These Italian Healthy Turkey Meatballs are flavorful and moist! They're bound together with oatmeal (no breadcrumbs), gluten-free, dairy-free, and very easy to make with only 8 ingredients in under 30 minutes! They can be cooked on the stovetop or baked in the oven!
Mix together turkey, egg, Rao’s Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce and Worcestershire sauce until mixture is homogenous (uniform throughout).
Add sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and stir to combine.
Add oatmeal, sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil and stir until evenly distributed.
Use a cookie scoop and scoop 2 TBS turkey mixture, then roll it with your hands.
To cook on the stovetop:
Add 1-2 TBS olive oil to a nonstick fry pan and turn heat to medium.
Add half of the meatballs (8) and cover.
Cook, covered, on one side for 4-5 minutes or until they are golden-brown.
Remove lid and flip the meatballs. Cook for another 4-5 minutes until meatballs are golden brown and the internal temperature is 160 degrees F.
To cook in the oven:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place turkey meatballs on a greased baking sheet evenly spread out.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Meatballs should reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
To serve:
Add Rao’s Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce to the meatballs and warm either in the skillet or in the pan in the oven.
Serve over zucchini noodles or your favorite pasta!
Video
Notes
Ingredient Substitutions
Ground turkey. You can substitute ground beef or ground chicken, however turkey will give you the best results!
Tomato sauce: Tomato Basil is my flavor preference, but you could use Marinara Sauce, Roasted Garlic Sauce, etc.
Worcestershire Sauce. In a pinch you could substitute BBQ sauce or omit it all together. But I do love the extra flavor the Worcestershire sauce adds!
Garlic Powder. Minced garlic can be used in place of garlic powder.
Onion Powder. I use onion powder because I'm cooking for kids! But you could use very finely diced onion if you prefer.
Quick Cooking Oatmeal. The oatmeal is the binder in this turkey meatball recipe. If you don't want chunks of oatmeal in your meatballs, you can use oat flour by putting the oats into a blender and blending them into oat flour (it takes 5 seconds)! If you'd prefer to use oat flour, you can grind up old-fashioned oats instead of quick-cooking. You can also use breadcrumbs.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes. You can use either sun dried tomatoes that are packed in oil or dried, just be sure to not add too much extra oil. You can also omit these but they are SO good I don't recommend that!
Fresh Basil. Fresh is the best, but dried works in a pinch!
Store
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freeze
To freeze
Place baked meatballs in an even layer on a baking sheet.
Flash-freeze in the freezer until hardened.
Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to two months.
Thaw slowly in the refrigerator or at room temperature then use in your favorite recipe. You can also thaw them quicker by warming them in your favorite sauce.