These Baked Turkey Meatballs with Healthy Marinara Sauce are so moist and flavorful, you won’t miss the beef at all. In fact, they’re so amazing my family prefers the turkey which is a good thing since turkey is lower in fat.
After reading Super Immunity by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, I am trying to add more immune boosting, anti-inflammatory and anticancer foods to my family’s diet. The added mushrooms, onions, garlic and turmeric give any store bought marinara sauce a health boost, or you can make your own healthy marinara sauce from scratch (see recipe below). Serve these Baked Turkey Meatballs in marinara sauce with whole wheat or any healthy pasta of your choice (have you tried black bean?), and a side of sautéed swiss chard with garlic and mushroom. There. You have just added the major immune boosting foods to create a meal that’s not only healthy, but incredibly delicious, hearty and comforting.
You can use the leftover meatballs to make turkey meatball grinders the next day like I did for dinner tonight (just stick a few sauce covered meatballs on a whole wheat roll, top with shredded mozzarella and a sprinkling of Parmesan, and warm in the oven until the cheese melts). I got three enthusiastic “Mom, these are SO good”! thumbs up.
If you have picky little eaters like I do, chop the mushrooms very finely and they won’t even know their in the sauce. You can also switch out the ground turkey for grass fed ground beef if you prefer.
Baked Turkey Meatballs with Healthy Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
- Turkey Meatballs:
- 1 pound ground turkey dark or white meat
- 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 large egg whisked
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- 2 teaspoons parsley chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil for coating the baking pan
Healthy Marinara Sauce:
- *2 28 oz. cans whole peeled plum tomatoes preferably San Marzano, no added sodium, or two 28 to 32 oz. jars of store bought marinara sauce, no sugar added
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 cup mushrooms chopped
- 1/4 cup olive oil optional
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- handful of fresh basil
- freshly ground black pepper
- meatballs see recipe above
Instructions
- Turkey Meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Coat a large baking pan with the tablespoon of olive oil.
- Mix all ingredients together and form into 1" round meatballs.
- Place meatballs on the olive oil coated tray and roll them around so that they are all covered with a thin coating of oil.
- Bake meatballs on baking pans for twenty minutes.
Healthy Marinara Sauce:
- Pour the 2 cans of tomatoes (or store bought marinara sauce) into a large pot. Add the remaining ingredients (except the meatballs) into the sauce and cook on low, stirring occasionally until sauce becomes thick and dark red (about an hour). During the last twenty minutes of cooking, add the meatballs so that the flavor is absorbed into the sauce.
