These All-Purpose Turkey Meatballs are juicy & flavorful! Lean turkey, Italian spices and bread crumbs are combined with ground turkey and baked until tender and juicy.
Add them to pasta sauces, meatball subs, or enjoy them as an appetizer with sweet & sour sauce.
A Flavorful Turkey Meatball
I absolutely love ground turkey. It’s lean, fairly inexpensive, and works perfectly in pretty much any dish requiring ground meat.
I’ve used it in everything from meatloaf to cabbage rolls and I almost always use ground turkey in my favorite pasta sauce.
Since ground turkey has such a mild flavor it can be flavored perfectly for any dish (turkey taco salad anyone?) and especially for these turkey meatballs!
Truly All-Purpose
The only thing that could make turkey even more perfect? Serve it up as turkey meatballs!
I call these meatballs “All-Purpose” because you really can use them in anything. They’re perfect in appetizers (like cocktail meatballs), add them to a jar of pasta sauce for quick meal or toss them in broth with veggies to create a meatball soup!
How To Make Turkey Meatballs Moist
Ground turkey is lean but these meatballs come out tender and juicy every time.
- Do not overcook, this will dry out the meat.
- Use ground turkey that has a little bit of fat (a mix of dark and white meat) or add a touch of olive oil
- Don’t overmix the meat, you just want to mix until everything is combined.
- Make sure they’re uniform in shape (they will all cook for the same amount of time)
For Great Flavor
- Don’t skip the fresh parsley (or the seasonings), it makes a huge difference.
- Season with salt & pepper
- A sprinkle of parmesan really flavors this recipe.
To Bake Turkey Meatballs
You can most definitely bake turkey meatballs! This keeps it healthier than it would be if we fried them and baking meatballs makes them nice and tender too! (I bake my regular meatball recipe too).
I generally bake these at 350°F for 28-30 minutes. If you are short on time, you can also cook these at 400°F for about 20 minutes or until no pink remains!
To freeze these meatballs, place them on a parchment-lined pan and freeze. Once frozen transfer to a freezer bag or a sealed container. To use, defrost and cook as directed in the recipe. (You can cook and completely cool them before freezing if desired. To use, just simply defrost and reheat).
More Meatball Favorites
- Juicy Air Fryer Meatballs
- Greek Meatballs
- Meatball Sub
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Cheeseburger Stuffed Meatballs
- Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs (in Homemade Tomato Sauce)
- Salisbury Steak Meatballs
- Meatball Pasta Bake
All-Purpose Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground turkey
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅔ cup parsley fresh, chopped
- ½ cup onion minced
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon basil and oregano dried, each
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix just until combined.
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Divide meat mixture into 1″ meatballs and roll into balls.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes or just until cooked. (Do not overbake)
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Appetizer, Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Turkey
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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these really spiced up our spaghetti night love this recipe! It was so easy!
Definitely perfect with spaghetti, glad you enjoyed them Trista!
I tried this sauce on turkey meatballs last night and served them to my very picky children and their even pickier cousins. What a HUGE hit! I cannot thank you enough – you’ve added a new staple to their diets …
I am so glad your family enjoyed the meal!
Love these meatballs! But 2 lbs of turkey made only 40 meatballs … maybe I made them too big. :)
This is one of the rare recipes where the ingredients and cooking time are 100% right on. They turned out perfectly the first try. Thanks so much!!
Question, though: If I don’t have panko on hand, could I substitute rolled oats 1:1?
I think that would be a yummy substitution Margaret. I am glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I’ve made these several times, and they’re great. I use the dried minced onions, full amount, and they are so good in it!
Glad you’ve loved them Jen!
Oh my these meatballs are better than I ever imagined!!! I had planned on putting sauce and cheese on them, but after trying the first bite I didn’t want to ruin the flavor so I nixed both the sauce and cheese and ate them plain. Just wow!! Best meatballs ever. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I am so glad you loved them Casey! Those sound like great additions.
Great recipe I add bacon to my turkey meatballs for the fat so they are nice and juicy. I also add parm/reggiano cheese.
Sounds like a great addition Shay!
Ended up pretty dry and bland.
If they ended up dry that would mean they overcooked so possibly your meatballs were smaller than mine or your oven ran a bit hotter. You’ll want to ensure you cook them to a temperature of 165°F so they are cooked through but still delicious and juicy.
Do you freeze them after you cook them? And how long are they good in the freezer? Sorry stupid questions
Jovanna, you can freeze them if you’d like, or you can use them fresh. They should keep well for about 3 months in the freezer. Thank you for asking! Enjoy!
Does this call for dried or fresh basil and Oregano? The photo shows dried but the recipe does not indicate.
I use dried basil and oregano. You could substitute fresh if you prefer. Enjoy, Katie!
If I leave out the onions, would it be ok?
It will change the taste, but you can leave the onions out. Enjoy!
These were delicious and so easy to bring make! The only thing I would change would be to sauté the onions before adding them into the mixture. I didn’t chop them small enough so the meatballs still have a bit of a crunch to them. Otherwise, great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed them. Great idea to saute them first!
First time i made i had rave reviews, so now i doubled the recipe and will have them for a Superbowl party! This is now my go to recipe for meatballs.
So glad you loved them Erin! Thank you for the review!
Just made these, and think they are perfect.. Perfect flavor, not too salty, not bland.. Nice easy recipe to follow.. Thank you for sharing
So glad you enjoyed them Laurie!
I made the meatballs and they were good, but they lacked flavor. They also were very dry. I will try to remake them maybe adding bell pepper, olive oil, and maybe a little more of salt. My husband did not like them at all, so I ate the rest of the batch instead of wasting them. I will let you know how they turn out. Thanks for the recipe!
These are wonderful!!!
Made these tonight, absolutely delicious! Next time only think I’ll do is add some Parmesan cheese to the mixture. Thanks for the amazing recipe!!!
I’m so glad you loved them Michelle!
Great recipe. They are great fresh and freeze well, too! I love it with the ground turkey, but was wondering if this recipe will work with ground beef? Do you recommend any modifications if using ground beef? Thanks!
This should work just fine with ground beef, no changes required.
Do you think changing parsley to cilantro would change the flavor too drastically? I love cilantro but not sure how it would work with this recipe!
can this be frozen?
Absolutely!
WOW!!! These were incredible!!! we added mozzarella cheese at the end!
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
These are delicious! i just made them; I used 85/15 ground turkey because I was afraid to go too lean. YUM! good flavor. can’t wait to serve them tonight.