Give your turkey meatballs a flavor upgrade with this easy recipe! Juicy (never dry!) meatballs bake to perfection with Greek-style seasonings like creamy feta, fresh spinach, and mint.
There’s a lot to love about ground turkey. It’s lighter, less expensive, and cooks faster than ground beef. It also has a mellow flavor that makes it the perfect blank canvas for big Mediterranean flavor.
Just like with chicken meatballs, though, the meat can more easily dry out. My main goal when I developed this recipe was for the meatballs to not only be flavorful, but super juicy. A few tricks–like a soaked piece of bread and reverse-searing them under the broiler–made all the difference!
These meatballs are perfectly light and yet juicy, and rich in flavor. They’re delicious tossed into pasta with red sauce, of course. But I love the spanakopita-inspired seasonings alongside a fresh salad and tzatziki even more!
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
Classic Greek-style ingredients make these turkey meatballs extra delicious and flavorful:
- Bread: The secret to moist, juicy meatballs. I used whole wheat, but white bread also works well. For gluten-free, simply swap out whole wheat bread for your favorite gluten-free variety.
- Extra virgin olive oil: I used our Hojiblanca Spanish EVOO. Its mildly bitter, fruity, slightly peppery finish makes it a great choice for cooking.
- Baby spinach: A great way to sneak extra nutrients into your meals, especially if you have picky eaters at home!
- Ground turkey: Substitute with ground chicken if you prefer, or a combination of both.
- Yellow onion: White onion also works.
- Garlic: Mincing fresh cloves will give you the best flavor (see my guide to mincing garlic for tips).
- Feta: Use blocks of feta in the brine and crumble it yourself for this recipe. Pre-crumbled feta is dry and will not meld well with the other meatball ingredients.
- Egg: Act as a binder, preventing the meatballs from falling apart.
- Parsley: Adds a peppery, slightly earthy finish to the meatballs.
- Dried mint: Adds bright freshness.
How to Make Turkey Meatballs in the Oven
Broiling turkey meatballs as a final step is the key to getting that caramelized crust and juicy center without the fuss of pan-frying. Here’s how it’s done:
- Get ready. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly oiled a large sheet pan.
- Soak the bread. Toast 1 slice of whole wheat bread until just brown, then transfer it to a bowl. Remove the crust and cover the bread with water. Allow it to soak for about 5 minutes, or until very tender. Discard the water and squeeze the bread very dry. Crumble into a large, dry mixing bowl.
- Meanwhile, wilt the spinach. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add 2 cups baby spinach and cook briefly until just wilted. Remove from the heat and let cool briefly.
- Make the meatball mixture. Into the mixing bowl with the bread, add 1 pound ground turkey, 1 grated yellow onion, 1 minced garlic clove, 4 ounces crumbled feta, 1 beaten egg, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, and 1 tablespoon mint. Add the wilted spinach and season with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.
- Form and bake the meatballs. Form the mixture into balls (golf ball size) and arrange them on the prepared sheet pan. Bake in the heated oven for about 30 minutes, or until fully cooked through.
- Broil, then serve. Transfer to the top rack and turn the broiler on for just a couple of minutes or until the tops are browned. Keep a close eye to ensure they don’t burn. Enjoy!
What to Serve with Turkey Meatballs
You can of course toss these meatballs with pasta sauce and cooked pasta and it will be absolutely delicious. They’re also great as an appetizer with toothpicks and a dip. But don’t stop there! Serve with:
- Fresh seasonal salad: Tomato cucumber salad in the summer, and fennel orange salad in the winter.
- A flavorful sauce: Creamy whipped feta, tzatziki, or tahini sauce.
- Bread or grain: Pita bread or lemony rice.
- Something bright and briney: Quick pickled red onions or Greek Kalamata olives from our shop.
More Meatball Recipes
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Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 slice bread (whole wheat, white, or gluten free), crust removed
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 yellow onion, grated
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon dried mint
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Get ready. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly oiled a large sheet pan.
- Soak the bread. Toast the bread until just brown, then transfer it to a bowl and cover with water. Allow it to soak for about 5 minutes, or until very tender. Discard the water and squeeze the bread very dry. Crumble into a large, dry mixing bowl.
- Meanwhile, wilt the spinach. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the spinach and cook briefly until just wilted. Remove from the heat and let cool briefly.
- Make the meatball mixture. Into the mixing bowl with the bread, add the ground turkey, onions, garlic, crumbled feta, egg, parsley, and mint. Add the wilted spinach and season with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.
- Form and bake the meatballs. Form the mixture into balls (golf ball size) and arrange them on the prepared sheet pan. Bake in the heated oven for about 30 minutes, or until fully cooked through.
- Broil, then serve. Transfer to the top rack and turn the broiler on for just a couple of minutes or until the tops are browned. Keep a close eye to ensure they don’t burn. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients, including the olive oil used in this recipe.
- Leftovers and storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also freeze the meatballs before or after you bake them.
- To freeze uncooked meatballs: Place the uncooked meatballs on a sheet-pan lined with parchment paper. Freeze for an hour or so, until the meatballs are solid. Then transfer to a freezer-safe container and store until you are ready to eat them. (They will freeze well for up to 3 months, but I try to eat mine in about a month.) Bake the prepared meatballs from frozen–they might just take a bit longer to cook. When they reach an internal temperature of 165°F , the baked turkey meatballs are cooked.
- To freeze cooked meatballs: Allow the meatballs to come to room temperature, and transfer to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Freeze for about an hour, and then transfer to a container and store in the freezer. To reheat, place the meatballs on a lightly oiled baking sheet and warm in a 400°F heated oven for around 10 minutes.
Nutrition
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*This post has recently been updated with new information for the readers’ benefit.
Delicious and juicy. What a great healthy alternative to pork/beef traditional meatballs. I have made several batches and use a bit less mint and half Parmesan/half feta. I add a bit of thyme and basil too to tie in better with marinara sauce. Coat in marinara as recommended before freezing. We can barely tell they’re not traditional!
The meatball mixture was so wet that I couldn’t even roll it. I added way more breadcrumbs and chilled for an hour and it was still quite a mess. Also 30 minutes is way too long to cook. Mine reached 165F internal temp in 15 minutes. They do taste good, but the recipe needs some adjustments.
Made the recipe exactly and just wasn’t my cup of tea. I dont think they were juicy at all and honestly a bit bland.
This was so incredibly delicious 😋
We served these as an appetizer before Thanksgiving dinner, which was individual Cornish hens. The turkey meatballs with the Tzatziki sauce were a big hit! Please clarify which type of parsley you recommend for this recipe: flat leaf or curly? Thank you!
Either will work, but we love flat/Italian parsley… it has just a bit more flavor.