Kendo’s Bake & Simmer Turkey Pork Meatballs

We have “Italian Sunday” every Sunday – which mostly means “Italian-American Sunday Fat Kid Status Meat and Pasta Fest with Wine”.

So these meatballs make appearances regularly, and we don’t get tired of them. A batch makes about 6 meals worth of meatballs for 2 so we eat leftovers in a day or two and freeze the rest in batches.

They’re medium-easy to make (disposable gloves help if you don’t want to touch the meat) and are wonderfully suited for going into the drink (sauce/gravy) at some point. I’ve been browning them in the oven lately to health it up a smidgen but they are super fantastic browned in a pan with oil. And yes we have sausages with them. *burp*

Not shown: half a loaf of garlic bread slices… (and cookie cake) (I know)

Edit 4/2020: you don’t have to be having sauce to enjoy these! Spray tops lightly with olive oil and bake in oven at 375F for 15-20 minutes until internal temp reaches 165F. Then serve with whatever you please! They can also be made perfectly with only turkey!

Kendo’s Bake and Simmer Turkey & Pork Meatballs

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Time in Oven 10 mins

Total Time 1 hr 5 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 lg onion diced
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 sprigs of fresh parsley minced
• 1 roasted red pepper diced
• 1 cups of panko breadcrumbs or cornflake crumbs (have a little extra ready, in case meatball mix is too goopy)
• 1 package of ground turkey
• 1 package of ground pork
• 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 egg
• 1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven at 400 degreesF.
• Line 2 baking sheets with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray.
• Label 2 quart freezer bags with today’s date.
• In a large bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: 2 eggs, olive oil,
• worchestershire sauce.
• Stir in veggies: parsley, garlic, onion & roasted red pepper.
• Next: stir in dry ingredients: breadcrumbs, parmesan, oregano, basil, salt, pepper & red pepper flakes.
• Mix well.
• Add turkey & pork into the bowl. Mix with hands until just incorporated. Don't overwork the mixture. If mixture seems to wet, add in more bread crumbs ¼ cup at a time.
• Form into 1½ inch balls with hands or ice cream scoop. Lay on prepared baking sheets.
  
• Place in oven and cook until browned. About 10-14 minutes. Rotate sheet pans once in middle of cooking if one pan isn't browning.
• Remove from oven. Put meatballs for tonight’s dinner in sauce. (We actually put ours in a seperate pot of heated sauce so we can freeze/reuse leftover sauce.)
• Simmer meatballs in sauce until internal temperature reaches 165F.
• Once cooled put meatballs in single layer into freezer bags. Remove air and freeze. They’ll keep for about 3 months.
• Enjoy!

Notes

If using fresh bread crumbs, elliminate olive oil from recipe!

If you don’t have an oven, these meatballs can be browned in a frying pan with a little olive oil and then cooked stovetop in your sauce.

If not using with sauce, spray tops of meatballs with olive oil lightly and bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes until internal temp reaches 165F.

Keyword baked, hearty, juicy, meatball, meaty, no beef

Music to cook by: Tranzworld 3