Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe (2024)

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ThisBaked Turkey Meatballs with Spinachrecipe is healthy,full of flavor, and they’re baked in the oven so you won’thave to stand at the stove frying them. Use these meatballs for a spaghetti dinner, in meatball sandwiches, or as an appetizer with your favorite sauce.

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We use both lean ground turkey and lean ground beef in our house (we usually use the 7%fat variety in both cases).There are some meals that I’ll use turkey or beef in. It usuallydepends on which one I get the best deal on.

But, there are some meals that I only use ground turkey in and some meals that I only use ground beef in. My Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach are an example of a recipe that I only make with ground turkey. Sure, you could make them with beef, but I think this recipe has always been best for ground turkey. Several years later, I’m still making these meatballs for my family — and always with ground turkey.

What I love about these Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach is that they are full of flavor and they’re healthy. I really like it when I can stretch meat out with vegetables. Also, I LOVE that I don’t have to stand at the stove frying them. I’m really not a fan of rolling meatballs, but it can’t be avoided. But, I can avoid extra time in the kitchen by placing them on a baking sheet and baking them in the oven.

Below you will find my meatball recipe, which uses lean ground turkey meat, frozen spinach, onions, and an assortment of other ingredients.

Ingredients needed to make Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach:

Cooking Equipment needed for Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach:

UPDATE: There have been so many great comments on this recipe! One of the biggest questions was about the calorie count on these and one of my readers determined them to have 60 calories per meatball — I’m sure this will vary depending on each how you make them, but this is great to know. Also, I’ve had readers who have successfully used fresh spinach, rather than frozen spinach, so if you want to give that a try, go for it!

Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe

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Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe

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Description

This Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach recipe is healthy, full of flavor, and baked in the oven. Use these meatballs for a spaghetti dinner, in meatball sandwiches, or as an appetizer.

Ingredients

Scale

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional – adjust to your preference)
16 oz frozen chopped spinach (defrosted, drained, and squeezed to remove excess water)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 large eggs

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a large baking sheet by spraying with cooking spray. I actually line my baking sheet with foil and then spray with cooking spray.
In a frying pan on medium heat, heat olive oil until hot. Then add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Sauté until onion is tender (about 5-6 minutes total time).
Add spinach to pan and combine with onion mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth and mix well to combine. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked out (evaporated). I don’t have much liquid in my pan after I combine all these, but it will depend on how well you drained your spinach. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl, combine the turkey, bread crumbs, and egg. Add cooled onion/spinach mixture to the meat. I do all of this step with my hands, but you can use a spoon if you prefer.
With your hands, create meatballs that are about 1 – 1 1/2 inches in diameter and place them on the baking sheet. Leave a little bit of space between each meatball. When you are done shaping your meatballs, you will probably have about 40-42 meatballs from this recipe. Don’t need that many? Freeze them after baking or cut this recipe in half (but I say freeze them and then you’ve done the work only once and have a future meal).
Bake until your meatballs are cooked through with an internal temperature of 160 degrees F – which was about 20 minutes for my oven. Remove from oven and serve as desired.

Prep Time: 25
Cook Time: 42
Category: Main Dish
Method: Baking
Cuisine: American

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10 Ways to Meatball Ideas

1. Meatball Sandwiches (cooked meatballs in a hoagie roll with a tomato-based sauce and mozzarella cheese)
2. Served on top of pasta with pasta sauce
3. Covered in a casserole dish with pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese; bake until hot & bubbly
4. Used as the main filling in calzones (wrapped in a pizza-type dough and baked)
5. Placed on a skewer before or after baking (fun for the kids)
6. Make and cook very tiny meatballs, only 1/2 inch in diameter (reduce baking temp/time as necessary) and top pizza with them
7. Place cooked meatballs in crockpot and simmer in favorite sauce; serve with toothpicks
8. Replace the chicken in your favorite soup with cooked meatballs instead (turkey meatball noodle soup, anyone?)
9. Slice cooked meatballs and use as filling in Italian quesadilla with mozzarella cheese in a tortilla
10. Make big meatballs (2-3″ diameter) bake in muffin tins; adjust cooking time as necessary

What are your favorite ways to serve meatballs?