Turkey Meatballs

Since the weather here is going to in the high 80’s this weekend (yes you read that right, high 80’s in Rhode Island, in April, who would have thunk it?) I planned ahead and made up a big batch of turkey meatballs earlier in the week. What I like about this recipe is that it makes a lot, around 40, and I can use half and freeze half for another meal, or just freeze them in two batches.

We have lots more to do in the yard, so if I don’t feel like cooking, I can just de-frost some meatballs and make grinders* with them. (*grinders are the RI name for subs, hoagies, whatever you call them in your neck of the woods).

I simmered these in tomato sauce and served them with rigatoni earlier in the week. One of Evan’s friends was eating over and this was the conversation at the table.

Evan: “Those are turkey meatballs you know”

Friend: (holding the meatball up and inspecting it) “No suh”

Evan: “Yes suh”

Friend: “Really?”

Evan: “Really”

Friend: “They taste just like the real ones”

Evan: “That’s cause my Mom makes them”

Friend to me: “You made these??”

Me: “Yes”

Friend: “Wow". (short pause) "My Mom makes meatballs too”

Me: (In my best June Cleaver voice) “Well isn’t that nice”

Friend: “Well they come out of a bag”

Ok then. Moving along. The conversation kinda stopped there. Evan was shocked that meatballs come in a bag.

My kids are totally culinarially spoiled (yes I know that's not a real word).




Lisa's Turkey Meatballs
Printable recipe
3 pounds ground turkey meat
1 small red onion, grated or very finely chopped
4 – 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 ½ cups Panko breadcrumbs
1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
3 large eggs
½ cup milk
1 cup grated Romano cheese
1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/3 cup freshly chopped basil
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
salt/pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl.

Mix all the ingredients together. Just get in there with clean hands and start mixing. Try not to over mix. Just get all the ingredients combined and stop. If the mixture seems a little to loose, add some more breadcrumbs, if it seems a bit too dry, add a little more milk. It’s really a texture thing. You don’t want them to feel dry, but you also don’t want them to feel too wet either.

Roll them loosely into the size of golf balls and place them on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet. This recipe makes about 40 meatballs. I usually put 20 meatballs on each tray and half way through the baking time, I rotate them from top to bottom and bottom to top. Bake for approximately 40 minutes.