Healthy Turkey Zucchini Meatballs– Shredded zucchini and parmesan cheese are mixed into some lean ground turkey to create a juicy and flavorful meatball!
Besides tacos and pizza, I would say meatballs are on the rotating list of recipes I know my kids will eat so I make them pretty often. We eat meatballs in subs, on pizza, with pasta, or just enjoy them as is!
My go-to recipe is this slow cooker one, and I also love these meatballs that are stuffed with mozzarella cheese.
For this recipe, I was inspired by a large zucchini I was gifted from a friend’s home vegetable garden. Of course, I thought about making a zucchini bread but decided to go savory by making these meatballs.
I actually had just enough left over that I was able to make these zucchini brownies. Oh, man – they were soooooo good!
Healthy Turkey Zucchini Meatballs
To make these turkey meatballs with zucchini, here is the list of ingredients you will need:
- Ground turkey
- Egg
- Granulated garlic
- Onion powder
- Salt
- Pepper
- Italian seasoning
- Worcestershire sauce
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Parmesan cheese
- Shredded zucchini
- Marinara sauce
If you want to make these meatballs even healthier or gluten-free, replace the panko breadcrumbs with finely ground almond flour.
How To Make Turkey Meatballs With Zucchini
These turkey zucchini meatballs are very easy to make!
While the oven is heating up to 350°, place the ground turkey, egg, granulated garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese in a large bowl.
Using a spatula or your hands, gently fold everything together making sure to not overwork the ground turkey.
Then, roll the mixture into 18 meatballs and place them evenly on a sheet pan.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes – until they are browned on the outside.
While the meatballs are baking in the oven, place the marinara sauce you’re using in a pot over medium heat until it starts to bubble. Then place the meatballs in the pot simmering in marinara sauce for about 30 minutes until the meatballs and sauce are hot and cooked all the way through.
My secret for this recipe is using a jarred sauce! I know making my own is easy and with an Italian family behind me, I should make it from scratch. I can and do when I have the time but I’m not above purchasing jarred sauce.
My only requirement is it needs to be a high-quality sauce that tastes delicious. The two I found that meet my approval are from Delallo and Rao marinara sauce. Both are scrumptious and taste great with these meatballs.
Rao is a lot pricier than Dellalo but I have found large jars of it at BJ’s Wholesale for a good price. Delallo can be bought online and in most grocery stores.
After the sauce and meatballs have finished simmering, sprinkle some grated parmesan on top and enjoy!
Make-Ahead Instructions
These meatballs can be prepared ahead of time in a few different ways.
- You can form the ground turkey into meatballs and freeze them prior to baking.
- You can also bake the meatballs and freeze to cook in the sauce later on.
- Last, you can make the recipe completely ahead of time and freeze into portions for a quick dinner.
Whichever way you decide, it doesn’t affect the taste of the meatballs. They are all delicious!
What To Serve With These Meatballs
Personally, I like to enjoy these meatballs on their own with a salad. I try to save pasta for special occasions now. #over40problems.
If your pasta cravings are really strong but you want to keep it low carb, take a look at this meal prep idea using zoodles (zucchini noodles). It makes a great substitution for pasta and adds a boost of veggies to your meal!
Here’s a quick “how-to” video I put together to bring this recipe to life for you.
More Ground Turkey Recipes
If you really enjoyed these turkey meatballs with zucchini as much as I did, you’ll also enjoy some of these delicious turkey dishes!
- Sheet Pan Nachos With Ground Turkey
- Turkey Taco Bowl
- Greek Turkey Meatball
- Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Meal prep these Turkey Zucchini Meatballs so you can have them ready to make a tasty dinner in under 15 minutes. Share a picture and tag me on Instagram or Facebook if you decide to make this!
- 1lb ground turkey
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1½ cups shredded zucchini, water squeeze out
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 (25-ounce) jar marinara sauce
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl place the ground turkey, egg, granulated garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese.
- Mix until all the ingredients are combined.
- Form into 18 meatballs, place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, and bake for 20 minutes.
- Combine meatballs and sauce in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes.
- Enjoy meatballs and sauce with pasta, in a sub, or as is.
Make-ahead instructions
These meatballs can be prepared ahead of time a few ways. You can form into meatballs and freeze prior to baking. Or you can bake the meatballs and freeze to cook in the sauce later on. Last, you can make the recipe completely ahead of time and freeze into portions.
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OMG… I just made these without the sauce and they are amazing!! I will have some with sauce this upcoming week and the rest will go in the freezer!! They are Yummilicious!!
I’m from an Italian family where every Sunday we had traditional pasta with meatballs (made from beef), sausage, etc… So when I say these are actually damn good, it’s a real compliment to them! I’m counting Weight Watchers points and love that these are only 1.5 points per meatball (I rolled out 20 of them not 18 as per the recipe)! The only thing I would disagree on is using jarred marinara sauce – YUCK! It only takes 10-15 minutes to prepare fresh marinara sauce – which I was able to do while the meatballs were in the oven. By the time they were out, my freshly made marinara sauce was ready for me to add the meatballs and cook for another 30 minutes. The result was absolutely delicious! This Italian American gives this 5 stars!