Tantalizing Turkey Meatballs

Turkey Balls. Meaty Balls. Meaty Turkey Balls. Turkey Meatballs. Ding ding ding. That’s the one we’re talking about today. I recently wrote about cooking up a mess o’ spaghetti and meatballs for Game Night, giving away treasured family secrets about my sauce. (Haha, not really, but I know that some folks get seriously hardcore and protective about that stuff!) Well now it’s time to talk turkey. Meatballs. I think that's been established already.

I use a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis with just a few variations in ingredients and process. I’ve made this many times and can vouch that it’s an A-#1-Primo dish. Let’s get started, shall we?

Click the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.

Printable Recipe- Not-So-Classic Italian Turkey Meatballs
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Not-So-Classic Italian Turkey Meatballs
Recipe slightly adapted from one by Giada De Laurentiis for Food Network

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs (or panko)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon ketchup, optional
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 pounds ground turkey meat
• Cooking spray, or extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Line two heavy baking sheets with aluminum foil. Spray the foil lightly with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, basil, parsley, milk, ketchup if using, tomato paste, salt, pepper, eggs, garlic and onions.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir to blend. Add the ground turkey. Using fingers, gently mix all the ingredients until thoroughly combined.
• Using a 1-ounce cookie scoop or a small ice cream scoop or your gloved hands, form the meat mixture into balls roughly 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Note: The original recipe says you’ll get 22-24 meatballs, but I made them a bit smaller to yield 32.
• Place the meatballs on the baking sheets covered with foil, spacing apart.
• Place the baking sheets in the refrigerator to chill for about 15 minutes and firm up a bit.
• When it’s time to bake the meatballs, spray them lightly with cooking spray. Alternately you can drizzle them with olive oil, but I find it makes the balls a little too loose and more likely to disintegrate.
• Bake for 8 minutes. Remove the pans and carefully turn the meatballs; they might stick a little bit so be gentle. Return the pans to the oven and continue cooking another 8 minutes.
• Test for doneness by piercing a meatball with a knife; if pink juices flow cook the meatballs for another few minutes. If the juices run clear, the meatballs are done.
• Remove meatballs from the foil so that they won’t stick – either to a rack if cooling to use later, or directly into the pan with your cooked tomato sauce.

Photos: Ann Johnson