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Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
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- Total Time
- 50 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ½cup grated Parmesan cheese, more for serving, if desired
- ½cup panko or other plain dried bread crumbs
- ¼cup minced onion
- ¼cup chopped chives or basil
- 2garlic cloves, grated on a microplane or minced
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt
- ½teaspoon black pepper
- ½teaspoon dried oregano
- Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1½pounds ground turkey, very cold
- 1large egg, beaten
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed
- 3cups marinara sauce, more to taste
Preparation
- Step 1
In a large bowl, combine cheese, bread crumbs, onion, chives, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes, if using, and mix well. Add turkey and egg and blend with your hands until well mixed. If you’ve got time, cover mixture and chill for an hour or up to 24 hours. These are easiest to form into balls while very cold. Form into 28 meatballs, each about 1¼-inches in diameter.
- Step 2
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large sauté pan. When hot, add enough of the meatballs to fit in one layer without crowding, and brown on all sides, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate, add another tablespoon of oil to pan and brown another layer of meatballs, transferring them to the plate as they brown. Repeat until all meatballs are browned, adding more oil to the pan as needed.
- Step 3
When meatballs are all browned, add marinara sauce to pan and bring to a simmer, scraping up the browned bits on the pan bottom. Return meatballs and their juices to pan, shake pan to cover the meatballs with sauce, and lower heat. Partly cover pan and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Step 4
Serve hot, drizzled with more olive oil and sprinkled with more cheese, if you like.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I baked these for 20 min at 350 instead of frying. Perfect. Less mess, quick and easy, juicy and tasty.
I make turkey meat balls all the time, I use 1 package of brown mushrooms put through food processor until grounded very fine. Best meat balls ever very light i bake them before putting them in sause freeze very well
You might want to try skipping the baking and just dropping them raw into the sauce. Cook for about 20 minutes or so, without touching them for the first 10 minutes. You may be surprised at how flavorful and tender they are without the bother of the extra step!
Bake @ 350 for 20 mins instead of frying Add a package of brown mushrooms, ground in food processor
I like this recipe and make the meatballs often. I do not like the activity of frying, so I bake them in a 450degree oven for 15 minutes, to get them a bit browned and firm. Then
I finish off the cooking in the sauce.
Consider cutting down on the salt... The Parmesan adds quite a bit of saltiness on its own.
To make this kosher, use nutritional yeast flakes instead of cheese.
When can you freeze..before or after cooking meatballs?
These are fantastic! However, I did change one thing. As others have, I added one package of mushrooms ground in Vitamix because I only had 1 pound of ground turkey. I figured they would add moistness as well as meaty flavor. They so did!!! I kept everything else the same including breadcrumbs and they rivaled my best Italian recipes using beef. I also baked at 400 degrees for about six minutes a side, and then ran under broiler for 2 minutes a side before adding to sauce. Perfect and healthy!
So good! I baked too and am happy I made that choice! Stuck to the recipe, increased it slightly based on amount of turkey - 2 lbs. The red pepper flakes are a must. Only change I would make is reducing the salt in half, the parmesan adds some salt to the mixture. Definitely making again!
These are amazingly good, I did not expect them to a) be so flavorful b) hold up texture-wise. Melissa Clark is a genius. I did everything exactly how the recipe was written (even made exactly 28 meatballs!) and there was no need to change a thing. I definitely recommend using fresh shaved parmesan, but otherwise the seasoning is so well directed, you can't go wrong. This is definitely going to become a regular in our repetoire.
If one were to freeze the meatballs for an easy mid-week dinner, at what time in the process work?
Pretty great. I eliminated the bread crumbs to make them gluten free, and added a tsp of crushed fennel because I like fennel in my meatballs.
Even without the breadcrumbs, these worked up nicely into cohesive meatballs. But the note about working with them cold is key, because turkey is a pain to form into meatballs when even remotely warmish.
This recipe is good but way too salty, it doesn't need the salt and the Parmesan. Otherwise it was very enjoyable.
I served them over Spiralized yellow squash and it was delicious! I
I needed to keep turning the meatballs continuously during sautéing to keep them from sticking. Even so, there were so many browned bits in the pan after I'd sauteed all the meatballs that I deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup of a cabernet/merlot blend, then reduced it by half before adding the tomato sauce and returning the meatballs to the pan. Next time, I'll try baking the meatballs, as others have suggested. Also added 1 tsp of whole fennel for added flavor. Molto delisiosa!
Better with 97% lean Jenny-O turkey. The batch I made with Butterball 85% lean were mushy and overly salty.
Perfect! I made the exact recipe except subbed very finely copped parsley for the other herbs. I used 28 oz of fire roasted tomatoes plus oregano, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper for the sauce. It’s what I had on hand! These guys with the “added a billion mushrooms” and bake them instead - that is a different recipe. This one was perfect Pair with dirty gin martini for a delightful buzzzzz.
Dude. Prepared meatball mix night before and refrigerated. Next day started a double batch of Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce and while that was cooking, formed and air fried the meatballs at 330 for 16 minutes. When sauce was done, puréed it (onions and all) and added meatballs to simmer for ten minutes. Perfection.
Delish. The roll-y ball-shaped meatballs are attention seekers so parchment paper came in handy to place over the balls and smash them a bit with the spatula so I only had to flip them once.
I made this recipe with 1 lb. of turkey instead of 1 1/2, and it was awesome. Big hit with the fam. Thanks, Melissa!
Used gluten-free breadcrumbs, both times, which worked fine
These meatballs are excellent! I only used a pound of turkey and kept the panko & Parm the same. Used a tablespoon of dried chives & a tablespoon dried basil. Everything else was the same. 400 degree convection for 15 min. My husband loved them for spaghetti & meatballs.
Made as directed with turkey and fish sauce options. Meatballs were tsdty, but a little milder than I expected. May add a tiny bit more ginger next time...
Fantastic! I added it to my meal rotation!
I didn’t grow up with a mother or grandmother who made meatballs and have failed every time I’ve tried - except this time! Such an easy recipe, and I appreciate the leaner option of turkey. I didn’t have time to fry them so I threw them in the oven at 450 for 15 minutes and then nestled them in a simmering pot of Rao’s for another hour. Perfectly tender and still moist. They were a weeknight hit and I can’t wait to make with homemade sauce for a casual dinner party.
No one will believe these are turkey! I convention roasted for 25 minutes at 400 to make them nice and brown. Half will go in the sauce and half will be consumed as is. Melissa strikes again!
Went up to two lbs turkey so we didn't have an extra half-lb sitting around and slightly increased the other ingredients accordingly. Best turkey meatballs I've made!
This recipe is delicious and simple!
I’ve made these without adding mushrooms (as other reviewers have suggested) and have made them with mushrooms and, ADD THE MUSHROOMS. It’s like night and day difference. These meatballs are fine without them, but SO good with. Game changer. Otherwise made exactly to recipe but only 1lb Turkey, kept all the other ingredients the same amounts.
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