Baked Turkey Meatball Recipe

Meatballs are a classic and super comforting dinner option: Deliciously seasoned beef is rolled into balls before being cooked and then traditionally served in a tomato sauce. But for those who prefer to reduce their red meat consumption, or who are looking for a healthier alternative to this great dish, why not try this baked turkey meatball recipe instead? Packed full of flavor and baked instead of fried, this turkey meatball recipe is a great alternative option, and once you try it you won't look back.

White meat is known for its potential to be quite dry when cooked, and turkey meat has a bad reputation for being less flavorful than other meats. It's all about the preparation and seasoning though; turkey just needs a little extra helping hand. To give these turkey meatballs the wow factor, recipe developer Jennine Rye uses a panade — a mixture of seasoned bread, milk, and mayonnaise — to inject both flavor and moisture, making them deliciously juicy and moreish. The meatballs are then finished off in a rich tomato sauce with melted mozzarella. This is a family-friendly recipe you'll come back to time and time again.

To make this baked turkey meatball recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. For the meatballs, you will require white bread, milk, mayonnaise, onion powder, garlic powder, Dijon mustard, oregano, basil, and, of course, turkey mince or ground turkey. For the tomato sauce you will also want olive oil, an onion, garlic, chili flakes, a can of tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper, mozzarella, and fresh basil.

Turkey mince is a simple swap to make for a different, and healthier, meal option. Turkey meat is packed full of protein and lower in saturated fats than other meats, making it a worthwhile substitute to try.

Nobody wants dry, tasteless meatballs. The best way to give the dish a big hit of flavor, as well as make super juicy meatballs, is to use a panade. This also acts as a binding agent to keep the meatballs together when cooked. A panade, which literally means "bread mash," is simply a mixture containing bread that is left to soak in milk before being added to the meat. To create a panade for these meatballs, simply add the bread, milk, mayonnaise, onion powder, garlic powder, Dijon mustard, oregano, and basil to a bowl, mix it all together, and then set it aside for 10 minutes to allow the milk to do all the hard work for you.

Once the panade is ready, add this to a large mixing bowl along with the turkey mince. Then, using a large wooden spoon, mix everything together until the panade and the meat are thoroughly combined. Scoop out heaped tablespoons of the turkey mixture and gently roll them between your hands to form meatballs, before placing them on a baking paper lined tray. Once the meatballs are formed, place them into the oven to bake for 20 minutes until they are cooked through and just beginning to color.

No meatball dish is truly complete without a sauce, and this recipe is no exception. To make the tomato sauce, while the meatballs bake, fry onions in a heavy-bottomed pan for a few minutes, before adding garlic and chili flakes. Then, add a can of chopped tomatoes to the pan, along with sugar, salt, and pepper, and allow everything to stew together for 10 or so minutes until the sauce has thickened. At this point, you can choose to blend the sauce if you prefer a more smooth finish or keep it as it is for a more rustic, chunky sauce.

Then, add the baked meatballs back to the pan and cover them with slices of fresh mozzarella, before returning the pan to the oven for a few minutes. When the mozzarella is melted and turning a light golden color, remove the meatballs from the oven and scatter them with fresh basil before serving. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge and should be used within 3 days.