Are you ready for simple yet mouth-wateringly delicious and still good for you meatballs?  With only 5 ingredients, these Easy Greek Meatballs come together in a snap.  Enjoy them as a side to your lunch, throw them in pasta sauce, or eat them plain as a snack.

Once you get over the fear of squeezing, shaping, and making meatballs from scratch, you’ll never go back to the store-bought or restaurant version.  I made these when our college gal asked for healthy meatballs.  I threw them together without a recipe with what I had in the house.  I’m normally a very recipe specific person – I even look up my own recipes when I’m cooking!  But meatballs can be so easy when you know what a good meatball recipe requires! 

So upon special request, I put together a cute little platter of meatballs.

I could not have predicted the fight that erupted over who ate all the meatballs that ensued with the girls.  Granted these are the same daughters that fought over green peas when they were toddlers, over a shared bathroom all through middle school, and over their clothes and just about everything else since then and to this day.  So being the ever pleasing and peace seeking mama that I am I made them again, and then I made them a 3rd time – the recipe was finally perfected!

5 Ingredients:

• organic lean ground turkey 
• Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• grated onion
• dried Persian mint
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Part of what makes these meatballs so tasty is the dried mint.  Our pantry is regularly stocked with Persian pantry essentials like mint.  We welcome it in other Middle Eastern dishes and of course in Greek food also.  One day we will sit together by the Mediterranean sea eating Greek kababs and dolmathakia, God willing.

How to make Greek meatballs:

• Measure out the bread crumbs, dried mint, and salt and pepper in a large bowl – unpackage the ground turkey and place in a bowl
• Grab a set of gloves for kneading the meat and ingredients together
• Grate the onion and add to the bowl (if the mixture is too sticky add a little more breadcrumbs)
• Shape into small round balls, about 3/4 inch in diameter and place shaped, uncooked meatballs on a large parchment-lined plate
• Heat the oil in a large skillet to medium-low heat.  Cook in 2 rounds for 5 to 6 minutes, shaking the pan and turning the meatballs every couple of minutes. Cover the pan
• Transfer cooked meatballs to a plate – line the plate with paper towels to soak up cooking oils

Although we are moving towards a more plant-based way of eating, we tend to build our dinners around the meat or protein.  Ground turkey and chicken are our staples and we sprinkle in fish, vegetarian nights, and red meat as well.  

Health benefits of choosing ground turkey:

• lean meat – a lower percentage of fat than ground beef 
• healthy source of animal protein
• easy to substitute in for recipes that traditional call for beef or lamb

I suggest serving the meatballs plain on a pile of fresh baby spinach leaves.  They are flavorful enough to eat on their own.  My gals love popping them plain.  Bob loves to add them to pasta sauce and enjoy them with a big plate of spaghetti.

If you liked this recipe you will love Persian Kabab Sliders, also made with ground turkey and delicious Persian spices.  Serve these easy Greek meatballs alongside our Greek Quinoa Salad or Salad Shirazi Persian Salad for a perfectly delicious and well-rounded meal.

Yield: 4

Easy Greek Meatballs

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Are you ready for simple yet mouth-wateringly delicious and still good for you meatballs?  With only 5 ingredients, round these up in a snap.  Enjoy them as a side to your lunch, throw them in pasta sauce, or eat them plain as a snack.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 16 oz/1 pound package ground turkey
• 1 medium-sized onion, grated
• 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 Tablespoon dried Persian mint
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Measure out the bread crumbs, dried mint, and salt and pepper in a large bowl
2. Unpackage the ground turkey and place in a bowl
3. Grate the onion and add to the bowl
4. Knead and squeeze all the ingredients together until the meat mixture is paste-like (I wear gloves for this part!)
5. If the mixture is too sticky add a little more breadcrumbs
6. Shape into small round balls, about 3/4 inch in diameter
7. Place shaped, uncooked meatballs on a large parchment-lined plate
8. Heat the oil in a large skillet to medium-low heat
9. Cover the pan (if you shake the pan with hot oil and meatballs before covering it, could be trouble!). Cook in 2 rounds for 5 to 6 minutes, shaking the pan and turning the meatballs every couple of minutes.
10. Serve as a side or with pasta sauce

Notes

Makes about 30 meatballs one inch in diameter.

The smaller the meatballs, the faster the cooking time.

For 3/4 inch meatballs, it takes me 2 rounds of cooking in a large skillet for about 5 to 6 minutes each on medium heat. Add more oil if needed for the 2nd round of cooking. One pound of ground turkey makes roughly 50, 3/4 inch sized meatballs.