Growing up my mother made the best meatballs, hands down. I know I am biased because she is my mother, but feelings aside, I cannot find anyone else who can make a more softer and tastier meatball than her. My mother has always been the type to mix minced meat to get the best flavours. She will mix veal with regular beef, or sometimes add turkey and veal together.
My husband and I have considerably cut down our red meat consumption, so I didn’t want to stick with her traditional recipe. Doesn’t mean, we won’t consume a good burger or steak now and then, but we are definitely considering different alternatives more often.
I decided to swap my mother’s veal for ground turkey breast. I love turkey, such a great protein, but because it is so lean it can also get dry very easily if not cooked properly.
The secret in my mother’s meatball, is not the seasoning, but rather bread and milk! She drenches broken up pieces of whole wheat toast in milk and mixes it into the meat mixture and that my friends is what makes it super soft!
Over the years my mother has learned to mince vegetables into the meatball, not only to add flavour and juiciness, but to get some extra veggie intake for her picky grandchildren. Meatballs have now become a must on the menu when they all come over!
Please try this recipe out and let me know what you think! Would love to hear from you all 🙂
Juicy Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of ground turkey breast
- 2 eggs
- 2 slices of whole wheat toast (I usually use Dempster’s)
- Approx. 3/4 cup of milk
- 1 carrot
- Half a zucchini
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- A dash of black pepper
- 1 minced garlic
- A tablespoon of grated parmigiano reggiano (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a small bowl break up the toast bread into small pieces and pour the milk over it. There should be enough milk to drench the bread, but not create a pool in the bowl.
- In a medium size bowl, finely grate the carrot and zucchini (I usually squeeze the zucchini a little to get some of the excess water out)
- Add the two eggs and beat until fully combined.
- Add the turkey, garlic, salt, pepper and bread into the bowl.
- With clean hands, work all the ingredients together until completely combined.
- Take a medium size pan and add canola oil and place on medium high.
- Once the pan is ready, take a spoon and scoop the meatball mixture and place into the pan.
- Lightly fry each side (less than a minute on each side) and put into a pan lined with parchment paper. You want to lightly fry to make it a little golden brown, but let it completely cook in the oven.
- Place them in the oven covered for about 15 minutes.
- Optional: Usually for my daughter I don’t like to fry her food (on occasion I will) so I will directly place them in the oven and let it bake for about 30 minutes (turning them over halfway)
Enjoy!
Antonietta xo
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