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Healthy Asian Meatballs are a low calorie meal made with a sweet chili glaze. An easy and nutritious meatball recipe everyone will love!
Asian meatballs are one of our favorite low calorie dinners. They’re easy, filling and pair well with just about anything. The meatballs I have for you today aren’t your typical Italian meatballs.
This oriental meatballs recipe is Italian and Asian fused into one and about to knock your socks off which their great taste. If you love Asian flavor and meatballs, these are definitely for you!
Why I Love These Meatballs
These Asian inspired meatballs are juicy and flavorful. They’re baked in the oven and coated with a 2-ingredient sweet and spicy sauce. Compared to Asian inspired meals that are deep fried, they’re much lower in calories!
What I love about these meatballs is that they’re crowd pleasing and are not only great for a takeout-like dinner at home, but also double as an appetizer for parties and gatherings.
These delicious Asian meatballs are soft and tender with the addition of veggies and oats. I love using oats in my meatball recipes instead of breadcrumbs. There’s much more fiber in oats and it gives the meatballs a nicer consistency I find.
For your Asian inspired meatballs, I recommend using a no sugar added sweet chili sauce. The majority of sweet chili sauces have a TON of added sugar so, read the label and look for one with little to no added sugar. I’ve seen them at all the major stores.
What You Need
- Ground Turkey, 97-99% lean or you can use ground chicken breast
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Broccoli Slaw
- Green Onions
- Gluten Free Oats
- Sesame Seeds
- Sweet Chili Sauce
- Coconut Aminos
Can Meatballs Be Made Ahead of Time
You can form your meatballs up to 24 hours in advance before baking. I wouldn’t recommend any longer than that as the other ingredients may alter the flavor.
Can Meatballs Be Frozen
Yes, meatballs can be frozen! There’s two ways you can do this. One is to prepare the meatballs ahead of time and freeze without cooking.
The other is to bake the meatballs and the sauce and freeze them together. Either method will work. My preferred method is to cook everything ahead of time then thaw for a quick meal!
What To Serve With Meatballs
- Brown Rice, Quinoa, Lentils, Cauliflower Rice – I enjoy mixing brown rice and cauliflower rice together for a higher volume meal.
- Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Asparagus – Any veggie you love will pair nicely. I recommend roasting the veggies!
- Broccoli Slaw Salad – Use the remainder of your broccoli slaw and make a quick cold salad by combining one part olive oil and two parts vinegar OR you can cook the broccoli slaw in a skillet with salt, pepper and olive oil until al dente and serve!
Want more healthy meatball recipes? Try my gluten free meatballs recipe, instant pot pasta and meatballs, and slow cooker meatballs and tomato sauce next!
Healthy Asian Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 lb ground turkey, 99% lean
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
- 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
- 1/3 cup broccoli slaw, lightly packed
- 2 green onions, diced
- 2 tablespoons Gluten Free oats, or regular oats
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Sauce
- 1/3 cup sweet chili sauce, no sugar added or low sugar
- 3 tablespoons coconut aminos, or Gluten free soy sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place the ginger, garlic, oat flour and broccoli slaw in a food processor. Pulse several times until it is finely diced. Remove from the food processor and transfer to a large mixing bowl with the olive oil and ground turkey.
- Using your hands, work the ingredients together until dispersed. Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoons of the mixture out and roll together in your hands to form one meatball. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat the process until all the mixture is gone. I got 16 meatballs total. The amount you get will depend on the size of your balls.
- Bake the meatballs in the oven 12 then flip and cook another 10 minutes. Then remove from the oven.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl then transfer to a large skillet and bring to a boil. Simmer for one minute while whisking the reduce to low heat and add the meatballs to the skillet.
- Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and diced green onions then serve! Meatballs keep in the refrigerator up to 5 days or frozen with the sauce up to 60 days.
Notes
- Each servings is about 4 meatballs depending on the size you make them. I made 16 meatballs from the recipe.
- My Amazon shop has more products similar to those used for this recipe and that I recommend to my weight loss clients.
- If you enjoyed this recipe, check out my cookbook for more delicious recipes!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The flavor in these meatballs is fabulous. The 4 stars instead of 5 was for texture. However, I do not have a food processor so had to use my blender. Also, I used almond flour. Next time I will try it with the gluten free oats. I think the almond flour gave it a funky texture. With all of that said I would 100% make this again. I served it in a bowl on top of cauliflower rice and fresh steamed green beans on the side.