Description
These baked whole30 garlic herb turkey meatballs are a tasty protein rich main dish that are made with ground turkey, fresh herbs, garlic, lemon, and ghee. Perfectly balanced, cooked to perfection, and made without cheese or breadcrumbs. Whole30, paleo, gluten free, low carb + keto friendly.
This recipe was inspired by these turkey meatballs from eatwell101
Ingredients
For meatballs
- 2 pounds ground dark meat turkey
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup finely diced onion
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 Tbs coconut flour (you may need to add a little more if you are using the plastic tube style ground turkey meat)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
For the garlic herb ghee
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up.
- Add all ingredients for meatballs to a large bowl and mix thoroughly to combine.
- Grab a small bowl of water or olive oil and wet your hands. Form mixture into 12 even sized 1 1/2 inch meatballs and space evenly on the prepared baking sheet.
- Spray or brush each one with avocado or olive oil.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.
- While meatballs are baking, gently warm ghee or olive oil, garlic, parley, lemon juice, chili flakes, sea salt, and black pepper in a small sauce pan over medium low heat until warm and garlic is aromatic.
- Remove meatballs from the oven and drain extra fat from the pan with a spoon if necessary. Drizzle with lemon garlic mixture and return to the oven to bake for 3-5 minutes more.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Coconut flour in combination with the eggs is what helps bind the meatballs together – without using breadcrumbs. Because coconut flour it is so absorbent it doesn’t take much – so give it a minute or two to absorb the excess moisture in the meatballs before adding any extra. Too much coconut flour will dry out the meatballs.
How long to bake turkey meatballs depends on how big they are. Even though they are on the bigger side, these turkey meatballs still cook quite fast – about 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. If you make the meatballs even smaller they will cook faster. If you want to double check with a meat thermometer the internal temperature should be 160 – which should rise to 165 once out of the oven.
You can either portion these turkey meatballs with your hands, or by using a large cookie scoop. This medium sized cookie dough scoop is the perfect size. I love using a cookie scoop to get equal sized portions, and then rounding them out by hand. Wet your hands with a little olive oil or water as you go to keep them from getting too sticky.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: dinner
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american