Turkey Meatballs in Sauce

This is another recipe originally from my cousin Stacey, but I had to modify it a bit. Some of the modifications were to make it GFCF-compliant, and some were because I was lazy and/or didn’t have certain ingredients on hand. So if you don’t love it, blame me, not her. But of course you’ll love it!

First, finely dice 1/2 a medium onion, and sautee it in a little olive oil. You really want to make the effort to dice it as small as possible, because otherwise you’ll have big chunks of onion sticking out of your meatballs, like some kind of headless porcupine.

I bet this page is the number one search engine hit for GFCF headless porcupine.

Meanwhile, beat one egg, and add 1/4 cup crushed Rice Chex cereal. [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change their formulas without notice. Always check your labels!]

Then dump in one container of Gerber Organic sweet potatoes. (Does all this sound familiar? That’s because this is what you do with ground meat, y’all. You mix in a few coagulating ingredients to help it stick together, mold it into whatever shape your heart desires, and cook it. That goes for turkey, beef, pork, lamb… you name it.) If you want to get all fancy, you can actually cook a real sweet potato, mash it up, and use about 1/4 cup of that. Me? Not so fancy.

Then add 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, and oregano.

Once the onions are done, add them into the pile.

And then gently mix in 1 lb. of ground turkey. Could you use beef (or pork, or…?) Sure. But turkey’s healthier, and the taste goes especially well with the sweet potatoes. You don’t have to mix it in by hand, but you’re about to make the meatballs by hand anyway, so why not?

Now, one thing about turkey is it tends to be a little softer and moister than other ground meat, so sometimes you may need to add a little bit more of the Rice Chex to dry it out a bit. Don’t overdo it though, stop adding as soon as the mixture will hold together well enough in a meatball shape. It’s never going to be firm, but just keep swiping a handful of it back and forth between your cupped hands, and after a few moments it’ll form a ball that sticks more to itself than it does to you.

Lay them out on a sheet of foil sprayed with canola spray. You’re looking for them to be about 1.5 inches in diameter, but anything you might consider normal meatball size is going to be fine.

Then just pop them in a 350-degree oven for about 20 minutes. There will be a lot of liquid in the pan, and that will start to congeal as it cools, so immediately move them off to a plate before they get all gross. At this point, you could easily toss them all in a ziplock bag and freeze them for some future evening when you find yourself with nothing to serve for dinner.

But whether you serve them now or later, they’re going to need a delectable sauce to go with them! And man, is this one good. The ingredients are a tad weird, but just trust me, it is so tasty. Start with half a jar of Classico red pasta sauce.

Then add 1/3 cup of Cascadian Farm organic concord grape jelly. (Grape jelly? Yes, grape jelly. Just keep the faith, it’s gonna be amazing, I swear.)

And then another container of Gerber Organic sweet potatoes. This is especially convenient since they are sold in packs of two, and you used the first one in the meat. I hate trying to use up half a container of this and a few tablespoons of that… it’s just so much easier when a recipe calls for one whole something, you know? Anyway, mix it all up, and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes to thicken the sauce.

Then add your meatballs. You did choose a saucepan big enough to hold all your meatballs, right? (If your meatballs were frozen, you can toss them in at the beginning of the uncovered simmering to get a head start on the thawing. If you’re making them fresh, the sauce can be simmering while the meatballs are in the oven.)

Stir it around a bit to get everything coated, then cover and simmer for another 15-30 minutes, until the meatballs are heated through.

Mmmf. I’m sorry, it’s so rude of me to post with my mouth full. I just can’t help myself, they’re too good to let sit on the plate for long. You’re lucky I didn’t splatter sauce all over the screen in my mad frenzy.

Happy Eating!

Turkey Meatballs in Sauce

1/2 med onion
1 egg
1/4 cup crushed Rice Chex
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 container (1/4 cup) Gerber Organic sweet potatoes
1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 jar Classico red pasta sauce (about 12 oz.)
1/3 cup Cascadian Farm grape jelly
1 container (1/4 cup) Gerber Organic sweet potatoes