These meatballs are delicious on top of your favorite pasta (as shown above), but they’re also great on top of a mound of brown rice and grilled veggies. Leftover meatballs can also be used to make a seriously good meatball sub by layering them on a homemade roll with a little marinara sauce and a sprinkling of raw cheese.
I like to make these meatballs both ways – with veggies and without – and freeze them for quick lunches and dinners on busy days! I guess you could say we’re a little meatball crazy around here!
Time-Saving Tip: This is one of three quick-n-easy ground turkey recipes that you can prepare all at the same time and then freeze them to have ready-to-go meals for busy days. For details, check out “Turkey Times Three (T3).”
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lb of ground turkey
- 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
- 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
- 1/4 cup finely chopped organic zucchini
- 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp onion powder
- 1/8 tsp fresh-ground pepper
- 1 large pastured egg
- 1/4 tsp Italian herb seasoning
- 1/4 tsp dried parsley (or 1/2 tbsp fresh)
- 1/2 cup homemade breadcrumbs (recipe also includes GF option)
Instructions
- Heat a skillet to medium-high heat and add about one tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté finely chopped onion, carrot, zucchini and garlic until soft (about 3-4 minutes).
- Place ground turkey in large mixing bowl and add the veggies to the turkey and allow to cool a minute. Then add all of the remaining ingredients.
- Using your hands, form into three-inch balls and set aside on a plate.
- Heat large skillet to medium-high heat and add about two tablespoons of olive oil. Distribute oil across entire bottom of pan.
- Add as many meatballs as will fit in the pan, with at least two inches between them.
- Using tongs, turn meatballs so they can brown on all sides (about 2-3 minutes per side). As you are browning them, keep the pan covered in between turning the meatballs. (Covering the pan with a lid, helps them to cook through.)
- Once browning is complete, cut one meatball in half to check for doneness. (It’s okay to eat that one, it will give you extra energy to keep cooking!)
- If your “test meatball” is cooked through, remove meatballs and start next batch.
Notes
Recipe Variation: For traditional meatballs (without the veggies), follow the Turkey-Veggie Burger Base Recipe, but omit the veggies. Then follow rest of recipe as outlined above.
Freeze for future use: I always cook a double batch of these meatballs and freeze half for future meals. To freeze them, simply place cooked meatballs on a baking sheet, leaving about an inch between them so they don't stick together. Then, place in freezer for a couple of hours. Once frozen solid, remove meatballs from baking sheet and transfer to a freezer-safe container to store in freezer. When ready to use, thaw overnight in frig, then simply reheat.
These look delicious! Do you cook them before freezing?
Hi, Joanna! Yes, I do cook them before freezing, because then when I thaw them, it’s much faster to just reheat and serve. I’ll make a note of that in the recipe to better clarify. Thanks for your note! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Do you think these would turn out as well if they were baked instead of browned in a skillet?
If you plan to bake them, I’d bake at a higher heat like 400-425 somewhere around 15-25 minutes depending on the size. I’ll have to give this a try myself sometime. Let me know how it turns out, if you give it a go in the oven. 🙂 Blessings, Kelly
I have a question, why are we preheating the oven? Did I miss something in the recipe that we use the oven for? I feel like I’m missing a step. :/
LOL! This is what you call an “oopsie!” I cannot believe I didn’t catch this boo-boo. No need to preheat your oven – I corrected the recipe. Apologies! Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, Candi! 🙂 Blessings, Kelly
Oh good, thank you. We just finished dinner and they were delicious. We had homemade marinara sauce, these meatballs and brown rice pasta. Delicious. My food-allergy twins were able to have spaghetti for the first time in YEARS. Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you all enjoyed them! Thanks again for catching that boo-boo! 🙂
Hi Kelly. I made these tonight and thought they were the best meatballs I’ve ever eaten! My two girls loved them as well. We’ll definitely make these again! We had to sub the egg for 1/4 cup applesauce and used 1/4 cup crackers (ground up finely in a food processor) instead of breadcrumbs…we have milk and egg allergies here. Thought I’d share what I did for anyone else with our allergies 🙂 Blessings!
Thank you so much for taking the time to provide your egg-free and milk-free substitutions. So glad you enjoyed this recipe! I appreciate your kind, encouraging words. Blessings, Kelly
Made these tonight and used beef instead of turkey and kale instead of zucchini. They were AMAZING! Thanks for a great recipe. My 4 yr old even helped me to roll out the balls and we doubled the batch and now have some in the freezer freezing.
Thanks, Tonya. So glad you enjoyed this recipe. I love your idea of using kale. I’m going to have to try that! Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
I get a great deal on a 3-lb package of ground turkey and I’d love to try your ‘Turkey 3 Ways’ idea, but as each recipe calls for 1 1/4 lbs of turkey, the math will never work out for me. Is their a simple way to modify the base recipe for just 1 pound of ground turkey?
Thank you,
Beth
Hi, Beth. It would be fine to use 3 pounds of turkey. The recipe is pretty flexible. You may want to use a little less veggie and breadcrumbs though since you’re reducing the meat by 3/4 of a pound. I hope this helps. 🙂