Last night a miracle occurred at our house. Every single person in my house ate the same exact thing for dinner. No one complained. No one whined. No dishes were strewn by an unruly toddler. It was the best night EVER!
This a staple meal in our house. William requests these meatballs every few days, we eat them a lot. They are really easy to make, relatively healthy and they make a ton, so you get two dinners for the price of one! I sometimes make my own sauce which I will also include the recipe for, but have used a bottled sauce in a pinch. We usually eat one batch over spaghetti and use the other half for meatballs sandwiches. I use turkey breast but have also used ground chicken and they are delicious as well.
2 pounds ground turkey breast
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup pesto sauce
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs whites
Mix everything in a bowl and combine well. Roll mixtures into balls. I use an ice cream scoop to make them all the same size. I put them on a cooling rack on top of a foil lined cookie sheet sprayed with a little cooking spray.
Bake the meatballs at 375 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.
In the meantime, I start on the sauce.
2 onions diced
2 carrots chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 garlic gloves minced
2 – 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes (I use San Marzano tomatoes)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Saute the onions and carrots until tender, about 10 minutes over medium heat.
Add the tomato paste, bay leaves, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and let simmer over low heat for about an hour. The sauce should thicken a bit.
Add the meatballs back in to heat through and serve.
These are so good. Make these and share them with your family. Hopefully they will become a staple in your house too.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground turkey breast
- 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 cup pesto sauce
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs whites
- Sauce:
- 2 onions diced
- 2 carrots chopped
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 garlic gloves minced
- 2 – 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes (I use San Marzano tomatoes)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Mix everything in a bowl and combine well. Roll mixtures into balls. I use an ice cream scoop to make them all the same size. I put them on a cooling rack on top of a foil lined cookie sheet sprayed with a little cooking spray.
- Bake the meatballs at 375 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.
- Saute the onions and carrots until tender, about 10 minutes over medium heat.
- Add the tomato paste, bay leaves, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and let simmer over low heat for about an hour. The sauce should thicken a bit.
- Add the meatballs back in to heat through and serve.
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Yummy Bree, these were great, my whole family loved them too.
I hope to make these on Sunday…yummy! Hope you received my email about a recipe desire to spruce up my sandwich…forgot to mention I thought avocado may be good on it?!
Great idea to toss in some pesto with the meatballs! I will have to try this recipe.
I love turkey meatballs I like how you incorporated pesto as the main flavoring. Great job!
I made these the other night and they were fantastic! I even threw two in the cuisinart for Baby Matthew to enjoy. Delish!
Love the photos and the way you lay put ingredients…will try this one…..I just made Asian flavored meatballs….
thank you! this is a regular at our house. my oldest son requests these all the time.
These look good! Have you tried the Panko bread crumbs before? Progresso makes some. They are really light and airy and are supposed to be good for you. I made homemade chicken nuggets with them recently. I also saw on Dr. Oz the other day to add cooked quinoa to meatballs to pump up the protein factor.
These are amazing! The kids, Jude, and I all loved them. I will definitely make them again. Thanks so much! Diana
Made these last night and they were delicious! I think they have magical powers!
http://happybabydesigns.blogspot.com/2010/05/turkey-pesto-meatballs.html
I am so glad that you liked them.
Thanks for this. I make the same recipe, but never thought of baking the meatballs — I usually cook them right in the sauce. Love the idea of baking them. They also freeze beautifully — just leave them raw on the rack in the freezer til they’re solid, then transfer them to a zip-top bag. I also like the idea of adding quinoa to the recipe. Will try it in place of some of the breadcrumbs. I’ve been making lots of quinoa salads lately.
I always have a batch of these in the freezer. My kids love them. I just bought my first bag of quinoa, I have never used it before.
You can also bake the meatballs before freezing them. It seals in the flavors and you can just toss them into your sauce or whatever you decide to serve them with.
Try serving them in chicken soup with tortellini.
they are baked before you freeze them.
Just made another batch of these and served it with a creamy Parmesan sauce. It was so yummy!
that sounds good!
I love pesto, and I love the idea of baking the meatballs. I plan to make these very soon. I’m not an experienced cook and would like to know if you used plain Progresso bread crumbs (recipe just lists bread crumbs) or the herb and garlic pictured with the other ingredients. Thanks for this wonderful recipe Bree.
I use whatever I have in my cabinet. Either one would work.
You can add garlic powder, salt and pepper and parsley to the plain bread crumbs. It would come out just like the garlic herb flavored breadcrumbs.
I made these tonight and they were amazing!! I used my homemade walnut pesto and made a fresh tomato sauce- then put it on Italian bread from Whole Foods, covered it in mozzarella and broiled it for a few minutes! That was one awesome meatball sandwich. Thanks for the great recipe, it’s the first one I’ve tried of yours and am excited to make more!
that does sound like one amazing meatball sandwich! I am glad that you liked it. It is a regular here at our house.
My family loved these meatballs, and the sauce was fabulous (and fabulously easy). Meatball subs- yum!
I am so glad that hear that. We love these meatballs.
bree, im making these meat balls as i write this! they are in the oven and smell so so good. thanks for the recipe i have never (for whatever reason) thought of putting pesto in the mix but yeah, smells sooooo good. and what a healthful recipe, no egg yolk and turkey make it really well balanced! thanks! amanda
Turkey Meatballs are something that we eat almost once a week. I am glad that you made them.
I made these meatballs for dinner for a tough crowd: my mom and dad. My dad raved about them- he didn’t even realize they were turkey! My mom loved them, and she’s generally pretty slim with the compliments about my cooking.
Thanks so much for helping me bring my family together for a meal.
I am so glad! Comments like these make writing this blog worth every second that it takes to put it together.
This has become a staple in my home!
me too. I make three batches at a time and keep them in the freezer.
I just wanted to stop by and say. I CAN’T BELIVE I JUST NOW FOUND YOUR BLOG!
How have I not known about you?!?!? I made your pesto turkey meatballs for my husband and he was INSANELY happy with them. I always thought I made “great” meatballs, but I will NEVER go back to my old recipe.
Thanks for writing this blog (and your personal blog), I’ve spent half my weekend just drooling over your recipes and photography.
Welcome! These meatballs are a favorite at our house and I always have some in my freezer. Thanks for checking me out!
I found your recipe on foodgawker and made these this afternoon to freeze before I went back to school. I had one ‘extra’ meatball to taste, and my dad and I both thought it was delicious. They’re so easy to make too! I used plain oats instead of bread crumbs, so next time I think I’ll add some garlic and herbs to add a bit more punch, but they’re great just plain too.
Thanks for the great recipe! This will definitely be staple in the future. Too easy not to be!
Thanks Hannah!
{ 6 trackbacks }