Cheesy Turkey Meatball Skillet covered in sauce and cheese, made all in one skillet. Serve this with a green salad and a little bread on the side for dipping!
Cheesy Turkey Meatball Skillet
If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then these meatballs will certainly make the heart grow fonder! My meatball loving husband gave them two-thumbs up. Some of his other favorite meatball recipes are Giant Meatball Parmesan, Swedish Meatballs, Turkey Meatball Stroganoff and Salisbury Steak Meatballs.
Tommy loves meatballs, he orders them as an appetizer every time we go to our favorite Italian restaurant. Since we always share apps with our friends, he gets an extra order for himself, that’s how much he loves them. And trust me, he’s pretty particular and will judge a restaurant based on their meatballs, so making meatballs with turkey that meet up to Tommy’s standards is never easy. But he loved these, and told me to freeze the leftovers so we can have them for another night! (Another compliment because Tommy doesn’t eat leftovers).
To make these turkey meatballs taste great, I did a few simple things. Added umami ingredients like good quality Locatelli Pecorino Romano (don’t use the cheap powdered cheese from shelf, it’s awful), and a little tomato paste to the mix. Also, I browned them right in the skillet, I do think browning them really adds flavor. No need to add a lot of oil, I just sprayed the skillet with a little olive oil spray.
What To Serve With Skillet Meatballs
Tommy’s not eating carbs this month, (not counting the small amount of breadcrumbs in the mix) so we ate this with a green salad on the side and some roasted veggies. Normally, when I make this I serve it with some crusty bread, for dipping into all that sauce. This would also be great on roasted spaghetti squash or zoodles.
Helpful Tips:
- To make meatballs all the same size I use a food scale, weighing all the meat together then dividing it by the amount of meatballs I want. For this recipe it was about 1.6 oz each.
- Don’t overwork your meatballs or they will be tough.
- I made the sauce from scratch, just a quick marinara but you can also use a jar of your favorite sauce to make it even quicker.
More Meatball Recipes:
- Italian Beef and Spinach Meatballs
- Moroccan Meatballs
- Chicken Marsala Meatballs
- Asian Turkey Meatballs with Gochujang Glaze
- Vegetarian Zucchini “Meatballs”
Cheesy Turkey Meatball Skillet
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 2 tablespoons skim milk, or water
- 1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 2 small cloves crushed garlic, or 1 large
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 pounds 93% ground turkey
- cooking spray
Sauce:
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of a knife
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, I prefer Tuttorosso
- kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, I like thicker shredded Polly-O
- parsley or basil for garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the milk, breadcrumbs, Pecorino, garlic, egg, tomato paste, parsley and salt and mix well to combine.
- Add the turkey and mix using a fork to fully mix everything together, careful not to overwork and form into 18 meatballs.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, when hot spray with oil and brown the meatballs about 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Set aside on a dish.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, add the oil and garlic and cook until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and return the meatballs to the skillet. Partially cover and simmer medium-low until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
- Uncover, top with mozzarella cheese, cover and cook until melted, about 2 minutes. If your skillet doesn’t have a cover, you can put it under the broiler 2 to 3 minutes, until melted.
Delicious and easy to make. Did not have the parsley and ended up having to make my own crushed tomatoes but it worked out quite well. Another winner to go into rotation
The recipe looks delicious. I was wondering what would be a good pasta that you could serve it over?
I don’t eat beef or pork so I I used ground turkey as an alternative for meatballs or meatloaf. I have since switched to ground chicken and I prefer the mild flavor of the meat.
These are so delicious, they don’t taste like turkey meatballs, at all! Turkey can be dry without the right “stuff” added, and these have exactly what they need to make them moist and full of flavor! Thank you!
I made these last night and it was delicious! I had to add more spices to the tomato sauce for our liking but otherwise amazing.Â
Hello, I can’t rate the recipe yet as I haven’t made it yet lol. I am a newbie in the kitchen so I was wondering when I do make it, if I make a double batch of meatballs and want to freeze them for another meal would I cook them first then freeze or freeze them raw?
I often freeze meatballs after I cook them for a very convenient meal.Â
Hi Gina,
Is this the updated version of the cheesy turkey meatball skillet? Â The recipe I have been using called for turkey sausage with the ground turkey. My family loves that dish, guess we will have to try this version! Â Love all your recipes!
So good! I’ve had this on my list for a while and finally pulled the trigger. Meatballs turned out great- very juicy and flavorful. Adding this to the repertoire!
This is my new GO TO meal when I want to impress! I made this for my boyfriend on Valentine’s Day & he said it was “restaurant quality”! I have shared with a friend who’s husband refuses to eat ground turkey…. and HE LOVED THESE! They are super delish over pasta, as a meatball sub or just by themselves!
Absolutely DELICIOUS. A family favorite for sure. Thank you, Gina!!
To. Die. For.
Yum! Loved by all 3 kids that’s a winner in my house.Â
Awesome!!
This is by far one of my families favorite meals. Â I use whatever protein I have on hand, but the house favorite is venison! Thanks for a great recipe!
How much oil should be added with the garlic? Â
Hi, I entered this recipe into my WW app and it comes up as 4pts for me on Blue. Not sure why. Could be with the serving size but I put the same serving size as the recipt. I just don’t want to double up on meatballs and find out that I went completely over.
Thanks
Maybe you are using lean ground turkey?
Thank you. That was it.
This recipe is fabulous! It might be one of my favorites, I think I have to many favorites!Â
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was good but not my favorite. Meatballs were still slightly bland but I think it’s just from being turkey. And the sauce needed a little extra or to sit in the pot for much longer. I bumped up the entire recipe to use 2lbs of turkey which was easy to do. Used normal olive oil for browning and they browned perfectly in my pot which I was happy after reading some of the other comments. I browned them for a little more than 5-6 mins, turning every so often. I kept them in the sauce covered for 10 mins bc I was worried they would still be raw in the middle after only 5. Served with hearts of palm “pasta” and fiance def enjoyed it more than me!
So good! I used Rao’s marinara to speed this up a bit and it worked perfectly.
Could you replace the turkey meat with reg hamburger meat?
sure
These were so super yummy!! This will definitely be in the rotation.Â