Greek-inspired Turkey Meatballs

Who doesn’t love a meatball? With amazing fresh flavors like feta cheese, Italian parsley, thyme, and an amazing yogurt sauce…these hit the spot. And honestly, if you don’t like meatballs, these could easily become burgers. So you know…follow your heart. Ground turkey is a great, healthy alternative to ground beef. And I find that the 93% lean/7% fat ratio is my favorite as it helps avoid the dryness that ground turkey sometimes gets a bad rap for. And this could be a great low-carb or keto meal served over some cauliflower rice with a little Greek salad, oh yes. Or if you’re doing burgers, enjoy those carbs and throw this patty on a bun! Let your tastebuds lead you — mine have never steered me wrong, I’m sure yours won’t either.

Alright, let’s get right into it. Here we go.

Oh one more thing…scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for some musical inspiration for your cooking journey.

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Makes 12 meatballs

For the meatballs, you’ll need:

• 1 lb. ground turkey (I prefer 93% lean/7% fat)

• 1/2 small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)

• 1-2 garlic cloves, grated

• 2 heaping tbsp. crumbled feta cheese

• 1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped

• 1 tbsp. fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, chopped

• 1 egg

• About 1/2 tsp. each ground black pepper and salt (feta cheese is very salty, so not much additional salt is needed)

For the yogurt sauce, you’ll need:

• 1/2 c. Greek yogurt (I use 2%, but go for what you know)

• 1/2 c. cucumber, peeled and grated

• 1 garlic clove, grated

• 1 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped

• 1/2 lemon, juiced

• 1/2 tsp. salt

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Now onto the execution…

For the meatballs:

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F

2. Combine all of the listed meatball ingredients into a large bowl

3. Mix until combined, being careful not to over-mix

   Using your hands here is best, and beating the egg before adding it to the bowl may make for easier mixing

4. Warm a skillet with about 1 tbsp of a neutral flavored oil over medium-high heat

   Try avocado oil or canola oil here. Olive oil (especially extra virgin) isn’t great for high heat cooking as its smoke point isn’t super high and it has a noticeable flavor.

5. Using a slightly oiled ice cream scoop (or you can eyeball it with just your hands), gently make 10-12 golf ball sized meatballs

6. In batches, brown the meatballs on all sides (or as many sides as you can get — they’re round so…technically there are no sides lol), and set aside

7. Once all of your meatballs are browned, transfer them to the oven on a baking sheet, and bake for about 10 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 165° F

   Get an instant read thermometer! Seriously they’re great. It’s a pretty foolproof way to prevent overcooking your meat.

8. Remove the meatballs from the oven, et voilá…meatballs!

Now for the yogurt sauce:

1. Pretty simple — combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, and season with salt and pepper to taste

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I served my meatballs over cauliflower rice that was seasoned with a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper, a little green salad with cherry tomatoes, salt & pepper, and my favorite salad dressing, and of course the yogurt sauce. Truly bomb.

Please try it out and let me know what you think by tagging me on IG @mouse.kitchen!

xo, 🐭

Listen to Peppers and Onions on Spotify. Tierra Whack · Song · 2020.

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