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Skinny Italian Turkey Meatballs are a nutritious and lighter twist on an Italian classic dish. Made with lean turkey and herbs, they're the perfect dinner! Low Carb + Low Calorie + Gluten Free with Paleo option
Nothing better than a bowl of pasta and meatballs for dinner! It's pure comfort food many of us have grown up eating. But it's not the lightest of meals in terms of calories and balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates. Very important for a healthy weight loss!
The good news is this turkey meatball recipe is healthy, lighter, low carb, gluten free, low calorie and has a Paleo option!
Skinny Italian Turkey Meatballs
These healthy meatballs are made with ground turkey and Italian seasoning and herbs. They're packed with flavor, packed with lean protein and super easy to bake in the oven!
They're made with no breadcrumbs. Gluten free rolled oats are blended to replace the breadcrumbs. They're a healthier option that adds tons of fiber. Fiber is so important for a weight loss diet (I talk about that in this training).
What You Need
- Extra Lean Ground Turkey (or ground chicken breast)
- Gluten Free Rolled Oats
- Dairy Free Milk
- Eggs
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Fresh Parsley
- Italian Seasoning
- Garlic
- Salt and Pepper
How To Make Turkey Meatballs Lighter and Healthy?
To make turkey meatballs healthy and lower in calories, use an extra lean ground meat like 99% lean ground turkey or ground chicken breast.
Also, replacing breadcrumbs with a higher fiber alternative like gluten free rolled oats or almond flour ensures your meatballs are healthier, better balanced in nutrition and lighter!
The other trick to making your meatballs lighter is using less oil and eggs than traditional recipes. Traditional meatball recipes use a lot more of these ingredients and generally use full fat meats, which means significantly higher calories from fat. It's not necessary to have that much fat to make delicious meatballs.
Making these small tweaks to your recipes can really make a difference!
What To Serve With Turkey Meatballs?
I personally enjoy mine as pictured - with a large portion of zucchini noodles, a small portion of chickpea pasta and pasta sauce.
- Over Zucchini Noodles - I use my spiralizer to make noodles out of squash. It's a great lighter alternative to pasta and also, a great way to get more veggies in your diet!
- Over Pasta - You can do a whole grain pasta, but I recommend my clients choose plant based pastas over whole grains when possible. Plant based pastas like lentil pasta, edamame pasta, chickpea pasta, black bean pasta offer more nutrients that most individuals are deficient in. It's a great way to get your pasta fix!
- Over Salad - Top over your favorite greens with pasta sauce. Add roasted broccoli or zucchini on top!
Can You Freeze Turkey Meatballs?
YES! I actually recommend making a double batch of the recipe so you can freeze half and eat half. It's an easy way to reduce the amount of time you spend in the kitchen.
That way you can defrost and heat for busy weeknights or quick lunches! For freezing, I recommend placing on a sheet pan and freezing 1-2 hours until the meatballs are set then placing them in a container to freeze. You can freeze them cooked or uncooked.
When you're ready to eat, heat them in a skillet with pasta sauce, toss in a slow cooker, Instant Pot or in the microwave and serve them how you like!
Skinny Italian Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra lean ground turkey
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
- 3/4 cup Gluten Free rolled oats for Paleo sub 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic mince
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- In a blender, process the gluten free rolled oats and fresh parsley until it becomes a flour like consistency. Usually 1 minute of consistent pulsing does the trick.
- Add the egg whites, milk and olive oil to a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine then add the minced garlic, Italian seasoning and oat-parsley mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the ground turkey to the mixing bowl then using your fingers, break up the meat and combine with the wet ingredients.
- Once combined, use a medium ice cream scoop to scoop the meat mixture into balls that are 1 to 1 1/2 inches in size. Roll the ball between your hands then set on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the meat mixture is finished. I had 35 meatballs when I was done.
- Bake 7 minutes then flip and bake another 7 minutes.
- Turn the oven broiler to high and cook another 2 minutes to make the meatballs crispy on the outside.
- Remove from the oven and serve with pasta sauce, zucchini noodles and/or plant based pasta like lentil pasta, chickpea pasta or edamame pasta.
- Store meatballs in the refrigerator for leftovers up to 7 days or in the freezer up to 60 days. You can freeze them cooked or uncooked. If freezing uncooked, place the meatballs on a sheet pan first and freeze then remove and place in a freezable bag.
Notes
- My Amazon shop has more products similar to those used for this recipe and that I recommend to my nutrition clients.
Nutrition
What I Used For The Recipe
These are super easy and yummy to make but I did not get 35 meatballs with the almond flour method and a 1 1/2 in cookie scoop. I only got 18 lol It was super sticky and did not hold form very well either. Ill use oat flour next time for sure. Still very tasty either way.