Three words: Tender. Turkey. Meatballs. They’re inexpensive, surprisingly simple to make, and they get an enthusiastic thumbs up from the fam every time. I’ve always loved a good meatball from an Italian restaurant, but to be honest, since adding these to our weeknight menu, the meatballs that I’ve had elsewhere have been a major let down. They have been tough, dry, and pretty bland in flavor. Here are the three secrets I use in these babies that solve those problems

1. Toughness: Make a panade prior to forming your meatballs. A panade is a mixture of milk and bread crumbs. Before you do anything, put your milk and bread crumbs in a bowl together and mix them into a paste.  After the paste is formed you can add the rest of the ingredients in on top of the panade and mix them all together like you normally would for a meatball. The milk soaked bread crumbs will take the tenderness of these meatballs to the next level.
2. Dryness: Parmesan cheese and cooking them in marinara. The saltiness of cheese makes it an excellent agent for locking in moisture, and parmesan is a light enough flavor that it doesn’t overpower the dish. Cooking the meatballs in marinara sauce instead of baking them or frying them in oil allows them to absorb the moisture and tomatoey goodness from their surroundings.
3. Blandness: Cooking the meatballs in marinara not only helps eliminate dryness, but it also deepens the flavor profile of the dish. Just like letting your soup simmer, or meat marinate, steeping blank canvas meatballs in your favorite tangy marinara sauce really rounds out their flavors.

One of the seasonings I use in these meatballs to make them taste truly Italian is fennel seed (ground or whole). It’s something I’ve added to my spice cabinet specifically for this recipe and have found a surprising number of dishes I can add it into to add that iconic Italian sausage flare. (Check out my mom’s lasagna recipe, my homemade turkey Italian sausage, and Italian sausage tortellini soup.)

I have two ways of prepping these for the freezer.

1. Combine all of the ingredients together, form the raw mixture into balls and freeze them on a lined baking sheet. Once they’re frozen through, I throw them into a gallon sized bag. When it comes time to use the meat balls, I cook them as directed below, but I cook them for 20 minutes on each side instead of 15.
2. Cook as directed and dump everything (meatballs and sauce) into a gallon bag and freeze flat. When the time comes to use the meatballs I thaw the meatballs in cool water until I can break up the bag enough to fit them into a slow-cooker. I reheat them on low for 4 hours.

Print Recipe

Tender Turkey Meatballs

Course

Main Dish

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Servings

meatballs

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup bread crumbs (or rolled oats, roughly chopped) $0.32
• 1/2 cup milk $0.08
• 1.5 lbs ground turkey $4.50
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten $0.07
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated $0.42
• 1.5 tbsp minced garlic $0.06
• 1 tsp salt $0.01
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper $0.03
• 1 tsp onion powder $0.13
• 1 tsp dried oregano $0.09
• 1 tsp fennel seed (ground or whole) $0.19
• 1 tbsp dried parsley $0.26
• 1 24 oz jar marinara $1.98

Course Main Dish Cuisine Italian Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 30 minutes Servings meatballs Ingredients 2/3 cup bread crumbs (or rolled oats, roughly chopped) $0.32 1/2 cup milk $0.08 1.5 lbs ground turkey $4.50 1 large egg, lightly beaten $0.07 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated $0.42 1.5 tbsp minced garlic $0.06 1 tsp salt $0.01 1/2 tsp ground black pepper $0.03 1 tsp onion powder $0.13 1 tsp dried oregano $0.09 1 tsp fennel seed (ground or whole) $0.19 1 tbsp dried parsley $0.26 1 24 oz jar marinara $1.98

Instructions

Serving Immediately Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine milk and bread crumbs to form them into a paste. This is the panade I mentioned above and will help increase the tenderness of your meatballs. Let the panade rest for a minute while you prepare the marinara.
2. Pour the marinara sauce into a large skillet (or any pan that has a wide bottom) and cover it with a lid. Heat the marinara on medium/low until it reaches a simmer. While marinara is warming up, add all of the remaining ingredients on top of the panade and mix them together with your hands until well combined, but try to avoid over mixing, as that will lend to a tough texture.
3. Once all the ingredients are mixed together, and the marinara is at a rapid simmer, wash your hands, turn the heat on the stove down to medium low and start forming the meatballs into golf ball sized balls. Place each meatball directly into the simmering marinara as they're formed, working from the inside of the pan, out. Make sure you place them close together, you'll need all the space you can get. The sauce should come up about half way on the meatballs.
4. Once all the meatballs are in, cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes on medium low. Don't stir or move anything during this 15 minutes, you'll risk breaking the meatballs.
5. After 15 minutes, use a spoon or tongs to gently turn the meatballs over in the marinara sauce, recover, and let simmer for another 10 minutes. To make sure your meatballs are cooked all the way through, stick a meat thermometer into the largest meatball on the outermost edge of the pan. It should reach 165 degrees F.
6. The meatballs will soak up a lot of the moisture from the marinara, so if you're serving these with sauce (for spaghetti) I would recommend making more sauce in a separate sauce pan. If you don't want to deal with washing two saucy pans, the meatballs can also be baked for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. I just think they have more flavor when they've simmered in marinara. If you do bake them, make sure you line the pan with tin foil or a silicon baking sheet.

Freezer Instructions:

1. Form the meatballs as instructed above, however, instead of putting them directly into marinara sauce, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and place in freezer overnight.
2. Label a gallon bag with "Turkey Meatballs" and an expiration date for six months out and write these instructions below: 1. empty meatballs into crockpot with 1 jar marinara sauce and cook on low for 8 hours, high for 4 hours 2. OR bake at 350 for 30 minutes (turning at 15 min) 3. OR cook in marinara on stove top (covered), twenty minute on both sides
3. Once the meatballs are frozen, dump them into the gallon bag and store them in your freezer. These meatballs will keep in the freezer for about 6 months before freezer burn sets in.

Recipe Notes

Serving Size: 1 meatball

Servings: 24 meatballs

Pricing:

Total cost of dish: $8.14

Cost per meatball: $0.34

Nutrition:

Calories: 83

Protein: 8.3 g

Carbs: 3.1 g

Fat: 4.2 g

Sodium: 368.6 mg

Sugar: 1.2 g

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