These tasty Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Sauce are filled with flavor and quick and easy enough to make on a busy weeknight.
If there's a food my kids love without question, it's meatballs. It doesn't seem to matter what type of sauce they're served with, or what type of meat they're made with, my kids will gobble them up. These Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Sauce were no exception.
While most meatballs take time to make because you have to hand roll each meatball, I found that these ones came together quickly enough to make on busy weeknights. Plus you can always mix and form the meatballs ahead of time, and simply take them out of the fridge and cook them at dinner time.
How to make Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Sauce
Making these flavorful meatballs starts with mixing up the meatball mixture. This involves adding the ground turkey, panko, hoisin, egg, green onion, cilantro, garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper to a medium bowl. Mix it all together with a large spoon or your hands (use food-safe nitrile gloves if you're squeamish about touching raw meat).
Form the turkey mixture into 1 to 1 ½-inch meatballs and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. You can either go ahead and bake them now or put the baking sheet in the fridge to cook later. Bake the meatballs for 18-20 minutes until they are cooked through.
While the meatballs are cooking, go ahead and start making the sauce. Stir together the coconut milk (make sure to save the rest of the can for another use, or if you're making rice you can replace some of the water with the coconut milk for rice that is lightly coconut-flavored), hoisin, peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes in a saucepan or saute pan.
Turn the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the meatballs are ready. Add the meatballs to the sauce and continue to simmer until the sauce has thickened (this will likely only take a few minutes). Remove the pan from heat and stir in the cilantro and lime juice.
These meatballs are best served with rice or noodles. Serve with a little extra minced cilantro and/or lime wedges to garnish.
Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Sauce Ingredients
- Ground turkey - if you like, you could substitute the ground turkey with ground chicken, ground pork, or ground beef.
- Panko - make sure to use gluten-free panko or breadcrumbs to make these meatballs gluten-free
- Hoisin sauce - make sure to use gluten-free hoisin to make both the meatballs and the peanut sauce gluten-free
- Large egg
- Green onion
- Minced cilantro - you will need this in both the meatballs and the peanut sauce, plus perhaps a little extra for garnishing your finished meatballs.
- Garlic
- Grated ginger - pro-tip: always keep one or two pieces of ginger in the freezer. You can grate it straight from frozen with a microplane.
- Kosher salt - or you could use MSG-salt to enhance the savory flavors in this dish.
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Canned coconut milk - either regular or light will work, but make sure it's unsweetened. Note that since you're using less than a full can for this recipe, you can either add the extra to your rice if you're serving it with the meatballs (replace a portion of the water with it) or you can use powdered coconut milk and only mix up the amount you need (follow the directions on the package).
- Smooth peanut butter
- Soy sauce - make sure to use gluten-free soy sauce or tamari to make the peanut sauce gluten-free
- Red pepper flakes - or you could use a small squirt of hot sauce like sriracha instead
- Lime juice - freshly squeezed lime juice is the best, but bottled will work fine too.
Want more Thai-inspired recipes?
Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Sauce Nutrition Notes
To make this recipe gluten-free, make sure to use gluten-free panko (or gluten-free breadcrumbs), gluten-free hoisin, and gluten-free soy sauce or tamari.
This recipe is dairy-free as written.
Turkey Meatballs with Peanut Sauce
Equipment
- Microplane for grating the ginger
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 pound ground turkey
- ½ cup panko use gluten-free panko or breadcrumbs to make these meatballs gluten-free
- 3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce use gluten-free hoisin to make these meatballs gluten-free
- 1 large egg
- 1 green onion minced (about 1 Tablespoon)
- 1 Tablespoon minced cilantro
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt or MSG-salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Peanut Sauce
- 1 cup canned coconut milk either regular or light will work
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce use gluten-free hoisin to make the peanut sauce gluten-free
- 2 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce use gluten-free soy sauce or tamari to make the peanut sauce gluten-free
- 1 Tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 Tablespoon minced cilantro plus a little extra for garnishing
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
Instructions
Meatballs
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Stir together 1 pound ground turkey, ½ cup panko, 3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce, 1 large egg, the minced green onion, 1 Tablespoon minced cilantro, the minced garlic, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (you can use either a large spoon or your hands to do this). Form the turkey mixture into 1 to 1 ½-inch meatballs.
- Spread the meatballs onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through.
Peanut Sauce
- While the meatballs are cooking, start cooking the peanut sauce. Stir together 1 cup canned coconut milk, ¼ cup hoisin sauce, 2 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter, 1 Tablespoon soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon grated ginger, the minced garlic, and ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes in a large saucepan or saute pan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the meatballs are done cooking.
- Stir the meatballs into the sauce, and continue to simmer until the sauce becomes slightly darker and thickened. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in 1 Tablespoon minced cilantro and 1 teaspoon lime juice. Serve over rice or noodles. Garnish with additional minced cilantro and lime wedges if desired.
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