Tag Archives: meatballs

Italian Turkey Meatballs

It’s the middle of August already. Time really goes faster regardless of a global pandemic, and with an infant now it’s like every month whizzes by in the blink of an eye (no, I didn’t intend on rhyming). Sundays have become a day of meal prep for the week, as both my husband and I are now working from home, it’s way easier to have meals almost fully prepped for the week so we don’t have to wait until practically 9pm to eat. We tend to take care of Rowen before we eat but now that he’s sleeping a bit later, we’re eating earlier and he hangs with us. This baby boy is going to be so spoiled with homemade foods when he turns 6 months next month!

Back to the purpose of this blogpost: meatballs. These aren’t a staple in my home, but I love when I make them. This time around, I opted for a lighter version and used ground turkey meat. The usual ingredients are in them too such as Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, and an egg. I also throw in dried herbs like oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes. I like making my own marinara sauce, but Rao’s or Jovial foods makes a delicious sauce with very clean ingredients so sometimes keeping it simple is best.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1 package ground turkey
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Dried oregano
  • Dried basil
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder

Preheat your oven to 400*. The beauty of meatballs: everything goes into the bowl at the same time! Mix the egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan, seasonings, minced garlic, Worcestershire, and ground turkey together in a bowl until fully combined. The balls should be sticky but form a solid circle a little smaller than the size of your palm. This mixture should form 12-13 meatballs.

Spray some non-stick oil spray onto a tinfoil-lined baking sheet. Place each meatball on the sheet with space in between. Bake for 20 minutes. In the meantime, begin to heat your marinara of choice (I do have a homemade marinara sauce recipe but will save that for another post) and once the meatballs are done baking, add them to the sauce and simmer for another 35-40 minutes. Serve with pasta, risotto, or my personal favorite: sliced and baked sweet potatoes (upcoming blog post!).

Chicken Teriyaki Meatballs

Being that it’s Thanksgiving, I should probably experiment with turkey recipes, but neither my husband or I are super crazy about it, although I do have my eyes set on tying to make roasted turkey legs (i’d prefer dark than white meat from a turkey anyway). I remembered I had ground chicken in my freezer and decided to give this one a shot, because chicken meatballs can take one sharp sauces such as teriyaki and I figured why not, it’s Black Friday and I am absolutely not about to go shopping – may as well cook!

Here’s what you’ll need for the chicken meatballs:

  • 1 lb or package of ground chicken
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs as a binding agent
  • Chopped veggies such as carrots, celery, and onion (aka Mirepoix – you can buy store made already which I did this time around)
  • Paprika
  • Garlic powder

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, spices, oil, and mirepoix. It will be a rather sticky blend but it will bake just fine.

Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with your choice of spray oil. Portion on the meatballs with a tablespoon, roll into balls and place on the tray. The mix should make around 16 meatballs. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

For the teriyaki sauce, I used Primal Kitchen’s No Soy Teriyaki but added arrowroot to thicken it up and a bit more coconut aminos. The end result is a super delicious soy-free, paleo sauce to pour over the meatballs, and pair with a side of wild rice and veggies! Enjoy!

Homemade Meatballs

It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks. We have packed up seven years of our Brooklyn one-bedroom and moved to our beautiful cape on Long Island last week, and we are starting to settle in and unpack our boxes. Moving into our first home is nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time. Of course, I could not wait to buy food for our fridge and freezer, and whip up dinners immediately. I had wanted to try making meatballs for some time and figured that it would be a very easy and hearty meal to break in the stove and oven on our first night cooking in the kitchen.

There are so many different ways people make meatballs, and I used to think that adding a medley of seasonings was the trick. In fact, I think the reason this recipe tastes so great is because of the simplicity of the ingredients. I kept it pretty traditional, but ensured that I used a generous amount of each flavor so that it was well balanced. I used grass-fed beef found at the store, and made a quick red sauce on the stove using tomato sauce and one can of crushed tomatoes (which simmered for a good 45 minutes to an hour; I added salt and pepper, basil leaves, and one packet of stevia for sweetener). I have a recipe of simmered Sunday red sauce that I’ll make in the fall, but for now, this one worked impressively well.

I started by taking the meat out of the fridge and letting it get to room temperature, Then, I aded the beef to a bowl, along with two eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion salt, and oregano. Literally, THAT IS IT. I loosely formed the meatballs, eyeballing each size and pulled a little here and there to make sure I had an even 24 balls.

I preheated my oven to 325 degrees. After lining a baking sheet with aluminum foil, I sprayed it down with avocado oil and added the meatballs one by one, leaving some space between. The meatballs baked for 25 minutes, which is fine because they became a perfect brown and soft enough to put into the sauce as it simmered. I transferred the meatballs to the red sauce and let them finish cooking for a good 30 minutes more.

I served this with roasted cauliflower and broccoli and did not even miss the starchy pasta that usually accompanies meatballs. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did, and we’ll never forget our first dinner together in our new home — NOMaste!

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