Baked Meatballs
Baked turkey meatballs — 23 g of protein a serving, and they freeze well.
Sodium is calculated without salt added to taste.
Per 1 serving of 8 — 3 meatballs. Estimated; may vary.
Baked, not fried, and the mixture is held together by bread crumbs soaked in milk rather than by egg alone. That soak is the whole trick — it is why these stay soft instead of turning into dense little rocks.
The USDA MyPlate recipe makes 24 meatballs; a serving is three, at 143 calories with 13 g of protein.
Note the temperature: ground beef goes to 160°F (71°C), not the 145°F you would use for a steak. Grinding spreads surface bacteria through the meat, so the whole thing has to get there.
Ingredients
Amounts below make 8 servings, one serving is 3 meatballs.
- Beef (Ground, 90% Lean / 10% Fat, Raw)1 pound (454 g)
- Bread crumbs1/2 cup (54 g)
- Milk (Low-Fat)1/2 cup (122 g)
- Egg (Whole, Raw)1
- Onion powder1 teaspoon
- Dried parsley1/2 teaspoon
- Black pepper1/4 teaspoon, ground
- Soak the crumbs in the milk first. Dry crumbs pull moisture out of the meat and you get dense meatballs.
- Mix with fingertips and stop early. Worked like dough, the meat goes springy.
- 160°F (71°C) for ground beef, not the 145°F used for steak. This is the one temperature in the recipe that is not negotiable.
- Contains: milk, eggs, wheat (bread crumbs).
- They freeze well baked: cool completely, freeze on a tray, then bag. Reheat from frozen at 350°F (177°C) for 15 minutes.
Method
- Wash your hands and all surfaces before you start.
- Heat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a baking sheet.
- Soak the bread crumbs in the milk for 5 minutes. This is the step that keeps baked meatballs from going dense — the soaked crumb holds moisture through the oven.
- Add the beef, egg, onion powder, parsley and pepper and mix with your fingertips just until combined. Overworked meat turns springy and tough.
- Roll into 24 meatballs, about a tablespoon each. Wet hands stop the mixture sticking.
- Space them on the sheet so they are not touching, or they steam instead of browning.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until they reach 160°F (71°C) — ground beef needs a higher temperature than whole cuts, because grinding spreads any surface bacteria through the meat.
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