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Chicken & Turkey Meatballs

Name: Chicken & Turkey Meatballs
Prep time: 20
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Italian

(20 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

20 min prep

6 servings

Carrot Icon for Number of Ingredients Size

16 ingredients

This is a delicious, healthy take on an old standby. The spices give the meatballs a Mediterranean edge. Once you’ve cooked the meatballs, they can be frozen to star in another meal on another... day.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stems
2 shallots or ½ an onion, finely diced
1 large egg
⅓ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
⅓ teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 cup whole-grain breadcrumbs, plus,
2 tablespoons whole-grain breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons stock or water
¼ pound ground chicken
¼ pound ground turkey
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon ground almonds (optional)
2 cups tomato sauce, heated through (see Chef Tips)

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Nutrition Facts

Calories

235 cals

Fat

11 g

Saturated Fat

2 g

Polyunsaturated Fat

2 g

Monounsaturated Fat

6 g

Carbohydrates

24 g

Sugar

6 g

Fiber

3 g

Protein

13 g

Sodium

580 mg

Directions

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a small skillet over a medium-high flame. When it is hot, add the garlic. Cook until golden, then discard. This will flavor the oil.
Add the thyme to the oil and cook for 1 minute. Add the shallots and turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook until the shallots start to turn golden. Do not let them burn! Set aside.
Beat the egg. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper and mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix the cup of breadcrumbs with the stock or water.
In a large bowl combine the ground chicken and turkey with the cooked shallots and parsley, mix with a spatula. Mix in the beaten egg. Gradually add in the ground almonds, if using, and then the breadcrumbs, a little at a time. If using ground almonds, you may not need all of the breadcrumbs. Mix well. Add a little water if it seems too stiff or dry.
Lay a sheet of parchment or wax paper on your work surface and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs. Using a full tablespoon, spoon the meat mixture it into balls with your hands then gently roll them in the breadcrumbs. Set aside on a plate. Repeat until all the meat mixture is used up.
Coat 2 teaspoons of the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot cook the meatballs in batches until they are browned all over, drizzling a little more oil into the pan as needed. Set them aside on a clean plate as you cook them. At this point, you can freeze the meatballs for a future meal.
For pasta, when all the meatballs are cooked, tip them into the tomato sauce and cook gently for about 10 minutes. Eat with the whole-grain pasta of your choice and a grating of fresh Parmesan.

Chef Tips

Our Quick Tomato Sauce is the perfect option for this recipe!

Registered Dietitian Approved

Our recipes, articles, videos, and more content are reviewed by our Registered Dietitian Kate Ueland, MS, RD, CSO, a board-certified specialist in oncology nutrition, to ensure that each is backed with scientific evidence and follows the guidelines set by the Oncology Nutrition for Clinical Practice, 2nd Ed., published by the Oncology Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group, a professional interest group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American Institute for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Society.