Baked Turkey Meatballs in Lemon Butter Sauce
Baked Turkey Meatballs in Lemon Butter Sauce are a wonderful weeknight dinners, appetizers or a side dish or can even be served on their own. Made with zesty lemon and other flavorful spices and greens, these are sure to become a family favorite.
Servings: 4
Calories: 310kcal
Ingredients
For Meatballs
- 1 pound Lean Ground Turkey chilled
- 1 small Onion finely chopped
- ½ cup Green Onions chopped
- 3 tablespoons Panko Crumbs
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese grated
- 1 teaspoon Salt or as needed
- Freshly Cracked Pepper as needed or as needed
- ½ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- ½ cup Fresh Parsley finely chopped
For Lemon butter Sauce
- ¼ cup Unsalted Butter melted
- ¼ cup Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
- 1 clove Garlic minced
- Few Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
- ¼ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Parsley
Instructions
Making Meatballs
- Pre-heat the oven at 400°F.
- Ina a large bowl, add the ground turkey, onion, green onions, panko crumbs, minced garlic, egg, dijon mustard, parmesan, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and ½ cup fresh parsley.
- Using, spatula, hand or fork, mix everything until just combined. Do not overmix.
- With a spoon (or a cookie scoop), scoop the meat mixture and roll into 1½-2 inch meatball. You should get around 18-20 meatballs depending upon the size of the balls.
- Place the prepared meatballs on greased baking dish and brush the top with the melted butter.
- Bake the meatballs for 12-15 minutes or until its cooked through.
Making Lemon Butter Sauce
- While the meatballs cook in the oven, combine all the ingredients for lemon butter sauce in a bowl and whisk well.
- Remove the baked meatballs from the oven, pour the prepared sauce and sprinkle some roughly torn fresh thyme. Pop it back into the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes ensuring meatballs should not be dry or overcooked.
Serving Turkey Meatballs
- Serve the meatballs topped with sauce over your favorite rice, quinoa, pasta along with a side salad or mashed potatoes and enjoy!
Notes
Variation: You can use any kind of meat when making these juicy baked meatballs. Feel free to use ground chicken, beef or lamb instead of turkey.
Chilled ground turkey : All of the ingredients are chilled except for the melted butter.
To make juicy meatballs: add plenty of great flavors like herbs and spices.
Keeping the meatballs moist: you can add dark turkey meat with white or add little butter/ another healthy fat or oil, or little milk to the mixture.
Same sized meatballs: Keeping the same size or as close as possible will ensure that all the meatballs are cooked evenly.
Avoid over-mixing: Be light on mixing the turkey mixture and refrain from over-working as it will result in dry meatballs.
Nutrition
Calories: 310kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 141mg | Sodium: 782mg | Potassium: 517mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1424IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 91mg | Iron: 2mg