Turkey Zucchini Meatballs

Got zucchini? These Turkey Zucchini Meatballs are the most delicious way to use them up! Tender, juicy turkey meatballs packed with fresh zucchini and creamy ricotta cheese. Serve them as is with your favorite sauce or add them to a bowl of pasta. We love making these meatballs for meal prep, too. They freeze wonderfully and you can use them in so many different ways!

Why You’ll Love These Turkey Zucchini Meatballs

These Turkey Zucchini Meatballs are not only an excellent way to use up the zucchini from your garden – we must admit, the flavor and texture is spot on. Ricotta cheese makes them super tender (you can also swap out cottage cheese for more protein!) and the fresh zucchini adds tons of flavor.

Ground turkey (especially leaner ground turkey) tends to be dry so adding ingredients like shredded zucchini and ricotta cheese are the perfect solution. We only add 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs so the meatballs aren’t weighed down and stay light, fluffy and tender.

ALSO – if you have picky eaters, young or old, these turkey meatballs are an amazing way to get more vegetables into a meal. The zucchini practically melts into the turkey, and since zucchini is a mild flavored vegetable to start out with, it’s a natural choice.

How To Make

Now that we’re done talking about how good these meatballs are, let’s get into how easy they are to make!

• Start by grating the zucchini and squeezing out the moisture. (Make sure that the zucchini is very dry before adding to the meatball mixture) Add to a bowl with ground turkey, breadcrumbs, ricotta and parmesan cheese and seasonings. Mix to combine.

• Form the turkey mixture into meatballs about the size of a golf ball (a little less than 2 inches in diameter) and place them on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 22-25 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

How To Serve

There’s so many ways that you can serve these turkey zucchini meatballs, but we’ll name a few of our favorites here! Popping them into your mouth cold from the fridge is totally acceptable, fyi.

• A dollop of creamy ricotta cheese in a bowl with marinara sauce and crusty bread is ELITE.
• Of course, you can pair these meatballs with pasta or spaghetti squash or rice.
• Pile onto rolls and toast with mozzarella cheese for a delicious meatball parmesan sub.
• To divert from the Italian theme, you can also toss the meatballs with our homemade stir fry sauce and serve with rice or ramen noodles.

Variations

Besides zucchini, you can use different vegetables like chopped broccoli, spinach, shredded carrots or even peas. We’ve been making these chicken and broccoli meatballs for so long – we make them for family and friends with toddlers and everyone loves them.

You can also try swapping out the ground turkey for ground chicken or ground beef to make this same recipe. Or, instead of ricotta cheese, try using cottage cheese for a protein boost!

Tips For Best Results

Even though these turkey zucchini meatballs are easy to make, we do have some tips for you to ensure that they taste their best!

• Squeeze the zucchini dry: There’s a lot of water in zucchini and you don’t want that excess liquid in these meatballs.
• Use the right turkey: We like using a 93% lean ground turkey, it’s lean enough but still has some fat for moisture. You can use a leaner product but the meatballs will be a bit more dry.
• Make a sample meatball: Before baking the whole batch, make a small meatball and fry it up in a skillet to test the seasonings.

Looking For More Meatball Recipes?

• Grandma’s Sunday Meatballs & Sauce
• Chicken & Broccoli Meatballs
• Cheeseburger Meatballs
• Thai Shrimp Meatballs
• Baked Chicken Meatballs

Turkey Zucchini Meatballs

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• Author: Dan
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 30 meatballs 1x

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These delicious turkey meatballs are packed with fresh zucchini to make them juicy and tender!

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 pounds lean ground turkey
• 2 cups grated zucchini, (squeeze excess liquid out with a clean towel or thick paper towels)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (can substitute cottage cheese)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl and mix to combine.
3. Portion out into balls with a scooper or your hands, roughly the size of a golf ball. You’ll get about 30 meatballs, give or take, depending on the size you make them.
4. Place the meatballs on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 20-25 minutes until the meatballs are no longer pink inside. The internal temperature on meat thermometer should register 165 degrees.
5. Serve with marinara sauce or zucchini pasta sauce, either alone or with your pasta of choice.

• Category: Dinner
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American