The Best Turkey Meatballs
This easy recipe always yields the very Best Turkey Meatballs! Turkey often gets a bad rap for being a dry protein, but these meatballs are always perfectly moist and loaded with flavor from herbs, parmesan, and my own secret ingredient that really makes them the best.
Turkey Meatballs
Need a protein that’s a little leaner? Turkey meatballs are here to save the day! Trust me, you won’t be missing your usual beef meatballs once you try these homemade turkey meatballs. They’re perfectly moist and have tons of flavor! As mentioned previously, there’s also a secret ingredient at play that makes them truly the very best… and that’s apple butter!
Apple butter helps to create both the best consistency and flavor for the meatballs. Turkey is a leaner, therefore drier protein, so apple butter helps to keep these meatballs nice and moist. And don’t worry – these meatballs won’t taste like fall. The apple butter only lends a slightly warm flavor that really helps to compliment the other ingredients like parmesan, herbs, and more.
Turkey meatballs are great for serving with spaghetti or just as an appetizer with toothpicks! Plus, they’re incredibly easy to make. This recipe really checks all of the right boxes! Trust me, you’ll never want to heat up store-bought frozen meatballs again after you master this quick and easy homemade recipe. In fact, you may want to pop some of these in the freezer just so you always have them on hand!
How to Make Turkey Meatballs
Mix everything together, roll that mixture into meatballs, bake and enjoy. It’s that easy!
- Prepare. Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
- Blend. Add the onion, garlic and stock to a blender and blend until pureed.
- Mix everything together. Add the blended onion mixture and all other ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix everything together until combined.
- Form the meatballs. Shape the meatballs into golf ball sized balls. Place them on the prepared baking sheet and make sure they’re not touching each other.
- Bake. Bake the meatballs for about 25-30 minutes.
Storage and Reheating Turkey Meatballs
Once fully cooled to room temperature, you can either refrigerate or freeze the turkey meatballs. In an airtight container in the fridge, they’ll stay fresh for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or back in the oven until warmed through.
In the freezer, turkey meatballs will stay fresh for up to 3 months. Just be sure to store them in something like a freezer-safe zip-top gallon bag with all of the air squeezed out. You can bake frozen turkey meatballs at 350°F for about 20-30 minutes.
How to Serve Turkey Meatballs
You can serve these meatballs with some pasta and marinara sauce for a great spaghetti dinner! Or, serve them as an appetizer with toothpicks and apple butter for dipping.
Tips for the Best Turkey Meatballs
- Use freshly shredded parmesan. The flavor and texture of freshly grated/shredded parmesan is so much better than the bagged stuff.
- Use homemade chicken stock. This may seem excessive, but I really love using homemade chicken stock for just about all of my recipes when I can! It adds the best flavor to everything it touches.
- Use a scoop. If you feel really confident in your ability to get all of the meatballs the same size without a scoop of some sort, go for it! However, using an ice cream or cookie dough scoop will help make sure all of the meatballs are exactly the same size and cook evenly.
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Get the Recipe: The Best Turkey Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons chicken stock or turkey stock
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 3 tablespoons apple butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a large baking sheet with foil for easy clean up.
- In a blender, add the onion, garlic and stock. Blend until pureed.
- Add the onion mixture, turkey, Worcestershire sauce, panko, parmesan, parsley, apple butter, salt, pepper and egg to a large bowl and, using clean hands, mix the ingredients together until well combined.
- Gently shape the mixture into balls approximately the size of a golf ball and place on the baking sheet being sure they are not touching.
- Bake the meatballs in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until done.
- Serve hot with marinara sauce, pasta or as an appetizer with apple butter for dipping.
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