Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs (with Veggies and Gluten free!)
Tender meatballs packed with veggies and cooked slowly in tomato sauce. Great for a healthy, weeknight dinner on top of spaghetti or made into a meatball sub.
Ingredients
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 2 packed cups baby spinach
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus more for serving
- 1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats or breadcrumbs
- 2 pounds ground turkey preferably dark meat
- 24-28 oz jar marinara or tomato-based pasta sauce
- cooked spaghetti, pasta, or sub rolls, for serving
Instructions
- Use the smaller holes of the box grater to finely shred the carrots until you have a cup of grated carrot. (Alternatively, you can finely chop the carrots or pulse in the food processor until finely chopped.) Finely chop the spinach.
- Add the grated carrot, chopped spinach, eggs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and parmesan, and oats to a large bowl. Mix until all the ingredients are combined.
- Add the ground turkey to the bowl and mix with a rubber spatula or your hands until everything is just combined. If the meat mixture still seems too sticky to roll into balls, mix in an additional 1/4 cup of oats or breadcrumbs.
- Scoop or roll the turkey mixture into 2 tablespoon-sized balls. I like to use a small ice cream scoop to scoop the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. You should get 45 to 50 meatballs.
Slow Cooker
- Add about a cup of the marinara sauce to the bottom of your crockpot/slow cooker insert. Add your meatballs on top of the sauce then pour the remaining sauce over the top. Do not stir!
- Place the lid on then set your crockpot/slow cooker to low for 4 to 6 hours (You can cook them for as little as 4 hours or as long as 6, depending on when you are eating dinner.)
- Once cooked, serve the meatballs over cooked spaghetti/pasta or on a sub roll with grated parmesan or shredded mozzarella on top.
Baked (sauce or sauce free)
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- For meatballs baked in sauce, grease a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish with oil. Place about a cup of the sauce in the bottom of the pan. Place the rolled meatballs on top of the sauce in layers with about 1/2 cup of sauce between the meatballs. Pour the remaining sauce over the top then cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake until meatballs are cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes.
- For sauce-free meatballs, place meatballs on a parchment or greased foil lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven until golden brown and cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes. (You can warm sauce separately and toss the meatballs in after cooking or serve the sauce on the side.)