Smokey Turkey Meatballs – This easy and healthy recipe makes the BEST homemade turkey meatballs! Serve with spaghetti for a delicious meal!
Sometimes I feel like all I eat is pasta. But people, it is so freaking delicious!
And quick. And easy. Uhm… Talk about the perfect food in existence.
Apart from chocolate and cake that is of course. CAAAAKE. But no, cake aside for now, today we’re talking about everyone’s favorite pasta addition:
Meatballs! See, the thing is that: Meatballs are not at all a favorite addition to anything in Switzerland.
Nada, niente, nothing. I shouldn’t even know what meatballs are.
I’m pretty sure no Swiss person would be aware of their awesomeness if IKEA hadn’t infiltrated every. single. country in the world.
But can I tell you something? Promise you won’t laugh?
Look at me in horror and run away? Tell everybody down the street? Promise, promise, promise?
OK, here goes in three, two, one…
I don’t like IKEA’s meatballs.
Whoa! Seriously, I don’t.
Are you still here? Yes? You’re a good friend.
Thank you for sticking around despite me being weird about this. You rock.
There’s just something about the task of buying furniture (which is a daunting thing at the very least!) that doesn’t sit too well with meatballs for me.
Now I would much rather have some delicious turkey meatballs drenched in a yummy tomato sauce with a nice hint of smokeyness (over the ever so fantastic bowl of spaghetti of course).
But they also work beautifully as an appetizer, just like my Sticky BBQ Slow Cooker Meatballs.
Think Football Sunday. Or Saturday. Whatever tickles your fancy. Just be careful that people don’t start throwing them against your TV if their team is losing.
But I wouldn’t worry about that too much right now, they are too delicious to throw anywhere but your mouth.
I swear though, they are best when teamed up with hot steaming bowl of spaghetti.
Now I’m aware that most of you will scream in rage about the naked strands of oodley-noodley-goodness in those pictures and believe you me I’m the first to recommend tossing them with the sauce before ingesting (OK, inhaling).
Because I love sauce more than anything and there cannot ever be enough of it in any dish ever.
But this is a blog of the food variety which is in desperate need to look pretty – and let’s face it, doesn’t it look better to have some contrast in the picture?
If there’s one thing I realized it would be that not all food is photogenic the way it’s edible.
But hooooold the talk about pictures already and just gimme the fooood!
P.S: I also have an awesome video tutorial on how to make meatballs from scratch right here. I make them with beef in that video, but the technique is the same for ground turkey!
Smokey Turkey Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 3 shallots chopped
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1/3 cup red wine
- 1 very small celeriac cubed
- 2 small carrots cubed
- 2 cups passata
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Salt & pepper to taste
For the Meatballs
- 10.5 ounces ground turkey
- 3/4 cups breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Black pepper
- Oil for pan frying
Instructions
To Make the Sauce
- Heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium high heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent, 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir well. Roast for one minute before deglazing with the red wine.
- Add the vegetables, passata, sugar and spices, bring to a simmer and cook on medium low heat until vegetables are tender and the sauce has thickened to your desired consistency, about 15-20 minutes. Check for seasoning before serving.
To Make the Meatballs
- Add all ingredients except for the oil to a bowl and knead well. Shape into small balls.
- Heat some oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Cook the meatballs until they adopt a golden crispy crust, reduce the heat to medium and cook until done, about 5-7 minutes (depending on the size of your meatballs).
- Toss with the sauce before serving with Parmesan cheese over your favorite pasta or other starch.
Notes
Nutrition (this is an estimate)
