Dinner is always a challenge, but recently I’ve been a little more frazzled getting a meal on the table. A certain toddler in my life may have something to with that? I’ve been trying to do a little bit of meal-prep on Sunday afternoons so that we have at least one meal in the fridge that we can use for lunches or a quick dinner for busy weeks. My favorite kind of meal-prep recipe is one that I can make once and use in a few different meals, and this flavor-packed garlic and herb turkey meatball recipe is one of them!
I got the inspiration for this recipe from one of my favorite lunch spots, Cava. It’s sort of like a Mediterranean Chipotle; I recently popped in there for a lunch and ordered a bowl with rice and hummus and meatballs and some other tasty toppings. It was so perfectly satisfying and I thought about how to recreate something similar at home. I started with a really easy turkey meatball recipe that I could prep in a big batch and bake; the meatballs are seasoned with a lot of garlic and some fresh, crisp herbs so that they’re incredibly flavorful on their own.
The recipe makes 18 small meatballs, and I have doubled it to have one batch to portion out into lunches over rice, hummus, tzatziki, red onions and carrots, kalamata olives, and some fresh herbs. The rest of the meatballs I stored in the fridge to save for a weeknight dinner later in the week. I warmed them up in tomato sauce and served them over pasta for a fast meal.
I’m keeping this recipe in my back pocket for the many busy weeks ahead, a little prep work goes a long way and I’m always so grateful to have a delicious meal prepped in the fridge when things get crazy! Get the full recipe below:
- 1 Lb. Ground Turkey
- 1 Egg
- ½ Cup of Panko Bread Crumbs
- 3 Large Cloves of Garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp. Fresh Parsley, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. of Fresh Scallions, chopped
- 1 Tsp. of Onion Powder
- ½ Tsp. of Dried Oregano
- ½ Tsp. of Salt
- ½ Tsp. of Pepper
- Cooking spray
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combined turkey with egg, bread crumbs, garlic, herbs and spices. Use your hands to mix everything together until just combined, and then roll into 1.5” balls (should make about 18 meatballs).
- Add meatballs to the lined baking sheet, and spray the tops of the meatballs with cooking spray.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees, and then turn the oven to broil for 3 additional minutes to get a golden brown finish.
- Serve warm with red sauce over pasta, in a rice bowl with Mediterranean toppings, or on top of a salad with the dressing of your choice.
