This Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach recipe is healthy, full of flavor, and they’re baked in the oven so you won’t have to stand at the stove frying them. Use these meatballs for a spaghetti dinner, in meatball sandwiches, or as an appetizer with your favorite sauce.
We use both lean ground turkey and lean ground beef in our house (we usually use the 7% fat variety in both cases). There are some meals that I’ll use turkey or beef in. It usually depends on which one I get the best deal on.
But, there are some meals that I only use ground turkey in and some meals that I only use ground beef in. My Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach are an example of a recipe that I only make with ground turkey. Sure, you could make them with beef, but I think this recipe has always been best for turkey. Several years later, I’m still making these meatballs for my family — and always with ground turkey.
What I love about these Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach is that they are full of flavor and they’re healthy. I really like it when I can stretch meat out with vegetables. Also, I LOVE that I don’t have to stand at the stove frying them. I’m really not a fan of rolling meatballs, but it can’t be avoided. But, I can avoid extra time in the kitchen by baking them in the oven.
Below you will find my recipe for Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach. The most common way we enjoy them is in my Oven Baked Meatball Sandwiches — which are super easy. We also enjoy them with spaghetti and pasta sauce. But even if spaghetti or meatball sandwiches aren’t your thing, I have shared other ways you can use these Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach right after the recipe.
UPDATE: There have been so many great comments on this recipe! One of the biggest questions was about the calorie count on these and one of my readers determined them to have 60 calories per meatball — I’m sure this will vary depending on each how you make them, but this is great to know. Also, I’ve had readers who have successfully used fresh spinach, rather than frozen spinach, so if you want to give that a try, go for it!
Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe
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PrintBaked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional – adjust to your preference)
- 16 oz frozen chopped spinach (defrosted, drained, and squeezed to remove excess water)
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- 2 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a large baking sheet by spraying with cooking spray. I actually line my baking sheet with foil and then spray with cooking spray.
- In a frying pan on medium heat, heat olive oil until hot. Then add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Sauté until onion is tender (about 5-6 minutes total time).
- Add spinach to pan and combine with onion mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth and mix well to combine. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked out (evaporated). I don’t have much liquid in my pan after I combine all these, but it will depend on how well you drained your spinach. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, combine the turkey, bread crumbs, and egg. Add cooled onion/spinach mixture to the meat. I do all of this step with my hands, but you can use a spoon if you prefer.
- With your hands, create meatballs that are about 1 – 1 1/2 inches in diameter and place them on the baking sheet. Leave a little bit of space between each meatball. When you are done shaping your meatballs, you will probably have about 40-42 meatballs from this recipe. Don’t need that many? Freeze them after baking or cut this recipe in half (but I say freeze them and then you’ve done the work only once and have a future meal).
- Bake until your meatballs are cooked through with an internal temperature of 160 degrees F – which was about 20 minutes for my oven. Remove from oven and serve as desired.
10 Meatball Ideas
1. Meatball Sandwiches (cooked meatballs in a hoagie roll with a tomatoe based sauce and mozzerella cheese)
2. Served on top of pasta with pasta sauce
3. Covered in casserole dish with pasta sauce and mozzerella cheese; baked until hot & bubbly
4. Used as the main filling in calzones (wrapped in a pizza-type dough and baked)
5. Placed on a skewer before or after baking (fun for the kids)
6. Make and cook very tiny meatballs, only 1/2 inch in diameter (reduce baking temp/time as necessary) and top pizza with them
7. Place cooked meatballs in crockpot and simmer in favorite sauce; serve with toothpicks
8. Replace the chicken in your favorite soup with cooked meatballs instead (turkey meatball noodle soup, anyone?)
9. Slice cooked meatballs and use as filling in Italian quesadilla with mozzerella cheese in a tortilla
10. Make big meatballs (2-3″ diameter) bake in muffin tins; adjust cooking time as necessary
What are your favorite ways to serve meatballs?
Ale says
Could you just use 1LB of Ground turkey?
If so would it be still all the same
brandie says
Hi Ale,
You could use just 1 lb of ground turkey, but you would need to decrease the other ingredients as well (you’ll need to divide all the other ingredients by 2.5). So for example, you’ll only use approx 6 1/3 oz frozen chopped spinach, 3/4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, and 1/8 cup chicken broth. If you go to this website and copy and paste the ingredients and select to divide the ingredients by 2.5, it will automatically convert everything for you: https://mykitchencalculator.com/recipeconverter.html
Alex says
I’d love to try this with fresh spinach – would I follow the same directions? Also, I can’t eat onion but can have onion powder. Do you think this would work or should I add something else to make up for the consistency?
Nadia says
This is the best pin I have on my food wall! Since I’ve been on a Keto diet these have saved me. They are delicious and filling and a hit with my husband as well!
I’ve made them twice so far and used panko bread crumbs both times. The second time I didn’t have any Worcestershire sauce so I used teriyaki sauce instead and tasted just as great. I assume soy sauce would work just as well. I also hate rolling meat balls specially meal prepping on a Sunday night but they are so good it is all worth it!
★★★★★
Cara says
I LOVE these meatballs. I make them every couple months, and after baking I freeze them. It usually gives me 2-3 meals out of one batch. My kids (2 and 4) love them also!
★★★★★
Claire says
My favorite use for meatballs: a bed of spaghetti squash, homemade pesto, a few meatballs, and some chopped tomato garnish. I flash freeze the meatballs and then put them in a zip lock bag so I can remove only what I need.
Cec Hr says
How do you reheat them after freezing? I just made a huge batch for my daughters lunch. I figured I’d send 3-4 with her in a thermos. I just don’t want them drying out too terribly.
Sharon says
Fabulous recipe; delicious ! A five star winner; will be making them again!
Brittany says
This is probably one of my favorite recipes I’ve found on Pinterest ever!! My roommate and I have made these at least 4 times this year and we can’t get enough!! We started adding shredded carrots and fresh spinach to them and make them into patties instead of balls!
★★★★★
Jann Olson says
They look delicious and great that they are a healthier version. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Jenny says
I love ground turkey meatloaf, so I know I would love these meatballs. Thank you for sharing at #HomeMattersParty
Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook says
I’d use ground chicken and I am sure they would still be delicious. Can’t wait to try these! Thanks for sharing!
Catherine says
These baked turkey meatballs with spinach were delicious! I made mine with fresh spinach. I made my own breadcrumbs using Ezekiel bread. I didn’t use the Worcestershire sauce.
I used them in my healthy meatball vegetable soup.
★★★★★
Jacqueline says
Try this recipe and love it.Better then the other meatballs with past
Kriska Marie says
They look so good! Haven’t tried baking meatballs yet, but yeah, that’s such a nice idea. Will definitely try this out.
Thanks for sharing it over at Food Friday. Hope to see you again! 🙂
Lori says
So healthy and yummy! Thanks for sharing at Dishing It & Digging It!
Shannon says
Made these last night. They were delicious! Added a grated carrot to the spinach and onions, and tossed some feta cheese into the mix. Will definitely be making again!
Paula says
I love baked meatballs. Mostly I use ground turkey. Sometimes I use meatloaf mix (ground beef, veal and pork). I look forward to trying this. Having a veggie in the recipe will make eating the pasta guilt free! I put my meat mix in the fridge for about a half hour to set and stiffen, then I use an ice cream or melon scooper to make the ball. So much for rolling!! Thank you for this!
Nora says
This is literally the best healthy recipe I’ve ever made–EVER!!!! I made these two weeks in a row, that’s how good they are. My fiance loves them, too! A+++!
★★★★★
Lisa says
This has made it into the regular rotation at my house. Love to toss them in marinara and put them on a hoagie roll with provolone. Delicious.
Joanne Hampton says
Can I put frozen meatballs in the crockpot?
★★★★★
brandie says
Yes, you can cook frozen meatballs in the crockpot. Just put them in (I wouldn’t fill your crockpot more than 1/2-3/4 of the way full), add whatever sauce you are going to use, and cook them — on high for about 4 hours or on low for about 8 hours. Stir them occasionally too.
Karly says
These meatballs look delicious! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Kaylor Little says
Yum! I love that all of the ingredients are things I usually have on hand. Plus you can do so much with the one recipe. Thanks for the share.
creativejewishmom/sara says
Looks great, meatballs with ground turkey and sometimes some added beaf are one of our families favorites! I recently went to a party where someone made meatballs on really big skewers in the oven with some peppers and onions on the skewer, great presentation. Thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!
Erin @ Stay At Home Yogi says
I’m vegetarian, but I’m pinning these for my husband to try! I love your suggestion of little tiny meatballs on top of pizza!
joel says
Omg I made this for my family,my wife said they were the best meatballs she’s ever had!!!! Thanks for sharing we loved this recipe!!
★★★★★
Elizabeth says
Thank You for this yummy recipe. I made last night with ground chicken and fresh spinach. I substituted the breadcrumbs with parm cheese to make it little more low carb. I used the fresh herbs from my garden too. My meatballs were getting boring…This is my new ‘go to’ recipe ! I love adding the Worcestershire, thyme and spinach. Exactly what I needed. We gobbled the up!
★★★★★
Jess says
I made these for dinner last night (with a few ingredient substitutions based on what we had on hand) and they were awesome. Thanks for the great recipe! I’m always looking for ways to sneak more veggies into our meals.
★★★★★
Cheryl says
These look and sound fantastic and I’m looking forward to making them. I would like to know however, how many carbs are in each meatball, if making it exactly by the recipe. I eat mostly low carb and have maintained my goal weight since 1980.
Michelle K. says
The house smelled wonderful while these were baking.
I used fresh spinach, gluten free panko bread crumbs and gluten free Worcestershire sauce.
I also have a meatball spoon which making these a cinch. No mucky hands.
DELISH!
Dorothy K says
These are phenominel! Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to make these for my kids and grandchildren.
Katie says
After cooking then freezing, how do you recommend reheating them?
Christi says
Made these last night using fresh spinach. Fantastic !!! Thank you for the great recipe!
Erica says
Made these for dinner tonight and made a spicy tomatoe sauce to go with – served with pasta. They were really delicious. My family are all trying to eat healthily so they were a big hit. I also like the fact that I didn’t have to stand and fry them on top of the stove. I will definitely be making them again. Found the recipe on Pinterest. Thank you.
Patty says
These meatballs were great! I added golden raisins and used instant mashed potato buds instead of bread crumbs. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Caryn says
These are wonderful!! One of my boys was not too thrilled that I was making them because they had spinach in them but once he tasted them he declared that every Saturday is now Turkey Spinach Meatball day!! HAHAHA
brandie says
Awesome, Caryn! One of my kids isn’t crazy about spinach either, but she does like these. Thanks for visiting and commenting. 🙂
Barbie says
This recipe is wonderful! I made them with 10 oz spinach and substitutedhalf a cup each of grated carrot, zucchini, and yellow squash. I have already ate 3 off the pan!
brandie says
Yum…yours sound great, Barbie! So glad you liked them.
Angel Luke says
I might have missed this elsewhere on the post but can these be made ahead and frozen and then reheated?
brandie says
Hi Angel — yes, you can make the meatballs, cook them, and freeze them.
Stacy says
Found you on pinterest and will be checking out the rest of your site! I hve my first batch of these in the oven right now, how would you suggest to thaw if I wanted to freeze these after baking for freezer meals? Thanks in advance!
brandie says
Hi Stacy! I actually wouldn’t thaw them before cooking, if you freeze them. I would remove them from the freezer and cook them right from there — just heat up on a baking sheet until hot. Or if using in spaghetti and meatballs or meatball sandwiches, I would put the frozen meatballs right into my sauce as it was heating. Hope that helps!
Stacy says
Thanks, I tried simmering them in sauce after being frozen and they came out great! My hub loved them! You have a new fan. And these will be a staple in my freezer. Thanks again for the healthy, yummy meal idea!
Stacy says
Thanks, I tried simmering them in sauce after being frozen and they came out great! My hub loved them! You have a new fan. And these will be a staple in my freezer. Thanks again for the healthy, yummy meal idea!
Patty says
Just made these and they are OUTSTANDING!!!!!!! They are a thing of beauty when baked:) Great flavor & texture. Can’t wait to have them tonight with my homemade sauce. My husband said this would be good as a meatloaf….will try that next time. I did add some shredded asiago cheese to mix and used fresh spinach…the extra liquid evaporated just fine.
Ray A says
These meatballs are so great!! and so easy! I never even thought about making something so simple but it’s so good! My boyfriend threw some balsamic vinegar on his before we put them in the oven, it caramelizes when it bakes so it gives it both tang and sweetness, amazing!
brandie says
Thanks Ray! I’m loving the balsamic vinegar idea!
Beth says
Do you mind if I post this recipe on my blog with a few changes I did? I used minced dried onions because I have picky eater with onions, used fresh spinach and ground beef ( b/c that’s what I had). They are delicious! My blog isn’t a food blog, it’s just life updates from me but theses are so good I’d love to share them. I’ll reference and put a link to your page.
We are going to try them in meatball sandwiches tonight.
brandie says
Hi Beth,
Sure! As long as it’s your adapted version and you write the instructions to match your version, that would be perfect. And giving credit to my post is very much appreciated. Thanks for trying them and for leaving a comment!
Jessica says
Thanks for the great recipe. I found it on Pinterest. I made burgers out of half of the mix, and meatballs out of the rest. My family (including young kids) loved them!
Aalisa says
These are so great! Always looking for ways to get my 13month old to eat meat and healthy veggies (and lets be honest my husband too) and he totally loved these! Thanks!
Kavitha says
Made these last night for dinner and they came out great! I had never made a meatball before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I added more red chilli pepper flakes because I love spicy, but it didn’t seem to produce the kick I wanted. I plan to make this again with diced jalapenos to give me that spice.
Thanks for the recipe, I’ll be making this often! And I took your advice on freezing the extra 🙂
Mary says
Mmm…fresh spinach from the garden worked perfectly. Rinsed and chopped it then threw in when your recipe told me to. These were delicious by the way. Thank you!
alisha says
just made these tonight! very good! my family and the neighbors loved them. thanks for the recipe 🙂
Brenda Servant says
This was a Pinterest success!
Donna says
I made these for my 3 and 4 year old boys for dinner tonight. They were amazing and the boys ate so much, thank you for the recipe. They were also super easy to make and I love that they are baked. My boys are gluten free so we used gluten free quick cook oats instead of breadcrumbs and they were still fab!
katie says
I just made this in the form of a meatloaf, as I was feeling too lazy to roll meatballs. 😉 It cooked up perfect, my only change was using frozen kale instead of spinach, because thats what I had in my freezer! Thanks for a great recipe. Kids are gobbling it up!
Beth says
Made these over the weekend, but since I do not like turkey I used ground chicken, bread crumbs made from “Ezekiel 4:9” bread (fitting in with the detox diet I am presently on) and fresh chopped baby spinach. So yummy! I cut them up cold in a salad for lunch – really delicious.
Thank you
Charlotte says
Thanks for the recipes! They r soooooo good!
How do you usually reheat them? I don’t have microwave. Should the oven work? At what temp? Thanks!
brandie says
Hi Charlotte! Glad you liked them! And yes, heating them up in the oven should work. If it was me I would probably just put them in at the same temp and keep them in just long enough that they are heated. But I’ve never actually heated them in an oven, so I’m not sure how long it would take.
robin leclerc says
hi!..found your meatball recipe on pinterest and as we are trying to eat healthier thought we’d give them a try…sounds delicious and i love reading the reviews…thanks to erin above for the caloriecount.com link to figure out how “healthy ” (or not..lol) some of my other recipes are…keep cooking girl!
Lisa says
Dang these were delish!! I did make the full batch and had a ton of extra. I decided to freeze the extra raw meat in cupcake wrappers to thaw and bake in the future. We ate these all by themselves, no sauce, no pasta and they were fab! A side of roasted red potatoes and asparagus rounded out this dish perfectly! Thanks for sharing!
Krista says
That is just the idea I needed. Thank you.
Coco says
Freezing them on the cupcake wrappers sounds like a great idea!!
Sarah says
I was wondering, is there any reason you couldn’t bake these using ground beef? I have spinach in my freezer, but no turkey! I’m *very* new to cooking, so this might be a newbie question! =P
brandie says
Hi Sarah! While I haven’t used this meatball recipe with ground beef, I’m sure it would work great too. If you do give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
Sarah says
Delicious! I also had to sub applesauce for eggs because my daughter has an allergy, which meant seriously adjusting the cooking time. But the flavor is out of this world! Thanks for the recipe!
susan says
Sarah, my granddaughter is also allergic to eggs. I use applesauce instead of eggs also. How do/did you adjust cooking time for these?
Holly Sieger says
Just tried these and will definitely make them again. Looking for recipes that get more veggies into our diet. Love that these have spinach in them, genius!
Tonya says
Is there any reason I couldn’t make these up, roll into balls and freeze – before they were baked? Then thaw and cook as needed?
Katie says
We made these this week and LOVE them. They were so delicious! I did make half the recipe this time, but will for sure make the full one next time. Thank you for sharing this yummy, healthy meatball recipe!
Jaime says
These look fabulous! I was just wondering if you freeze the leftovers raw or already baked? Thanks.
Marybel says
Thank you!!! These were delicious!!!Thanks again!! 🙂
katina w says
thank you also for having a link to print out the recipe. so helpful!!
Arleen says
One of the very best recipes for using ground turkey. I just made them for the 2nd time.
Can’t wait to make them for my kids when we go to California!
Yummmmmm
Veronica says
Tried this tonight. AMAZING! We tried one off the cookie sheet to see what pasta/sauce we should make and ended up eating ALL the meatballs lol didnt bother making pasta or sandwiches or anything…just ate the meatballs. Even my toddler who hates meat ate these!
Casey says
Any idea where i can get the nutritional info on these?? 🙂
brandie says
Hi Casey,
One of the recent comments above (by Erin) was nice enough to work it out on caloriecount.com and said that it’s 60 calories per meatball (if 42 made from the batch). 3 g of Fat (/8g saturated), 28mg Cholesterol, 116mg Sodium, 2.4g Carbohydrates, 6.2g Protein. Hope that helps!
Casey says
Yes! It does help! thank you very much 🙂
Jenn says
I’m a little late getting here, but I finally tried these tonight and they were excellent! Will definitely be making again. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Evelyn says
I found this recipe on pinterest and after a dozen of pinterest fails these were by far the best meatballs ever. Thanks so much! We’ll be having them again and often!
brandie says
Wow, thank you, Evelyn! You seriously made my day!
Biking says
Nice blog Claudette
Patty says
I made these tonight and they were awesome! Thanks so much for the recipe – I did use fresh spinach like someone else mentioned.
brandie says
Thank you, Patty! I’m glad you liked them and the next time I make them, I’m also thinking of using the fresh spinach.
Staceys says
Any idea on what the calorie break down of this recipe is per serving? Thank you
brandie says
Hi Stacey,
I’m not sure what the calorie breakdown would be on these…I’ve never actually worked out it all out. Sorry I can’t be of more help with that.
Erin says
It breaks down to 60 calories per meatball (if 42 made from the batch). 3 g of Fat (/8g saturated), 28mg Cholesterol, 116mg Sodium, 2.4g Carbohydrates, 6.2g Protein.
Based on caloriecount.com new recipe and just inserting the ingredients.
Erin says
.8g saturated, sorry for that typo.
brandie says
Thank you, Erin – very helpful!
Karyn says
I love this recipe! I made it for the first time for my family of 3 and we all loved them! Thank you!
brandie says
Thank you, Karyn! I’m so glad you enjoyed them.
Alexis says
Made them with my boyfriend, absolutely delicious
brandie says
Thank you so much, Alexis!
Kelsey says
In the oven! Found you on pinterest. Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Marisa says
I bet this would make a great recipe for a turkey/spinach meatloaf too!! Might have to try it!
brandie says
I bet it would be great as a turkey spinach meatloaf! Great idea, Marisa!
Angie says
Anita- I heated up some leftover meatballs for lunch today and ate with soy sauce… DELICIOUS! Great idea.
Angie says
Just made these for dinner and they were delicious!! I cooked up some wheat pasta, and added the meatballs and some pasta sauce into a casserole dish with skim mozzarella on top and broiled till the cheese was melted… Awesome!! And pretty healthy too, with such few bread crumbs added. Thanks for the recipe! These will be a staple at our house!
brandie says
Thanks Angie! And the way you used them sounds delicious!
Alivtina says
What do u mean exactly “160 degree internal”? I shouldnt do it 400 degrees? Please let me know, bit confusing for me thx;)
brandie says
Hi Alivtina,
The oven will be set to 400 degrees F. But the inside (internal) temperature for a finished meatball would be about 160 degrees F. So, if you have a meat thermometer and inserted it into the middle of the meatballs when they are supposed to be done, you should see a temperature of about 160 degrees F.
Ashley says
Hi!!!! I plan on making these tonight, but I was wondering if fresh spinach could be used instead of frozen?!
Thank you!
brandie says
Hi Ashley,
I’m sure you could use fresh spinach — just add it to the onion mixture and cook until wilted.
Sarah says
I used fresh spinach tonight and they were awesome.
lydia says
i made this to night for dinner for my family and soon to be hubby, he loved them as much as my kids did! I love the meat balls !! i think that this will become a hit for saturday nights in my house! 🙂 thanks for sharing this.
brandie says
Very cool, Lydia! It makes me happy to know you liked them so much. Thank you for visiting and trying my recipe. 🙂
Anita says
Howdy – I tried these, and OH MY GOODNESS. My husband is currently eating them straight off the cookie sheet! I would love to link to your blog for this recipe, if I may? My blog is a work in process, but I am hopeful!
(Oh and the hubby said to try them with soy sauce, and its really good! Tastes like pot stickers filling! I might try to make potstickers with this!)
Thank you!!!
brandie says
Thank you so much, Anita! And the soy sauce idea sounds great…I will definitely have to try that. And using the filling for potstickers is also a good idea that I never considered. And you are welcome to link to my blog. Thank you for visiting and commenting!