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.
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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.
I followed the recipe, only subbing freshly grated parmesean cheese for the feta. The one problem I had was that the juice from the grated onion leaked out during cooking. I see in your photos that this happened to you, too. The juice on the pan charred, even underneath the meatball, which added a bitter taste. Any tips on how to avoid this? Thanks in advance.
Hi, Jean. I’m not sure it’s the onion juice that’s leaking… it’s likely just moisture from the recipe in general. If you want to reduct charring, you could try to put parchment paper under it, and cook for a longer period of time at a lower temp. That may help with the bitter taste, as well.
I just made these- would definitely recommend! I used egg white because I didn’t have eggs and it still worked great.
Thanks, Rosemary! So glad you loved it!
We have made this a few times and love it. I like that you provide the nutrition information which I wish was also in your book. maybe in your next book. Can I assume the nutrition information is for the whole recipe not per serving.
Hi, Bart. The nutritional info here is per serving. There are 4 servings total in this entire recipe.
Perfectly delicious and moist. I had no mint or parsley, and used oregano and dill. Also soaked about 1/2 c. ww bread crumbs in a bit of milk. Otherwise, followed the recipe exactly and the meatballs were so flavorful and moist. Thank you!
I love this recipe! I follow it exactly, except I cut up fresh mint because it’s what I have on hand.
For anyone else wondering, I made these as turkey burgers. Baked at 400 for 15 minutes then broiled for another 3-4. It made 6.5 burgers and they’re delicious!
Thanks so much!
Question: What could be used in place of the bread? Could you soak whole wheat panko in a little milk? We just don’t buy bread and keep it on hand.
Hi Kat, Devin here from the Mediterranean Dish team. We sometimes add breadcrumbs rather than soaking the bread like with this Italian Chicken Meatballs Recipe. You could try swapping 1/4 of breadcrumbs (un-soaked) with this turkey meatball recipe but we haven’t tested it so I can’t say for sure. If you do try it please report back!
I made the meatballs with 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs and it worked great. They were delicious!
Yes, I used the breadcrumbs and poured some liquid and it worked perfectly!
Love these. The mint makes it taste even better! Tried them in the air fryer at 400 for 20 min then through them in marinara sauce!
I honestly was surprised that this was so good. I didn’t have spinach and added one extra garlic clove. About a 1/2 tbs to 1 tbs of salt. I had tzatziki on the side and it was super good. Oh yeah, I also cooked them on the stove top with avocado oil.
In a word “DELICIOUS” thanks for this recipe Suzy!
Delicious! The meatballs were moist and delicious! I’m going to make them again and again
Excellent, Excellent! I didn’t have mint or parsley on hand so I substituted rosemary, delish! I will try the parsley and mint on the next go around. TY!
Delicious. Wasn’t sure what to expect as the taste profile very different from my everyday. These were really delicious. I used kale instead of spinach and fresh mint instead of dried.
Absolutely delicious! I don’t tolerate gluten well so I replaced the bread with 1 tbsp coconut flour.
These were incredible and will make it into our regular dinner rotation! Easy to make, and perfect with a simply dressed salad. Thank you for the lovely recipe!
I followed the recipe to the letter and the meatballs turned out perfect. Thanks a lot Suzy for yet another great recipe, I love your website.
That’s great to hear, Olga! Thank you!
These are amazing! What is the serving size for the nutritional value?
Hi, Suzanne. So glad you enjoyed them! This particular recipe can be divided 4 get the approximate “serving size”. It kind of depends on the total number of meatballs you end up being able to form. The nutrition info here is our best effort and we use a program that calculates that for us based on the ingredient list.