Make Turkey Meatballs in Air Fryer for a quick dinner!

If you’ve ever been disappointed with turkey meatballs, this is the recipe that will change your mind about them.

I know this because I have a friend who texts me at the start of every summer, asking how to make a turkey burger that isn’t dry. Every year, I tell him “you have to add fat and moisture.” It’s the same for turkey meatballs.

I know that the whole reason many people eat ground turkey instead of beef is because turkey has less fat and saturated fat. I get that, I do. But you simply can’t use super lean ground turkey and no additional fat or moisture, and then wonder why your burger or meatball is dry.

So, I like to think of it in terms of adding GOOD fat. Instead of relying on the saturated fat that beef would contain, I’m using 85% lean ground turkey, and adding good fat like olive oil, and moisture from Greek yogurt.

Not only does the yogurt add moisture to the meatball mixture, but the enzymes in the dairy help tenderize the turkey, which makes it more . . . tender . . . to eat.

My friend reports back that his turkey burgers are improved, and I’m confident you’ll feel the same way about your turkey meatballs, too.

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Ground Chicken Meatballs

Now that I’m my 40’s and ever-so-predictably watching my cholesterol, ground beef, pork and lamb recipes are happening in our house less and less (lamb bolognese is saved for a special occasion).

In red meat’s place, I’m definitely turning to ground turkey and chicken wherever possible. Meatballs are one recipe where I don’t feel like they NEED to be beef to be delicious.

In fact, these Greek chicken meatballs are not only one of my favorite New Year’s Eve snacks (along with ham and turkey sliders), but I make them just about every other week as a quick dinner by adding a few side dishes.

So grab a rosemary gin cocktail, and let’s chat about these delicious Mediterranean meatballs. They can be baked or air fried, and served with things like feta, orzo and tzatziki to make them extra special.

“I have made this recipe so many times in the last year, I don’t even need to look at it anymore. The meatballs are so tasty, and when I was trying to lose weight, these were one dish I could enjoy guilt free. The whole family enjoys them too; you can throw them in a marinara sauce and use them in a meatball sub, or with pasta, or even cold leftovers out of the fridge!”

—Sharon

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My first foray into eating meatless meals was when I was in culinary school. But not actually in class, I mean when I was at home.

As I had quit my full time job to pursue a culinary education, my husband and I didn’t exactly have a lot of disposable income at the time (no crab stuffed salmon recipe for us, unless I made it at school and got to bring it home!).

So, we started eating vegetarian meals as a way to save money during those years, because meat is expensive!

But over time, we got so used to eating these mostly bean-centric meals, that it didn’t really feel like we were giving up anything, or trying to eat cheaply. It just tasted good (oatmeal for dinner and vegetables lasagna are surprisingly craveable meals). And, it’s a habit we’ve continued ever since.

For us, the key to a delicious and filling vegetarian meal is loading up on fiber, usually from lentils or beans. With lentils, we love vegan lentil curry and lentil ragu over spaghetti noodles.

For beans, we usually grab black beans and make vegetarian fajitas. The other black bean recipe that we make time and time again are these Black Bean Meatballs.

With a simple list of ingredients and a quick prep time, these black bean balls can be eaten on their own, tossed with marinara sauce and served over noodles, or even incorporated into a salad.

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I’m pretty uptight about food waste. I cringe every time I find a half full but expired condiment in the door of the fridge that needs to be thrown away.

I try to keep a list on my phone that lists the ingredients I have in the fridge, and the date that they will expire, so that when I am meal planning, I can be sure to incorporate them.

Right now, the two things staring at me begging to be used are miso and gochujang (Korean chili paste).

The miso I’m getting through pretty efficiently by making a fresh batch of miso ginger dressing almost every week.

And the gochujang I actually bought to make salad dressing for an Asian shrimp salad. But of course, the 1-1/2 tablespoons needed barely put a dent in the gocjujang tub.

One of my kitchen mottos seems to be “when in doubt, make meatballs.” I love everything from General Tso’s meatballs to Greek chicken meatballs, but the Korean meatballs I’m sharing today are my current favorite.

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Fall is in the air a little bit, even though it does seem like summer in the Midwest now extends into October or even early November, really.

While I’ve enjoyed a long summer of grilled buttermilk chicken and my Mexican street corn salad recipe, I’m very ready to dig into a big bowl of soup. Specifically, a big bowl of soup with noodles!

When I’m truly chilled to the bone in the fall and winter, nothing warms me up like a big bowl of ramen. While my little town has recently gotten a (really good!) pho restaurant, we don’t have anyplace to get ramen.

But it’s really not hard to make at home. I usually turn to shrimp ramen, or the tomato ramen with meatballs that I’m sharing with you today.

This is not the typical college student meal you might think of when you think of ramen. No, my ramen has big flavors and lots of filling toppings.

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I got an e-mail from a reader last week, telling me how excited she was to have found this blog, because I make so many meatball recipes. I was a little surprised, because I didn’t think I make THAT many meatballs.

But, when looking through my archives, I noticed that there’s turkey meatballs recipe air fryer and build-your-own meatball subs with toppings.

There’s Korean meatballs made with Gochujang, Greek chicken meatballs that my parents love, tomato ramen topped with (what else?) meatballs, and black bean meatballs for the best meatless meal, just to name a few.

OK, so maybe I DO make a lot of meatballs. I can’t help it. They’re fun to make, and there’s endless ways to spice, sauce and serve them.

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Disclosure: I was asked to participate in the McCormick Gluten-Free Recipe Mixes launch as a member of the Healthy Aperture Blogger Network. I received free samples of McCormick Gluten-Free Recipe Mixes and I was compensated for my time. Sponsored posts help me pay for the costs associated with this blog (groceries…lots of groceries), and help support me as I pursue a career in recipe development and food photography. All opinions are 100% my own.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, because I haven’t even really noticed myself. But apparently I’ve been on a huge meatball kick lately. I’ve made soup with meatballs, a salad with meatballs, meatball subs, Greek meatballs, Korean meatballs, and heck, even meatless “meat”balls. When I did a quick search of my computer to find the photos I needed to put together this post, I was inundated with “meatball” results. Ummm….maybe I have some sort of problem.

(more…)

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