Baked Turkey Quinoa Spinach Meatballs.
Ahhh my Mondays are normally calm and not packed with appointments, this Monday was quite different. My day was filled with doctor’s appointments and finally culminated with my youngest daughter’s parent/teacher conference. I needed something that they would love, total carnivores, but something healthy, that I wouldn’t mind serving. Filled with quinoa, a nutritional powerhouse – these are totally parent-approved!
These were prepared quickly, freeze perfectly and are the quintessential weeknight meal. You can also add these to your favorite sauce for a great weeknight meal.
Ingredients:
2 lbs of ground turkey (I used lean 93%)
1 cup of cooked quinoa (any color will do)
1 medium yellow onion, diced very small
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of chopped spinach leaves (I used baby spinach leaves)
1/4 teaspoon of red chili flakes
2 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce, Sriracha sauce or other hot sauce that you love or Worcheshire sauce
1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon of Oregano
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal
1 egg, beaten
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 and spray your baking pan with sides with baking spray. Set aside. In your stand mixer with the paddle attached, add all of the ingredients and mix until incorporated. Then form meatballs, rolling in between your hands and then lay out on your baking sheet. Repeat until you use all of the meat mixture. Bake for 35 minutes or a little more – until golden brown. Rotate them half way through the baking time.
— Knead to Cook
Hello. What can I use in place of flaxseed meal? Ground nuts? More quinoa?
Thanks.
You can use wheat germ, wheat or oat bran or omit it all together. π
Could I use Almond Meal?
To replace the flax? If so, you can or just omit it. oxo
Ok so i literally JUST made a version of your recipe for me and my 2 three year olds. the only differences is i left out the soy, worchestshire, the chili flake and basically everything but the garlic, onions, turkey, quinoa, salt, and spinach and i made them in a muffin pan. let me tell you something! my kids LOVE THESE!!! theve each eaten three at the time of posting this! good job!
YAY! I love that you customized it to your family’s taste! Success with kids… it’s a great thing!
Do you by chance have any nutritional info on this recipe?
I’m sorry I don’t but you can easily plug it in to a nutritional calculator. Looking at adding that to my new website π
Just prepared these meatballs…. cannot wait for them to come out of the oven.
Yay! Pop back and let me know what you think!
At what point would you freeze these? Thanks!
Once their cooled, you can freeze them π
Making these for dinner tonight! Super excited to try them out! π
Hope you love them!
I don’t have a mixer with a paddle. Would a food processor work or just a hand mixer.
Use your hands π
I baked these meatballs and they are so lovely! I’ve skipped the spinach and added shredded carrot and they were an amazing blockbuster here at home! π
Translated in portuguese here:
http://cozinharsemlactose.blogspot.pt/2013/04/almondegas-de-peru-e-quinoa.html
Thank you for the lovely review!! oxoxo
Thanks for the recipe! Approximately how many meatballs does this recipe yield?
I don’t remember exactly. I need to note that! I want to say 16-18.
Nice post! Keep up the good work π
Thanks!!!
Loved this recipe!! Made it exactly as directed (with the soya sauce) and they were amazing!! I made the recipe to make 18 meatballs and the nutritional information is as follows (per meatball):
Calories: 116
Fat: 2g
Carbs: 9g
Protein: 16g
Fiber: 1g
Sugar: 1g
Thanks for sharing your great recipes!! I loaded the information for the meatballs in to myfitnesspal if anyone wants to find it there!
Is the Italian seasoning a bottled herb or the type that you make salad dressing with (Good Seasons brand ) ? These look delicious, can’t wait to make !
Bottled Italian herb seasoning (dried) is perfect.
Oh heavens, these were fantastic!! I have Celiac disease and this is perfect for me. Great fiber on so many levels and the taste is great – awesome!
These are my new meatballs!
Thanks – Peggy
Peggy, You have no idea how happy your message makes me. Thank you! I’m so happy I could help. oxo
Has anyone baked then froze for a later time? I’m thinking of trying then put in slow cooker with homemade bb-que for holidays.
I haven’t but don’t see why it wouldn’t work. π
Just made these to help supplement my protein on the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge – and love them! My husband likes them too! I did make a few minor adjustments: left onion out; substituted basil for oregano, added a bit of finely chopped green onion, and used Louisiana hot sauce (didn’t have soy sauce). Yummy! My recipe made about 30 smaller meatballs! I will be freezing some! Thanks for the keeper Knead to Cook! π
Love that you customized them! Perfect π Thanks McKenzie!
Wow!!! This recipe is delicious!! I have to admit this was my first time cooking with ground turkey and I was so very pleasantly surprised! These are the most flavorful meatballs I’ve ever had. The only addition I made was adding some chopped dried cranberries (honestly I only added them because they were sitting on my counter waiting to be put away after grocery shopping) I found they added a nice little sweet to offset the savory in this recipe. I served these on a bed of arugula with a dollop of dill dressing and a splash of balsamic vinegar! Can’t wait to make this one again!!!!
EmmyLaine, Your message made me smile from ear to ear! So happy you loved them and I love the addition of cranberries! YUM!
Today is Day 1 of my Advocare 24 day challenge and I made these for lunch (prepared yesterday and reheated today). I slightly altered the recipe because I didn’t have red chili flakes, soy or flaxseed meal but they still turned out great! I’m an incredibly picky eater and will admit I was a little scared to try them but this will definitely be a staple in my diet from now on! Thank you for sharing!
Perfect! I’m so glad you customized them to your preferences – that’s what cooking is all about! Good luck with your challenge!!! oxo
Just made these for supper and they are awesome! My husband thought they were great and is glad there are lots of leftovers. I am freezing some though. Thank you…love finding new recipes we both like.
Carmen, Thanks for leaving me a comment. Glad you guys loved them! They are a favorite in my house too! oxox
This is one of my favorite recipes. We’ve made these meatballs at least a dozen times so far and they always turn out fantastically. We omit the flaxseed meal and we sometimes play with some of the proportions. They also really do freeze well, though they usually get defrosted and eaten pretty quickly! π
Thanks!
Awesome!!! Glad to hear you love these π oxo
Just made these and they are AMAZING!!! I can’t stop eating them π
That’s awesome!!! So happy you loved them π
how much salt do you use?
That’s preference. My suggestion is to make one small meatball and cook it in a pan to taste for seasoning. We limit salt big time so I try to use as little as possible.
Hi! I’m going to make these tonight, should I saute the spinach before I add it to the mixture?
You can leave it raw or cook, whichever you prefer. π
Good to know, thank you!