Turkey Meatball Recipe: Safe Temps for Shareable Treats (2024)

There’s nothing quite as easy to make that is so happily received at a game day get-together as a good meatball. In marinara, in BBQ sauce, wrapped in bacon, in a sandwich … meatballs and game-watching parties go hand in hand.

Here, we want to share the basics of making quality meatballs from lean ground turkey. They’re easy to make and, as long as you stick to your critical temperatures, turn out juicy and tasty every time! Read on and get the low-down on these delicious game-day treats that are equally good any day, game or not. Let’s take a look!

Turkey meatballs: basics of juiciness

Ground turkey is lean. To maintain moisture in the finished meatball, you need other ingredients. The egg in this recipe not only acts as a binder, the proteins adding to the structure of the finished product and the liquid of the yolk adds just a little more moisture to the mix. The breadcrumbs, strangely enough, also help keep the meatball moist.

How can that be? Adding dry breadcrumbs can’t make the meat juicier, can it? Yes! You see, as we cook the meatballs, the meat fibers contract, driving out the water they usually contain. If the meatballs were just meat, that liquid would drip out, evaporating in the pan. Breadcrumbs act as tiny sponges distributed throughout the meat mixture, sucking up free moisture as it becomes available. The meat, egg, and bread all work together to retain the juices of the meatballs as they cook.

Turkey meatball doneness temperature

We have written pretty extensively on this blog about poultry doneness temperatures, about how you don’t have to cook your birds all the way to 165°F (74°C). Well, this is ground turkey, so you can forget all that nuance! Meatballs don’t have the thermal mass to maintain a slower-than-instant bacterial kill temperature. Turkey meatballs need to be cooked all the way up to a food-safe 165°F (77°C).

The need to make sure each meatball is safe—you don’t want to accidentally send foodborne illness to one of your football friends—is one reason why Thermapen® ONE is such a great tool for this kind of cook. The small sensor, right in the tip, can handle small food items like individual meatballs, and it reacts so quickly that you can easily temp every single meatball. It can allay nearly all your food safety concerns.

Achieving the perfect meatball texture

Meatballs should not be chewy or bouncy. Rather they should be light and finely textured. No, you don’t want them to fall apart, but holding together just well enough to avoid that is perfect.

Meatballs get tough when they are overmixed. The mixing of meat causes the myosin in the muscles to form protein strands. These act like gluten in bread dough, trapping liquid and firming the texture. You want to mix the meatballs until the meat just starts to seem a little fibrous. At this stage, it should be just a little slack, so that when you start cooking the meatballs they slouch a little in the pan. If your meatballs are forming odd shapes as you turn them—pyramids, etc.—then you’re probably on the road to excellent texture! If your meatballs keep a perfectly spherical shape as you cook them, they’re probably overmixed and may be a little bouncy.

One of the great things about having a good meatball recipe up your sleeve is its versatility. Having an Italian dinner? Hit them with some oregano and maybe some fennel. Asian? Some cilantro, chili, and a little hit of soy sauce get you in the zone. BBQ? Crumble in some crispy bacon. Just keep your ratio close to the one we present in the recipe, and you’ll be fine. And no matter how you choose to modify or use these meatballs, you will love them. We liked them dipped and drizzled with good chili-crisp, but they’d be equally good with some tomato sauce or a nice, spicy BBQ sauce. Give them a try this weekend and see how well it goes!

Print

Shop now for products used in this post: