Baked Turkey Meatballs, stuffed with quinoa and zucchini and served on lettuce wraps, is a recipe that will please even the pickiest eater.
It’s amazing what kids will eat when you pack it in a meatball. My 8-year old son, lover of all vegetables and fruits, will not be convinced that quinoa is something that should actually be consumed by humans. In fact, he does a rather convincing impersonation of a fish freshly yanked from the water whenever I dare to serve the healthy grain. Spluttering, gasping, practically flopping on the floor. If I wasn’t putting on the performance of an annoyed mother – hands on hips, foot tapping rapidly on the hardwood floor – I might actually give him a standing ovation.
As I scooped the meatballs onto the plates, I beckoned my husband over to the stove and whispered, “These are filled with grated zucchini…and quinoa.” {Snicker, snicker.} With knowing smiles and conspiratorial winks, we placed the plates in front of the boys, holding our collective breath.
Now, it helps that one their favorite dinners is Baked Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs, served over rice, alongside stir-fried veggies. The reaction to that dinner usually involves fist pumps and Tim Tebow poses. It does a cooking ego good. So, meatballs of any sort are bound to be well-received, right?
Right?
“Mum, these aren’t good…they’re great!” “Can we have them in our lunch boxes tomorrow? PLEEEAAASSSE?”
Mission accomplished. Flopping fish performance averted.
If you’re craving a light meal, wrap the meatballs in lettuce leaves with a touch of sauce. For something more substantial, even Super Bowl-worthy (see my 25 Super Bowl Recipes), serve the meatballs in mini buns. Everybody loves a meatballs slider!
The recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Thoroughly coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, cooked quinoa, grated onion, garlic, zucchini, parsley, dried chile flakes, soy sauce, oregano, ground pepper and egg.
Mix well to combine. Using a 1 1/2 tablespoon portion of the turkey mixture, form meatballs by rolling between the palms of your hands. Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly.
Bake until the meatballs are firm to the touch and cooked through, about 20 minutes.
While the meatballs are cooking, heat the tomato sauce in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Transfer the meatballs to the tomato sauce and gently stir to coat the meatballs.
Spoon the meatballs and sauce into a bowl, serve alongside the lettuce leaves and Parmesan cheese.
Serve 2 meatballs and 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese in each lettuce wrap.
Other meatball recipes:
Cookin’ Canuck’s Baked Caprese Turkey Meatball Recipe with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Mozzarella & Basil Pesto
Cookin’ Canuck’s Baked Teriyaki Turkey Meatball Recipe
Italian Turkey, Quinoa & Zucchini Meatballs Recipe in Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 medium onion grated
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 cup grated zucchini
- 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley plus more for garnish
- 1/4 teaspoon dried chile flakes
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 egg beaten
- 2 cups tomato sauce your favorite kind
- 9 medium to large butter lettuce leaves
- 6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Thoroughly coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, cooked quinoa, grated onion, garlic, zucchini, parsley, dried chile flakes, soy sauce, oregano, ground pepper and egg.
- Mix well to combine. Using a 1½ tablespoon portion of the turkey mixture, form meatballs by rolling between the palms of your hands. Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly.
- Bake until the meatballs are firm to the touch and cooked through, about 20 minutes.
- While the meatballs are cooking, heat the tomato sauce in a large saucepan set over medium heat.
- Transfer the meatballs to the tomato sauce and gently stir to coat the meatballs.
- Spoon the meatballs and sauce into a bowl, serve alongside the lettuce leaves and Parmesan cheese.
- Serve 2 meatballs and 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese in each lettuce wrap.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Blog is the New black
Love the addition of quinoa!
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My friend… these have got to be the prettiest meatballs I’ve ever seen. Love the fact that they are served as lettuce wraps.
Becky @ Olives n Wine
I LOOOOVE adding zucchini to meatballs or hamburgers or meatloaf or… well, you get the idea 😉 I can’t wait to try your meatballs in a healthy lettuce wrap!
megan @ whatmegansmaking
I never thought to serve meatballs in lettuce wraps before! My husband might throw a fit, but I think I’m going to try it 🙂
Cassie | Bake Your Day
These meatballs are a fabulous idea, Dara. I must try meatballs in lettuce wraps, great idea!
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl
Love the chili flakes and pinch of soy in these – plus all of the other healthy goodies!! Well done, Dara!
Aggie
My kids really love meatballs, I’ve snuck spinach in them, but never quinoa & zucchini! These look fantastic! And I really like how you served them, fun & healthy!!
Maria
What a fun and creative recipe! You always come up with the best stuff Dara!
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Hey, I just made sloppy joes with some of the shredded zucchini I’d put up this summer . . . and wouldn’t you know it was a guy at work who was snookered into eating green veggies??! I did come clean about it later . . .
I’m definitely going to try this with one of the other packages of zucchini in my freezer (the garden went a bit nuts when my back was turned). Though I’ll add rice or something for the quinoa–it just looks like semi-unfurled prophylactics to me!
Thanks–and sorry if I just made you never look at quinoa the same way again. Some things you just can’t un-see.
Alyssa @ Kitchen Cures
These look like such a fun take on lettuce wraps (which I love)! I was just wondering if you’re supposed to add 1 1/4 pounds of turkey?
Bree {Skinny Mommy}
I agree! I bet my kids would gobble these right up! Gorgeous pics too!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
These look so tasty, Dara! I love any and all lettuce wraps.
Denise [email protected] Brazil To You
Healthylicious are these meatballs real name!!!! Love this recipe… xx
addie | culicurious
YUM, I love the idea of packing your protein, starch and veg in the same little package. And the fact that it’s meatballs – perfect! I love the simple way you’ve served them too.
Erika @ The Hopeless Housewife
These meatballs look phenomenal!
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I make something similar with ground lamb and quinoa and some Indian spices thrown in (obviously) whole coriander seeds being my favorite one of them.
Next time I make those will be adding zucchini and serving on cold lettuce wrap sounds like a great idea!
patsy
I’m definitely going to have to try these meatballs on my boys! I’ve been trying to find a way to introduce quinoa to them (and my husband), and this seems like a good way to add it in without the “funny” looks I get when I put a new whole grain on the table.
Maria
Do you have any suggestions for an egg substitute? My son is allergic but this recipe looks great. I can remove the cheese (dairy allergy too).
Thanks!
Vicki @ WITK
I am always hiding healthy food, from my boyfriend! He refuses to eat anything fruit/vegetable, unless it’s a starch. Thanks for this recipe, it looks like something he would love.
Stephanie @ Eat. Drink. Love.
Way to sneak in quinoa! I often to have to try to trick my husband! 🙂
Minnie(@thelady8home)
I am drooling over those meat balls. 😀 They look too too tempting. Wish could pick up one and take bite.
Laurie {Simply Scratch}
Whoa! These meatballs look fabulous Dara… I would never guess they have all those healthy ingredients packed in them!
Bev @ Bev Cooks
I’m seriously sick for these bawwwwwls.
Kalyn
These sound so good; love the idea of using quinoa!
Karyn Good
Okay, these sounds delicious! I’m definitely going to give these a try.
Carla @ Carlas Confections
I love how healthy these are without losing the flavor! Mmm I would love to gobble some of these up!
Kevin @ Closet Cooking
These meatballs sound nice and tasty and healthy!
Kristen
Those are some seriously beautiful meatballs, girl!
Jamie
Even my own picky eater (or should I say Picky Non-Eater?) would go for these. I love the sneaky veg stuffed inside but I love the quinoa and what it’ll give the meatballs. Also loved that they are baked. Beautiful dish!
Culinary Schools
My gosh these sound amazing, but I may have to give in and try them with spaghetti.
Christy
Can I prep these into balls , then freeze? If so…how hot and for how long would I bake them once frozen?
Dara (Cookin' Canuck)
Hi Christy, I would suggest cooking the meatballs before freezing them. Cook according to the directions, let them cool to room temperature, place the entire tray of meatballs in the freezer to flash freeze them. Once they’re frozen, you can take the meatballs off of the tray and transfer them to freezer bags or some sort of freezer-proof storage container.
When you’re ready to use them, just take out the amount of meatballs you need. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and heat the frozen meatballs on a baking sheet for approximately 20 minutes.
Kate
I made these last night and they turned out great! I added sun-dried tomatoes and pesto for extra flavor – so good! Thanks for the recipe
Joan Frazier
These are incredibly good, and about as healthy as a meatball can get! Thanks.
Erin
These are delicious!! But how do you get the balls so nicely formed? I have to basically spoon them onto the cookie sheet in little piles…the mixture seems really wet :/
Suma
Can i use oats instead of quinoa?
Dara (Cookin' Canuck)
Hi Suma, I’ve never tried it with oats, so I don’t know how it would turn out. Let me know if you give it a try. I’d love to know!
amber
Umm…I just put one cup (before cooked=much more than one cup after cooked) into this recipe. Is there anything I can do besides buy two more pkgs of turkey and triple the recipe?? Any tips appreciated 🙂
Dara (Cookin' Canuck)
Hi Amber – Yes, one cup of uncooked does definitely give you a lot of cooked quinoa! 🙂 I did a post a little while ago that gives tips on freezing cooked quinoa (so great to have frozen quinoa on hand!). That post also includes some of my favorite quinoa recipes, as well as links from other bloggers. Here’s that post: https://www.cookincanuck.com/2013/03/how-to-freeze-quinoa-and-quinoa-recipe-link-up/ I hope that helps!
Lauren
These sound amazing! In fact they are in my oven as we speak! I’ll let you know how they turn out! In the meantime I would recommend draining the water from the zucchini and mincing the onion instead of grating it to cut down on the water content. The meat mixture was far too wet to work with. I made due but I think adding those two changes would really help! Will let you know how fantastic
They are!
Jack
The meatballs look awesome. I am always trying to do new stuff with quinoa. For the lettuce wraps I would include some slaw done with some toasted sesame Asian salad dressing.
traci
These are awesome! Super wet tho…so I added about 3/4 cup panko. Otherwise it would have been meatball pancakes. Will certainly make again!
Kate
Best tasting healthy meatballs I’ve made so far! Used red pepper flakes instead of chilli flakes cause that was what we had in the house. Thanks cookin Canuck!
Emma
I made these meatballs last night after trying to find a healthy meatball recipe..and oh my gosh these are some of the BEST meatballs I have ever had! I have made countless healthy meatballs with various ingredients, trying to find the best combination between healthy and delicious and nothing has come close to this. I was so surprised that they tasted AMAZING but I am so happy the did. I will sharing this recipe with everyone. Thank you!
Helen
2 great reasons to like this very much…my 2 year old is very picky, but he did try these meatballs! And wrapping them in lettuce? Genius!
Dara
That’s so great to hear, Helen! Two-year olds can sometimes be the toughest to please. 😉
Liz
Substitute HUSBANDS for kids in your first sentence and that’s what happened at my house! He has declared his disdain for zucchini frequently and would never touch quinoa, but he (and I!) both loved these meatballs! Cannot wait to make them again.
Dara
Haha, I feel your pain, Liz! I’m so glad to hear that these passed the test.
Tabitha
Absolutely delicious! From the first time my family tried this recipe more than four years ago it has been repeat ever since. These are also versatile enough to withstand being frozen and reheated.