Super Bowl Sunday is fast approaching! If you haven’t decided what to make for your football party, meatballs are a popular appetizer. You can easily make them in advance and it’s the perfect finger food. I used lean ground turkey and baked the meatballs for a healthier alternative. Pair these meatballs with your favorite dip or add into your tomato sauce for classic spaghetti and meatballs.
This is a basic meatball recipe you can easily alter to your taste. Feel free to use chopped spinach or kale if you don’t have parsley or add in some grated Parmesan for a salty bite. For extra spice, chili powder would also be a nice option. The possibilities are endless!
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Place all the ingredients in a bowl.
Mix everything thoroughly with your hands.
Roll into balls and place on a lightly greased pan. Bake for about 20 minutes.
Serve with toothpicks and your favorite dipping sauce.
Baked Turkey Meatballs Recipe
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- 1/4 cup shallot or onion, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (I used Mutti brand)
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
Preheat oven to 400° F. Lightly grease a sheet pan with oil and set aside.
In a bowl, mix all ingredients together thoroughly with your hands. Roll into about 20 meatballs and place on pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes or until cooked through and not pink in the middle.
Total Time: 30-40 minutes
Yield: makes about 20 meatballs
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Mmm, we just had baked meatballs for supper tonight, so yummy! Gorgeous pictures (as always!)
Thank you, Anna 🙂 Do you have a special recipe for yours? They’re so easy to make, I don’t know why I don’t make meatballs more often!
I am thinking of fried wanton to serve for game night, I am having second thought however since not everyone would love it, so i guess I’ll have fried wanton and baked meatballs. This recipe is perfect. Thanks a lot!
These look so pretty! We love to make turkey meatballs. I posted our recipe on my site just a few months ago. One trick that I love is to add a package of (well-drained) frozen organic spinach. Even kiddos that hate spinach will love it! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Katie, that sounds like a great idea. Will try to mix in some greens next time. Thanks for stopping by.
Try ur turkey meatballs recipe tonite they are the best thx u
Thanks, Sonia!
I tried this recipe last night and the meatballs were so tasty! This recipe is simple and easily adaptable to anyones taste. I’m going to spice it up next time and serve with a spicy sweet Asian sauce. thanks for the recipe!
Thank you, Donna 🙂 I have a recipe for a sweet & spicy dipping sauce in my Vietnamese meatballs post, check it out!
http://wishfulchef.com/2012/06/baked-vietnamese-pork-meatballs/
Super easy, and terrific. My recipe made 30 turkey-balls. Since I made mine smaller, I cut back the time to about 17 minutes. I sauteed the garlic and onion first, and used oatmeal that I threw in the food processor to grind it a bit, since we didn’t have breadcrumbs in the house. I also left out the parsley, but adding it or spinach would have been even better. I need to check out more of your recipes!
Thanks for your comment, Adrienne! Your substitutions sound great. I never made meatballs with oatmeal before…I’ll have to remember that next time I run out of breadcrumbs. Thanks for the tip! Hope to see you again 🙂
Great recipe! Made these and they were delish! I used spinach instead of parsley and made zucchini spaghetti and put the meatballs on top.
Thank you, Sarah 🙂 Yum, I want to try these meatballs with zucchini spaghetti now!
I had to make a lot of substitutions, but just so you know I wanted to try out for the time and temprature just to be sure it will be done. I have used leftover turkey, ground fine, like a paste, and have added chopped mushrooms, green pepper, and chopped onions to it, with a little salt and pepper as well as one egg and then shook them up in a plastic bag of crushed saltine crackers. Do hope they will turn out ok. I didn’t saute anything so hope that the veggies will still be soft by the time it comes out. I haven’t seen this web site before. Maybe I’ll try your specific recipie next time.
Hello – Thanks for your comment. Let me know how your recipe turns out..hopefully the veggies come out soft 🙂
Make these all the time, they are really delicious!
Thank you, Paul!
Made these tonight with spaghetti and a basic tomato sauce! VERY tasty and easy to make (my 4 yr old helped!) Looking forward to playing with the recipe for different meals!
Awesome, sounds great! Thanks for your comment, Meaghan 🙂
I used this as a base recipe for my Turkey Lava Balls though I add a little extra garlic, nix the tomato paste (Mostly because I’m too lazy to buy a can every time I want to use it), use spinach instead of parsley. My additions are 1.5 teaspoons of smoked paprika, I stuff each meatball with one slice of jalapeno (I prefer canned) and a small cube of pepperjack cheese. And right before I bake I roll it in cayenne pepper.
Thanks for your comment. Your substitutions sound great!
Thank you for the recipe! I celebrated my b’day last night and had them as an appetizer for my friends, they were a hit! I replaced turkey with chicken, added bacon, ginger and chili and served them with chery jam and mustard creme sauce, very very good 😀 do you think they would be tasty with beef instead of turkey?
Thanks for your comment! I think beef would taste great as well. I’m so happy you enjoyed them for your bday. Best wishes 🙂
These are SO good. I inevitably always leave out the tomatoe paste because I forget to buy it and always add additional garlic. My boyfriend loves how the garlic bakes and having bigger chunks in the meatballs…They are so easy and moist. 400 degrees for 20 minutes is absolutely perfect for the normal size meatballs we roll out. Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you, Kelly! I’m so glad you and your boyfriend enjoyed this recipe 🙂 Thinking of making these this week!
I made these for dinner tonight with BBQ sauce and served it over brown rice. They were excellent. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks, Janet. Adding BBQ sauce sounds delicious!
Thanks so much for posting this recipe Barb, it’s perfect. I just made them to put into my red sauce and have with some kind of whole grain pasta (haven’t picked yet). I’m not a fan of cheese so this recipe worked for me – a lot of others include Parmesan. Helpful Hint: I used a rounded metal coffee scoop to measure and got exactly 20 beautiful meatballs. At 400F it took 23 min to get to 165F per instant read. These are so light in texture and flavorful – Next time I’ll make a double batch and freeze in packs of 5-6 for quick dinners etc. Anyway, had to comment – thank you! Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. 🙂 Aaron
Hi Aaron – Thank you for your kind words, I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe as much as we do! I love your tip about using a round coffee scoop, I’m definitely going to try that! Thanks again for commenting and can’t wait to hear your feedback on other recipes 🙂
I’m totally addicted to turkey meatballs at the moment in every shape and form so will definitely be trying out your version. I made Mexican inspired balls the other week – chipotle make all the difference and is really nice with a bulgar wheat salad
Awesome, thank you Laura 🙂 I’ll have to check your Mexican-inspired recipe..it sounds delicious with the bulgar wheat salad!
Nutritio facts available?
I just found this recipe not long ago from Pinterest and I made it last week. I just had to tell you that this is the BEST baked turkey meatball recipe! I made some zucchini pasta and topped it all with marinara. Amazing meal! Thank you!
Wow, these turkey meatballs with zucchini pasta sounds amazing together! Yum! Thank you so much for your nice comment, Danielle! 🙂
Just tried this recipe tonight and I must say that at first I was scared that they’d come out dry as depending how you cook ground turkey, that very well can happen; however, these meatballs came out DELICIOUS!!!!! I will NEVER make meatballs from ground beef again! These are so much healthier and way more delicious than any other ground beef meatball I’ve ever had. Thank-you! My BF loved them too!
I’m so happy you and your BF loved this recipe!! Thanks for your comment, Gabriella 🙂
I made these today for a test run to see how they came out. They are delicious! I am making these again tomorrow for a Halloween party and Im going to put a slice of green or black olive onto the top of each one, pressed in a bit so it stays and bake them up and serve them with a on a tray on top of an Asian chili sauce. They will look like meat “eyeballs”
I love that idea, Rachel!!! I’d love to see a photo 🙂 So happy you loved the recipe…thanks for commenting!
I have made these many times and absolutely love this basic, versatile recipe! I wonder if anything can be substituted for the tomato paste? I always open a can to make these but then end up throwing away the rest of the can because I didn’t use it within a week…
Hi Christina – Hmm, try using tomato sauce or ketchup. Use a bit more since the consistency is thinner than tomato paste. But for next time, buy tomato paste in a tube, then you wouldn’t have to worry about throwing away a can! Or you could even freeze tomato paste by putting the paste in a freezer safe container… Hope this helped 🙂
Trying these tonight to go along with the spaghetti!!
I just made this for dinner and all 5 of my kids +my husband loved it. I am going to be making this again ! They never knew it was turkey ! Thank you for sharing
Awesome, Seline! I’m so happy you and your family loved this recipe 😀
Making these tonight with spaghetti and a homemade pasta sauce to surprise my family when they’re home from work!
Can’t wait to try them, I’ll hafta post after dinner and let you know the verdict 😉
All the reviews are wonderful and I’m a huge fan of cooking with ground turkey rather than beef, super excited!
They were a hit, family loved them and asked me to make another batch this week 😉 Thanks for the amazing recipe!
I added three cloves of garlic instead of one, and a lot of basil, also used extra lean turkey so I added a bit of oil to the mix before rolling them.
So so good. I might hafta double the recipe next time around, they’d be a delicious snack! May as well make more!
Awesome, Dani! I’m so happy you and your family loved them! 😀 Yes, I usually double this recipe and freeze the leftovers. Thanks so much for your comments!
Can you freeze these and reheat at a later time? I’d like to make these for lunches for the week. Thank you 🙂
Yes you can freeze them!