I love meatballs and use all types of ground meat regularly. My Asian Turkey Meatballs are versatile, lower in fat, and extremely flavorful. These Asian Turkey Meatballs have a ton of flavor from garlic, ginger, and cilantro. Add in the citrus dipping sauce and you’ll have trouble keeping these crowd pleasers around for long!

How To Make Asian Turkey Meatballs

Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees F.  Spray your muffin tins with olive oil.  Next, mix together your egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, ginger, cilantro, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, ground turkey, salt and pepper.  A little tip—for cilantro, you don’t need to pick the leaves off of the stems.  The stems are also packed full flavor, so don’t throw them away!

Roll your meatballs into golf ball sized pieces, and place in each muffin spot.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, mix your dipping sauce ingredients together and blend well.  Serve alongside your Asian Turkey Meatballs and enjoy!

Flavor Profiles

When you think of meatballs, you probably think of one dish–Italian meatballs on top of spaghetti.  It is easy to get in the mindset that certain foods go hand-in-hand with certain cuisines.  However, you can easily take any food and change the flavor based on the ingredients that you add.  I love this concept, because it turns a simple dish like meatballs into a dish you can make a hundred different ways.  So, what gives my Asian Turkey Meatballs their flavor?  I simply took the base of what a meatball is (ground meat, breadcrumbs, and egg) and added in ingredients that are commonly found in Asian Cuisine including scallions, cilantro, ginger, sesame, and soy.  Similarly, if you wanted these meatballs to have a Mediterranean flavor profile, you would swap those ingredients for ingredients like oregano, feta cheese, and basil.

Handling Raw Turkey

Whenever you are handling raw meat, you want to be careful to not cross-contaminate and avoid getting a food-borne illness.  For my Asian Turkey Meatballs, I recommend preheating your oven and preparing your muffin-tin before you start the recipe.  This takes out the risk of you potentially touching raw turkey and contaminating your oil canister or oven.  Then once you are done touching the raw turkey, immediately wash your hands before touching anything else.

How do you know when your meatballs are done?  The safest way is to use a thermometer to ensure they reached a safe internal temperature.  Poultry is completely cooked when it reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

What should I eat with my Asian Turkey Meatballs?

These Asian Turkey Meatballs make a great appetizer on their own.  Serve at your next party or get-together, trust me your guests will thank you!  You can also enjoy them as an afternoon snack for yourself or your kiddos.  If you want to have them for dinner, I recommend serving over rice and adding a vegetable like sautéed spinach!  What is your favorite way to enjoy Asian Turkey Meatballs?  Let me know in the comments section below!

Similar Pages

Looking for more meatball recipes?  Try my Microwave Meatballs, Greek Lamb Meatballs, and Healthy Chicken Meatballs with Coconut Cream

Resources

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “Safe Food Handling.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/safe-food-handling.

Asian Turkey Meatballs

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

Keyword: meatballs, turkey

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Chef Abbie Gellman RD

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 egg beaten
• 1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger minced
• ¼ cup cilantro minced
• 2 scallions chopped
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 pound ground turkey

Dipping Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 scallion chopped

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray muffin tins with olive oil.
• Mix meatball ingredients together and place ~1 ounce balls in each muffin spot. Bake ~30 minutes, until golden brown.
• Mix dipping sauce ingredients together and blend well.
• Serve meatballs with sauce on the side.

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