Meatballs are a weeknight staple at our house, because they’re easy to make ahead, great to freeze and use for leftovers, and they’re pretty much always a crowd pleaser! So I’m always trying to find new ways to add different flavor spins on the classic meatball mixture. I was recently craving my favorite chicken piccata dish from a restaurant in my hometown. It’s traditionally a dish of chicken cutlets dredged in flour and browned, and served with a sauce of butter, lemon juice, capers, and stock or white wine. So I decided to take all of those flavors and bring them to my turkey meatball recipe for a quick weeknight dinner!
One of my favorite tricks for making meatballs faster is to use my air fryer – they cook in about 12 minutes, get a nice golden brown crispy exterior, and the clean up is way faster than the oily-splattery-mess on my oven. You can also opt to use ground chicken or turkey in this recipe, but I always find that the ground turkey has a bit more flavor and stays juicier! The lemon and garlic flavors really come through on the meatball, and I love the buttery, briny caper sauce. I serve it over pasta, but they would taste great over rice and could also easily be paired with veggies or a side salad. Scroll down for the recipe!
- 1 lb. Ground Turkey or Chicken (I prefer turkey for the flavor!)
- ½ Cup of Seasoned Breadcrumbs
- ¼ Cup of Parmesan or Romano Cheese
- 1 Egg
- 1 Lemon, zested
- 3-4 Cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 2 Tbsp of Parsley, minced
- Salt and Pepper
- 3-4 Tbsp of Butter
- 1 Shallot, thinly sliced
- 2 Cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 2 Tbsp of Flour
- Splash of White Wine (optional)
- 1 Cup of Chicken Broth
- ½ Lemon, juiced
- Capers
- Parsley, to garnish (optional)
- Combine ground turkey, seasoned breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg, lemon zest, minced garlic and parsley and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Use your hands to mix the ingredients until just blended, then using a tablespoon, scoop and roll the mixture into meatballs. Repeat until you have roughly 20 small sized meatballs.
- You can cook the meatballs in a pan with a little bit of olive oil over medium heat until they’re browned and cooked through. Or you can place the meatballs in an air fryer, and cook at 390 degrees for about 12 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- (At this point, you can start making the piccata sauce if you’re ready to eat right away or save the meatballs in the fridge until you’re planning to eat later!)
- To make the sauce, melt the butter in a wide pan and add in the shallots and garlic. Sauté until the shallots soften and the garlic starts to caramelize on the bottom of the pan.
- Whisk in the flour to the buttery mixture until it’s dissolved, and then add a splash of wine to deglaze the pan. Stir in the chicken broth and lemon juice and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to slightly thicken.
- Toss in the cooked meatballs and capers. Add as many capers as you’d like to taste – their briny flavor can be robust, so add them slowly and incorporate more as needed.
- Finish with fresh parsley and cracked black pepper and serve over pasta if that’s your thing! (It’s my thing!)
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