Asian Turkey Meatballs

Who doesn’t love asian turkey meatballs? I absolutely love making these meatballs for their slightly sweet, smokey and spicy flavors that all combine effortlessly together. If you love making American Chinese food at home, you may also love my healthy sweet and sour chicken or Easy Thai chili meatballs. 

THESE ASIAN TURKEY MEATBALLS ARE MOUTHWATERING GOOD

These Asian turkey meatballs will definitely have the family coming back for seconds. They are mouth watering delicious thanks to a slightly sweet, spicy and sticky sauce they are coated in. Every bite of these Asian meatballs is filled with a hint of ginger and deep smoky flavor that comes from the fish sauce. Every time I make these meatballs for meal prep, my husband always goes for these first. 

DO I HAVE TO USE GROUND TURKEY

If you are a traditionalist and want to use ground pork for these meatballs, you can. Of course, I always try to make things on the healthier side so I opted for a 93% lean ground turkey. As an alternative you can do half pork and half ground turkey as the meat base. 

Other options for combinations could be:

• 99% lean ground turkey however I would add about a ¼ – ⅓ cup ground mushrooms to add moisture
• 90% lean ground pork
• A 3 meat combination of equal parts ground beef, ground turkey and ground pork

Whatever combination you choose, it will sure to be delicious!

CAN I MAKE THESE HEALTHY ASIAN TURKEY MEATBALLS FOR MEAL PREP

Absolutely! These meatballs are perfect meal prep or any make ahead meal. Whenever I make meatballs I tend to make a double batch and have one to eat now and one to freeze and eat later. Given these meatballs store well in the fridge, you can have these for a quick lunch, dinner or snack for a few days. 

WHAT CAN I SERVE WITH HEALTHY ASIAN TURKEY MEATBALLS

There are several options you can serve these healthy Asian turkey meatballs with. The most natural choice would be rice. You can choose jasmine rice, basmati rice or really any type of short or long grain rice. 

Other options to consider are:

• Rice noodles
• Shirataki noodles
• Rice cauliflower
• Simple side salad

WHAT DO I NEED TO MAKE THESE MEATBALLS

I kept the ingredients simple for this recipe so if you needed to whip them up quickly you can. For starters you will need:

• Lean ground turkey (or ground meat of choice)
• Green onions
• Garlic
• Grated ginger 
• Fish sauce
• Chili sauce 
• Salt and pepper to taste

The sauce is pretty simple combining just 3 ingredients of 

• Garlic
• Hoisin sauce
• Orange marmalade

HOW TO MAKE ASIAN TURKEY MEATBALLS

Pre heat oven to 375 and spray a sheet pan with spray pam 

In a large bowl combine the ground turkey, fish sauce, ginger, chili sauce, green onions and salt and pepper to taste

Mix together until all ingredients are combined thoroughly. 

Scoop about a tablespoon of ground turkey and roll together to form a ball and place on your baking sheet. Continue this process until all of the meat is formed into meatballs. 2lbs of ground turkey makes about 12 – 14 balls. 

Spray your meatballs with spray pam so they brown and place in the oven to bake for 17 – 20 minutes or until cooked through. 

While the meatballs are cooking, in a large saucepan heat to medium heat and add about 2 tsp of sesame oil. Once the oil is heated, add your garlic and brown for about 1 minute. 

Next add your hoisin sauce and orange marmalade and let come to a slight bubble then reduce heat to a simmer. If you feel your sauce is too thick you can choose to thin with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce at a time. 

Once your meatballs are cooked, remove from the oven and you can pour your sauce over your meatballs. Or you can place the meatballs in the sauce to coat. 

You can top your meatballs with sesame seeds and additional green onions.