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Mediterranean Meatballs made with flavorful ground turkey meatballs served over Israeli couscous and a bright, lemony cucumber tomato salad. Make them in the air fryer or oven!
Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs
I love meatballs, Mediterranean flavors, and pearl couscous, so putting them all together in a one-bowl meal seemed natural. The meatballs brown beautifully in the air fryer, and the appliance is great during the warmer months, so you don’t heat up your kitchen. If you don’t have an air fryer, you can make them in the oven. The couscous cooks quickly and is an excellent base for fresh Israeli salad and lemon juice. This dish is great to meal prep for lunch or make for a quick weeknight family dinner. More ground turkey meatball recipes to try are these Greek Turkey Meatballs, Italian Turkey Meatballs, and Sheet Pan Turkey Meatballs.
What is the secret to meatballs?
Here are a few tips for delicious meatballs:
- Binding Ingredients: To prevent turkey meatballs from falling apart, you need something to keep them together. That’s why we have the egg and panko.
- Don’t Overmix: You want to mix the meatball ingredients until just combined without overdoing them. It’ll make the meatballs too tough.
- Don’t Overbake: Make sure not to bake (or air fry) the meatballs for longer than needed, which will dry them out.
Mediterranean Turkey Meatball Ingredients
Turkey Meatballs:
- Binders: Egg and panko breadcrumbs bind the meat together.
- Herbs: Fresh dill and Italian parsley
- Salt, Pepper, and Fresh Garlic flavor the meatballs.
- Turkey: Buy 93% lean ground turkey.
What to serve with Mediterranean Meatballs:
- Couscous: I used whole-wheat pearl couscous, also called Israeli couscous, which is actually a pasta. If you can’t find whole-wheat, regular is fine.
- Salad: Tomato, Persian or English cucumber, red onion, Italian parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper
- Mediterranean Meatball Sauce: Serve the bowls with lemon wedges, a dollop of tzatziki or nonfat plain Greek yogurt, and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
How to Make Mediterranean Meatballs
- Make the Meatballs: Crack the egg in a medium bowl and beat with a fork. Add the herbs, panko, garlic, salt, and pepper and mix. Add the turkey and mix with a fork until everything is combined. Be careful not to overmix. Roll the meat into 16 one-ounce balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Air Fryer Meatballs: Spray the air fryer basket with olive oil and place the meatballs in an even layer. Cook at 400°F for eight to 10 minutes, turning halfway through.
- Or Baked Meatballs: If you don’t have an air fryer, bake the turkey meatballs at 400°F for 20 minutes.
- Cook Couscous: Sauté the dry pasta in olive oil in a small pot. Pour in the broth, bring it to a boil, and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Add a pinch of salt if needed.
- Make the Salad: Combine all the salad ingredients in a small bowl.
- Assemble the Bowls: Put the couscous in each of the four bowls with the salad, meatballs, and lemon wedges. Top the Mediterranean bowls with tzatziki or yogurt and olive oil if desired.
How to Meal Prep Mediterranean Meatball Bowls
These easy Mediterranean bowls are fantastic for meal prep. All the ingredients will keep for up to four days in the fridge. To pack them for later:
- Store the meatballs and couscous in one container, the salad and lemon wedges in another, and the tzatziki in a small container.
- To reheat, microwave the meatball dish for about a minute and top it with the other ingredients.
Variations:
- Couscous: Substitute regular couscous with pearl.
- Grain Bowl: Swap couscous with brown rice, barley, or quinoa.
- Gluten-free: Use gluten-free panko and brown rice.
- Protein: Make ground chicken meatballs instead of ground turkey.
- Extra Veggies: Add diced bell pepper or zucchini.
- Cheese: Top with feta.
More Ground Turkey Recipes You’ll Love
- Naked Greek Feta-Zucchini Turkey Burgers
- Escarole Soup with Turkey Meatballs
- Turkey Picadillo
- Southwest Turkey Meatballs
- The Best Turkey Meatloaf
Mediterranean Meatball Bowl
Mediterranean Meatballs made with flavorful ground turkey meatballs served over Israeli couscous and a bright, lemony cucumber tomato salad. Make them in the air fryer or oven!
Yield: 4 servings
Serving Size: 1 bowl
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup fresh chopped dill
- ¼ cup fresh chopped Italian parsley
- ¼ cup unseasoned panko breadcrumbs
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 pound 93% lean ground turkey
- Olive oil spray
For the bowl:
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 1/3 cup dry pearl Israeli couscous, I used whole wheat
- 1 ¾ cup reduced-sodium chicken, or vegetable broth
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 2 cups Persian or English cucumber, diced
- ¼ cup red onion, diced
- 3 tablespoons Italian parsley, fresh chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 1/2 lemon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Lemon wedges, for serving
- ½ cup tzatziki or nonfat plain Greek yogurt, optional, for serving
Instructions
For the turkey meatballs:
- Crack the egg into a medium mixing bowl and beat with a fork. Add the herbs, panko, garlic, salt and pepper and mix to combine.
- Add the turkey and with the fork, mix to combine, being careful not to over-mix. Roll mixture into 16 evenly sized meatballs, about 1 ounce each, place on a parchment lined sheet pan and set aside until ready to cook. (Thoroughly wash your hands and work surface.)
- To air fry: Spray the air fryer basket generously with olive oil. Add the meatballs in an even layer, cooking in batches if needed, and cook at 400 degrees F for 8- 10 minutes, turning halfway through cook time.
- To bake in the oven, bake on a sheet pan 400F 20 minutes, no need to turn.
- Meanwhile, heat a small sauce pot over medium heat.
- Add ½ tablespoon olive oil and the dry couscous and sauté to toast the grains for about 3 minutes. Add the hot broth, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Add a pinch of salt, if needed.
- While meatballs and couscous are cooking, make the salad. In a small bowl, combine the tomato, cucumber, red onion, 3 tablespoons parsley, 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper, to taste.
- To assemble bowls: Add ¾ cup each of couscous to 4 bowls. Top with 3/4 cup salad and 4 meatballs. Serve with a lemon wedge, a dollop of tzatziki or yogurt (if desired) and drizzle of oil, if using.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Serving: 1 bowl, Calories: 466 kcal, Carbohydrates: 48 g, Protein: 31 g, Fat: 16 g, Saturated Fat: 3 g, Cholesterol: 130 mg, Sodium: 644 mg, Fiber: 4.5 g, Sugar: 3 g
I make these every couple weeks – we LOVE them! I do them in the air fryer and I add about a tbsp and a half of feta to the mixture. Yum!
This recipe is delicious! My 9 year old loved it too! I substituted quinoa for the couscous and it was still so good. Very fresh tasting! A favorite for sure. TY!
This was really, really good! I don’t like tomatoes or cucumbers so that’s saying something. The English cucumber is a must and I’m always looking for ways to use my Israeli couscous. My husband loved this. Thanks Gina for another awesome recipe!
Delicious! Not something I would normally make – good to try some different flavors
Delicious! Even my picky eaters enjoyed this meal.
So easy and yummy! This was the first time I’ve ever made meatballs and I plan on continuing to make them and experiment with different seasonings. This is a great springboard recipe to try new variations from. Next will include marinara and mozarella!
Those meatballs are fantastic! Overall, with the yummy coucous and freah salad … a very tasty meal. Will make again for sure.
Really yummy and easy to make!
We loved this one! Made the salad with cucumber, red pepper and Kalamata olives because that’s what we had and it was a hit.
This is one of your best! Delish!
This recipe is really delicious. I will definitely make this one again and again and I’m really looking forward to the leftovers for dinner tomorrow night! 😋
My entire family loved this recipe. The cool veggie salad made it light but the meatballs made it hearty at the same time. I used frozen meatballs to save time. Since I had the ingredients, my kids asked me to make this recipe again the very same week. Which I did! This recipe is a keeper.
Delicious and healthy
Very good and meatballs were moist. I doubled the recipe and baked in the oven. Next time will be sure to chop parsley smaller as that distracted my kids!
Served with the cucumber tomato salad along with tzatziki, hummus, and mini Nan and from Costco.
Wow so glad I made this dish. Super easy to make the meatballs & salad. I used couscous from Aldi & tzaktziki sauce from Aldi. Better than what I have had in a restaurant.
I made the meatball portion of the recipe today and will put together the remainder of the recipe tomorrow as I had meal plans for today. I followed the recipe exactly as written but found the meatballs tasty but dry. I hope they reheat well for me. Love your site and recipes thought!
This is such a delicious recipe!! It’s very easy to make. I used the fat free greek yogurt. It’s very filling!!
Amazing!! So flavorful and a great combination of meatballs, salad and tzatziki to make a delicious meal. The whole family loved it!
Amazing!! So flavorful; my whole family loved it! Subbed cauliflower rice for the pearl couscous for my bowl.
Made tonight and wow – so delicious! I used ground chicken since that’s what I had on hand and loved it! So much flavor and the couscous and salad are all a perfect match!
Absolutely delicious! I’m hoping my husband forgot to grab his portion that he planned to take to work today.
Easy and tasty. Cooked in air fryer and dinner was delicious and quick. Made the recipe as written. Perfect! We will make this again.
So much flavor in this fresh, easy meal. Yum!
Are we supposed to heat the broth first? i don’t see that step in the recipe.
If I serve it with something other than the couscous, will it cut back on the carbs? Im thinking zucchini noodles!
Yes of course!
Really delicious and satisfying! Made as written (almost) and would have liked more of the salad so I may double that next time. The only way I diverged from the recipe is that I don’t like big meatballs so I rolled mine a bit smaller and ended up with 20. The extra meatball made the meal look even more substantial in the bowls, ha ha ha. I made Gina’s tzatziki sauce and topped with that; didn’t see the note about straining the yogurt until I was cooking dinner but it was still thick and creamy. The whole meal came together really fast, I’ll definitely add into our weeknight rotation!
Glad you enjoyed it!
So delicious! I used turmeric couscous which added extra flavor.
This was absolutely delicious! My whole family loved it! Served it with The Mediterranean Dish tzatziki.
This was excellent! Used ground chicken and frozen dill, didn’t have parsley – great flavor in the meatballs. Will make again!
I mixed up ground beef day before. So good to have all spices/herbs have a chance to flavor the meat balls.
Family loved dish. Hopes it will be in menu rotation. Delicious
This was outstanding! Made it exactly as written with the air fryer, didn’t have tzatziki or Greek yogurt, but the salad and couscous made up for it. A huge hit here, thank you!
Delish!! Super easy to make and so good! Next time I’ll add some Kalamata olives to my bowl.
This was so simple and yet so delicious! You must have tzatziki with it. It is the perfect complement. I will be doubling the batch next time.
This was really easy and it turned out delicious. Using a fork to mix the meat really helped to not over work it.
Absolutely outstanding! Refreshing, colorful, nutritious, quick and easy to prepare and assemble! So many flavors and textures. Another delicious meal❣️
This one is a keeper! It was so simple and SO delicious!
Hi Gina,
Made this for dinner tonight. It was delicious. I will certainly be making this again. Maybe adding a bit of cilantro to the meatballs. I like spice so maybe some hot sauce.
I prepared this exactly as directed. It was refreshing and pretty to serve. I can never do the prep as fast but it was definitely easy.
I have fresh mint so next time, and there definitely will be a next time, I think I’ll use that in the salad instead of parsley. I garnished it with homemade Greek yogurt.
Thanks for a winning recipe, Gina!
Love it! Used orzo instead with lemon and olive oil.
one of my favorites
I made this recipe last night. It was outstanding. I also made the tzatziki sauce I found on this site. The meatballs were tender, juicy, and flavorful. I froze half of them to pull out for another dinner next week. The freshness of the crunchy cucumbers and tomatoes paired wonderfully with the savory meatballs.
I did not have couscous, so I prepared a fresh lemon and garlic red masoor lentil. It was great.
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed them!!
Yum! This was great!
This was really great. The one thing I didn’t do was add the lemon the the tomato cucumber salad. My mother made a version of this salad my whole childhood and the acid came only from the tomatoes itself and it is heavenly! So I did her version of the salad, with the addition of dried oregano. Over all it was winner!
Great!!
I use “flaxseed meal” instead of the egg to bind together.
1 tablespoon of F.M. and 3 tablespoons of water. Let sit for about 5 minutes.
BTW/ T.Y. for the recipe. I will add it to my rotation.
I normally don’t write reviews, but this recipe was amazing! All of the flavors came together well! This recipe will definitely be apart of my rotation. Thank you for all of your amazing recipes!
Thanks Asontae!
Hi, Gina! Thanks so much for another great recipe. Thanks to you I have lost nearly 10 pounds in 9 days making your recipes and walking.
I have a question. I am making this for dinner tonight. On the recipe it states 13pts. When clicking the WW Points button, it is calculated as 11pts. Can you please clarify this for me?
GREAT!! Thanks for catching that, it’s 11 with whole wheat couscous.
Thank you! Have a great day.
Wanting to prep these for the freezer. Do they keep well frozen? Bake first, then freeze? Or form and freeze raw?
I think they would freeze ok cooked but I have not tried!
Hi. Do you have the nutritional info for just the meat alls? Thank you.
I made these meatballs tonight and my husband said it was the most delicious ground turkey he has ever had.
Excellent as is most if not all of your recipes. I am most interested in Mediterranean since Doctor recently recommended.
Thank you!!
This recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try — we have an egg allergy in our home so what do you suggest as an egg substitute in the meatballs?
Thank you!
What do you usually use? I hear aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas) or flax eggs?
We use flax eggs in baking but I’ve never tried them with meat! I will give it a try! Thank you!
What are your thoughts on substituting chicken for the turkey?
Would be great.