keywords: easy turkey meatballs
Eva says
August 25, 2014 at 7:57 pmI used to hate making meatballs because I din’t like to spend time making the balls and them frying them, but I’m making them more often now. I either put them in the oven or cook them directly in the tomato sauce. I must try them with the feta cheese, it looks yummy. I just use parmesan.
April Anderson says
August 25, 2014 at 10:41 pmFeta is a nice switch-up on the cheese sometimes — it’s subtle, but a good addition. Thanks for stopping by!