This Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach recipe is healthy, full of flavor, and they’re baked in the oven so you won’t have to stand at the stove frying them. Use these meatballs for a spaghetti dinner, in meatball sandwiches, or as an appetizer with your favorite sauce.
This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. We receive a commission if purchases are made through our links to retailers. Click here to read our full disclosure policy
.
We use both lean ground turkey and lean ground beef in our house (we usually use the 7% fat variety in both cases). There are some meals that I’ll use turkey or beef in. It usually depends on which one I get the best deal on.
But, there are some meals that I only use ground turkey in and some meals that I only use ground beef in. My Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach are an example of a recipe that I only make with ground turkey. Sure, you could make them with beef, but I think this recipe has always been best for ground turkey. Several years later, I’m still making these meatballs for my family — and always with ground turkey.
What I love about these Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach is that they are full of flavor and they’re healthy. I really like it when I can stretch meat out with vegetables. Also, I LOVE that I don’t have to stand at the stove frying them. I’m really not a fan of rolling meatballs, but it can’t be avoided. But, I can avoid extra time in the kitchen by placing them on a baking sheet and baking them in the oven.
Below you will find my meatball recipe, which uses lean ground turkey meat, frozen spinach, onions, and an assortment of other ingredients.
The most common way we enjoy them is in my Oven Baked Meatball Sandwiches — which are super easy. We also enjoy them with spaghetti and pasta sauce. But even if spaghetti or meatball sandwiches aren’t your thing, I have shared other ways you can use these Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach right after the recipe.
Ingredients needed to make Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach:
- Olive Oil (2 Tablespoons)
- Onion (1 Large)
- Garlic Cloves (2 – Minced)
- Salt (1 Teaspoon)
- Black Pepper (1/2 Teaspoon)
- Dried Thyme Leaves (1/4 teaspoon)
- Dried Oregano (1/2 Teaspoon)
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (1/4 – 1/2 Teaspoon)
- Frozen Chopped Spinach (16oz)
- Worcestershire Sauce (2 Tablespoons)
- Chicken Broth (1/3 cup)
- Lean Ground Turkey (2 1/2 ibs)
- Bread Crumbs (3/4 Cup)
- Large Eggs (2)
Cooking Equipment needed for Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach:
UPDATE: There have been so many great comments on this recipe! One of the biggest questions was about the calorie count on these and one of my readers determined them to have 60 calories per meatball — I’m sure this will vary depending on each how you make them, but this is great to know. Also, I’ve had readers who have successfully used fresh spinach, rather than frozen spinach, so if you want to give that a try, go for it!
Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe
Like this recipe? We’d love you to share it with your friends & family on Facebook or for you to pin it on Pinterest!
Print
Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 7 minutes
- Yield: 2 0 1 x
Description
This Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach recipe is healthy, full of flavor, and baked in the oven. Use these meatballs for a spaghetti dinner, in meatball sandwiches, or as an appetizer.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional – adjust to your preference)
- 16 oz frozen chopped spinach (defrosted, drained, and squeezed to remove excess water)
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- 2 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a large baking sheet by spraying with cooking spray. I actually line my baking sheet with foil and then spray with cooking spray.
- In a frying pan on medium heat, heat olive oil until hot. Then add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Sauté until onion is tender (about 5-6 minutes total time).
- Add spinach to pan and combine with onion mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth and mix well to combine. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked out (evaporated). I don’t have much liquid in my pan after I combine all these, but it will depend on how well you drained your spinach. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, combine the turkey, bread crumbs, and egg. Add cooled onion/spinach mixture to the meat. I do all of this step with my hands, but you can use a spoon if you prefer.
- With your hands, create meatballs that are about 1 – 1 1/2 inches in diameter and place them on the baking sheet. Leave a little bit of space between each meatball. When you are done shaping your meatballs, you will probably have about 40-42 meatballs from this recipe. Don’t need that many? Freeze them after baking or cut this recipe in half (but I say freeze them and then you’ve done the work only once and have a future meal).
- Bake until your meatballs are cooked through with an internal temperature of 160 degrees F – which was about 20 minutes for my oven. Remove from oven and serve as desired.
- Prep Time: 25
- Cook Time: 42
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
10 Ways to Meatball Ideas
1. Meatball Sandwiches (cooked meatballs in a hoagie roll with a tomato-based sauce and mozzarella cheese)
2. Served on top of pasta with pasta sauce
3. Covered in a casserole dish with pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese; bake until hot & bubbly
4. Used as the main filling in calzones
(wrapped in a pizza-type dough and baked)
5. Placed on a skewer before or after baking (fun for the kids)
6. Make and cook very tiny meatballs, only 1/2 inch in diameter (reduce baking temp/time as necessary) and top pizza with them
7. Place cooked meatballs in crockpot and simmer in favorite sauce; serve with toothpicks
8. Replace the chicken in your favorite soup with cooked meatballs instead (turkey meatball noodle soup, anyone?)
9. Slice cooked meatballs and use as filling in Italian quesadilla with mozzarella cheese in a tortilla
10. Make big meatballs (2-3″ diameter) bake in muffin tins; adjust cooking time as necessary
What are your favorite ways to serve meatballs?
I have been making these since they were published years ago. It is a wonderful recipe, tons of flavor, easy to make, and sooooo good for you! I bake them all and then portion them out for meal prep w/broccoli. They freeze after cooking and reheat very well. I am now back to them in the new year once more! Love these!
I meal prep these and freeze after baking. I usually portion them out into four meatballs per container so I can easily reheat and eat! They go really well with broccoli.
Can these be frozen, and if so before or after baking?
Can these be froze, and if so before or after baking?
Delicious!!!
Thank you for sharing this recipe
These are great for lunch times with the kids … they loved them and got some very into them too
Absolutely the BEST meatballs.
Add sautéed jalapeños when you do the onion, makes it so much better
In reply to P.J. .
In other words, you made a whole different recipe!! Why do people do this and then comment on how much more wonderful their version was.
LOVE this meatball recipe. It’s my go-to favorite recipe for meatballs.