Baked Turkey Meatballs

Prep Time: 15 minutes, Cook Time: 20 minutes

If there is one food that is comforting and yet fancy, it would definitely be meatballs! I usually love adding spices and herbs to the meatball to pack in lovely flavours. The ususal choice of meatballs for me would be lamb. It has a lovely flavour and remains nice and juicy once cooked. I do end up cooking meatballs maybe 2-3 times a month, (they freeze well too!) and I can either have them as a snack or with spaghetti(with a lovely tomato based sauce). I was wanting to try healthier versions of meatballs (just going with the flow of my healthy eating resolution) and did a few experiments.

Healthy Meatballs

I have made meatballs with chicken in the past and I had used chicken breast for the mince. Although the meatballs were delicious, they did end up a bit dry.  I had fried the meatballs that time and thought it might be better to bake them in future. I decided to give it another go but used turkey meat in the mince. I was so pleasantly surprised with the results! I made small bite sized meatballs and they were moist and full of flavour. The following were my findings:

Do not add too much breadcrumbs as that results in dry meatballs

Baking works much better than frying for Turkey/chicken meatballs

As the flavour of the meat is not that pronounced, do not shy away from using fragrant spices

Recipe (serves 3-4) for the meatballs is as below:

Minced Turkey: 400gm

Onion: 1 finely chopped

Green onion: 1 finely chopped

Garlic cloves: 2 finely chopped

Egg: 1

Breadcrumbs: 1/2 cup

Lebanese 7 spice: 1tsp

Salt, pepper to taste

Method:

Mix all the ingredients well and shape into meatballs

Line a baking tray with parchment paper or oil the tray

Place the meatballs on the tray and bake in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees

You can serve these with a simple tomato sauce and pasta or have them as starters.

Enjoy!!