Turkey meatballs used to be one of my mom’s specialties, and she made them SO well. I used to watch her do it, take notes, and then try to make them myself, but something would invariably go wrong, and they would come out too dry…or in a lot of instances flat (hence my dad coining the term “Turkey Meat Flats”). Anyway, I’m not ready to fully throw in the towel yet, but for this meal, I decided to try to branch out and make Turkey Meatballs in my own style rather than pursuing another ill-fated attempt at replicating hers.
Thus, I decided to funk them up by grating fresh garlic into the ground meat and then stuffing the meatballs with spinach! I’m happy to report that it worked! We served these as a component in our Baked Spaghetti (Squash) and Meatballs (recipe coming soon), but they would go well with mashed potatoes (or any number of our fun mashed potato substitutes like Gorgonzola Mashed Turnip, Mashed Celery Root, Rutabaga and Carrot Mash, Sage Mashed Cauliflower, or Sneaky Mashed Potatoes) with an appropriate sauce (gravy, cranberry, etc.) too.
Time: 30 Minutes
Ingredients (makes about 12 meatballs):
- 1 lb Ground Turkey
- 1 Egg
- Bread Crumbs (amount varies, but probably somewhere around 1/4 cup)
- Garlic (we used 4 cloves, but powder will also work)
- Parmesan Cheese
- Spinach (about 6 ounces of thawed frozen spinach)
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, line a baking sheet with foil, and give the foil a quick oil spray on top.
- Combine your ground turkey, egg, bread crumbs, and some parmesan cheese into a bowl.
- Peel your garlic, and using a microplane grater, grate it onto your turkey mixture. If using powder, just pour that on.
- Using your hand(s), mash everything together, adding more bread crumbs as necessary until the meat is easy to form into patties and is not too liquidy/eggy.
- Scoop a small handful into one hand, and press it down into a patty with the other. Then, take a pinch of spinach, and place it in the center of the patty.
- Fold up the meat around the spinach, and place the meatball on your foiled baking sheet.
- Continue to do this until all of your meat is balled.
- Place your baking sheet in the oven for about 9-10 minutes.
- After the initial bake, flip your meatballs so the bottom side is now facing up, and return to the oven for another 9-10 minutes (until the meat has reached an internal cooked temperature of 165 degrees F).
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
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