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    Home » All Recipes

    Healthy Turkey Barbecue Meatballs

    Published: Sep 24, 2015 · Modified: May 14, 2019 by Shadi HasanzadeNemati · This post may contain affiliate links .

    Jump to Recipe

     

    Healthy-Turkey-barbecue-Meatballs5501

    Meatballs are easy to make and easy to eat. You can have them with pasta, vegetables, salad, bread or plain. We usually make traditional meatballs using ground beef, but this time we tried ground turkey and yes believe me this is so good and well it doesn’t have all the guilt I normally feel when I have red meat. It’s lean, doesn’t have fat and is baked in the oven. What more can I say?

    I made these turkey barbecue meatballs for dinner one evening when everyone was at work and well, you know you want a good dinner when you come home. And as I have said million times, nothing is better than homemade and as Kyle’s grandmother, may she rest in peace, always said, happiness is homemade. And yes it is.

    Home to me is a place that I feel happy and safe, doesn’t matter if it’s in the US, Iran, Turkey or wherever else. As long as Kyle and I are safe and happy, we call that home. And well home is also where you can cook and bake all the time. I love cooking, we love eating that’s what I call family.

    IMG_0231

    To make these meatballs I used stale sourdough for two reasons, first, we didn’t have bread crumbs, second, the sourdough was going stale and I had to do something with it. The result? Divine.

    I also used zucchini and I have a good reason. We had one zucchini. No one easts zucchini by itself (well I do, but it was a big zucchini) and I needed texture and wanted to make the meatballs juicier and healthier. The result on that one was so perfect because seriously no one could even guess there was zucchini there.

    I grated both the onion and the zucchini, and then squeezed them really hard with my hand to get all the water out because that water will make the meatballs possibly fall apart. That’s just something I learnt from my maman, she always squeezed grated vegetables.

    These meatballs get ready in 25 minutes and will refrigerate for at least 3-4 days. You can reheat them any time.

    IMG_0224

    Meatballs were served with a baby carrot and kale salad and also oven roasted potatoes, which you can find the recipe here.

    Turkey Barbecue Meatballs

    Shadi HasanzadeNemati
    4 from 2 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 40 mins
    Cook Time 25 mins
    Total Time 1 hr 5 mins
    Servings 20 -24

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 onion
    • 1 lb ground turkey
    • 1 zucchini
    • 1 slice sour dough no crust
    • 2 tbsp. milk
    • 1 egg
    • 2 tbsp. Barbeque sauce
    • ⅓ cup chopped Parsley
    • Salt pepper to taste

    Instructions
     

    • Pour the milk on the sour dough bread.
    • Let it sit for 2-3 minutes then with your hands tear the sourdough into very small chunks.
    • Grate onion and zucchini, squeeze them really hard after you grate them so all the water comes out. You don’t need the water for meatballs.
    • Mix ground turkey, sourdough, and grated onion and zucchini in a bowl with your hand until combined.
    • Add the egg, barbecue sauce and spices. Mix again.
    • Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
    • Preheat the oven to 400F/204C.
    • Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with non stick spray.
    • Take the mixture out of the fridge, using an ice cream scoop, make scoops of the turkey mixture and place them on the baking sheet.
    • Bake the meat balls in the oven for 25 minutes, turn on broil for 2-3 minutes so they get color on top.
    Did you make this recipe? Let us know how it was by leaving a comment and a 5-star review!

     

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. janiece ween

      November 17, 2015 at 7:18 pm

      looks delicious and simple meatballs, thankyou for share it 😀

      Reply
    2. Tara @ Simple Food 365

      September 30, 2015 at 4:04 pm

      I love turkey meatballs! This recipe looks fantastic.

      Reply
      • shadi.hasanzade@gmail.com

        September 30, 2015 at 9:36 pm

        Really easy to make! You will love them 🙂

        Reply
    3. Callie | Flour and Fancy

      September 30, 2015 at 2:44 pm

      These look fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
      • shadi.hasanzade@gmail.com

        September 30, 2015 at 9:36 pm

        Oh, Thanks! And thank you for visiting 🙂

        Reply
    4. Manju | Cooking Curies

      September 30, 2015 at 2:13 pm

      4 stars
      These look really good Shadi. I like that you added some sourdough to it. Probably kept it nice and moist without breaking it apart even while baking.

      Reply
      • shadi.hasanzade@gmail.com

        September 30, 2015 at 9:36 pm

        It did Manju, and also gave it a nice texture plus some very good taste 🙂

        Reply
    5. LaKisha Riddick

      September 29, 2015 at 7:32 pm

      We love meatballs. They sound yummy! I'm saving this to Pinterest. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
      • shadi.hasanzade@gmail.com

        September 29, 2015 at 9:22 pm

        Thank you for visiting 🙂

        Reply
    6. Jessica @ Domesticated Wild Child

      September 29, 2015 at 4:49 pm

      4 stars
      Those look delicious! Definitely adding to the list of things to make!

      Reply
      • shadi.hasanzade@gmail.com

        September 29, 2015 at 4:53 pm

        Thanks! They're really easy too!

        Reply

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