Packed with veggies, herbs and fragrant spices, these turkey zucchini meatballs are exceptionally flavorful, light and healthy. I like to serve these scrumptious turkey meatballs as an appetizer, with lemony yogurt sauce for dipping.
There's no bread, flour or milk in this recipe. It's amazing they hold together as well as they do. Ottolenghi is a true genius. I say that to myself every time I make these amazing turkey zucchini meatballs.
Do you have any foods that make you swoon? Maybe for you it's chocolatey desserts or macaroni and cheese? Meatballs do it for me! Whether they're stuffed or glazed, Swedish or Asian or on spaghetti with tomato sauce, I find them utterly irresistible. I don't make meatballs very often because I end up eating waaaayyy too many.
The recipe comes from Ottolenghi's cookbook Jerusalem. If you have the book, you'll notice that Ottolenghi calls them burgers. I call them meatballs. They don't look quite like either one. They're small - two or three bites apiece. They're served with a lemony yogurt dip and no bun.
I like rolling them in an oblong shape because it makes them more like finger food that you can hold and dip. In fact I often serve them as an appetizers, with lemony yogurt sauce for dipping.
HOW TO MAKE TURKEY ZUCCHINI MEATBALLS
Considering that these turkey zucchini meatballs are made without bread crumbs, it's surprising how well they hold together and how nicely they brown up. However, rolling them does require a little technique. The mixture is pretty wet so you're in for some serious frustration if you try to "roll" them like you normally do with meatballs. Here are some tips:
- Scoop up about 2 ½ tablespoons of the mixture and toss it from hand to hand, giving little squeezes to form it into an oblong shape.
- Three or four tosses and squeezes per meatball should do it.
- Set each formed meatball onto a plate.
- Heat oil in a skillet. When it's hot, tip the plate towards the pan and use a spatula or a knife to gently slide a few meatballs into the pan.
- Cook the meatballs in batches, turning them until they're brown on all sides. They brown up quickly.
- Set the browned meatballs on a parchment-lined baking pan.
- Finish cooking them in a 425º oven for 6-7 minutes.
I love to serve these with lemony yogurt sauce on the side. This yogurt-based dip features sumac, a beautiful deep red spice with a lemony flavor that's very popular in Middle Eastern cooking.
When you pass by the fridge looking for a quick tasty snack, these are hard to resist. They even taste great cold.
Here's the Turkey Zucchini Meatballs recipe. If you try this, I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!
PrintRecipe
Ottolenghi's Turkey Zucchini Meatballs with Lemony Yogurt Sauce
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 6-8 Servings 1x
Description
Healthy, delicious, gluten-free turkey meatballs that work well as a main dish or as an appetizer, with lemon dipping sauce.
Adapted from a recipe by Chef Yotam Ottolenghi in his cookbook Jerusalem
Ingredients
- For The Yogurt Sauce
- ½ cup sour cream *
- ⅔ cup low-fat plain Greek Yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 small garlic clove, pressed or finely minced
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sumac
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- For The Meatballs
- 1 pound ground turkey (white or dark meat)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large zucchini, grated
- 6 scallions, sliced thin
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
- 2 large cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- Vegetable oil for sautéing
Instructions
- Make the Yogurt Sauce Combine all ingredients. Set aside or refrigerate for up to 3 days, until needed.
- Make The Meatballs Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine turkey, zucchini, scallions, egg, mint, cilantro, garlic and spices. Using your hands, shape the meatballs (about 2 ½ tablespoons per ball) by gently squeezing them and tossing them from hand to hand. Set formed meatballs on a large plate. (makes about 18)
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Slide half the meatballs into the pan and brown them on all sides, about 4 minutes. Carefully transfer them to the baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the meatballs, adding extra oil to the pan, if needed. Slide the tray into the center of the oven and cook for 6-7 minutes, until cooked through.
- Serve with lemony yogurt sauce.
Notes
* For a lower fat sauce you can swap out the sour cream for low fat yogurt. The taste is a bit more tart but still delicious.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Appetizer or Main Course
- Method: oven baked
- Cuisine: Israeli
jennie
Where I live zucchini can be up to 2 lbs or more at farmers markets. The original recipe calls for 200g of grated zucchini which to me is a small zucchini, about 1/2-2/3 the size of an english cucumber. For my family this made dinner for three and one leftover lunch - definitely not enough for dinner for 8! The sauce is delicious.
Serena
Love this recipe! Just wondering if these cooked meatballs can be frozen to be reheated later
Pat
I read Ali Slagle's adaptation of this recipe and decided to find the original Ottolenghi recipe. I'm delighted that I did...they are delicious. The recipe calls for one egg, but the photo of the ingredients in the bowl shows either two eggs or a double-yolk egg. I used one egg`, but the recipe was so juicy when ingredients were brought together that I did add about 3/3 cup panko bread crumbs. The result gained enough firmness that the oblong shapes could hold.
I refrigerated the meat'balls' for an hour prior to browning and baking, which worked well.
The result was a truly delicious, tender and flavorful. To the yogurt sauce, having no sumac, I added about 2 TBS balsamic glaze...tasted great.
I served the meat'balls' on acini de pepe (cooked in chicken broth) topped with the yogurt sauce and have added this recipe into my 'favorites' file. Thanks so much for including this recipe on your web page.
Hungrynyc
Just ate dinner and we are so happy!! The rest of this comment is more for myself when I come searching for this recipe again and can’t remember what I used out of necessity 🙈
- Steep 1 tsp of coriander in 2T of neutral oil for thirty minutes
- Sub parsley and dill for of mint and cilantro
- 1 tablespoon dried chives instead of fresh scallions
Wendy Hardman
The recipe says it yields 6-8. Does that mean it makes 6-8 meatballs? or serves 6-8 people?
Lisa Goldfinger
Sorry for the confusion Wendy. The recipe makes about 18 good-sized meatballs and will serve 6-8 people - maybe even more if you're serving it as an appetizer. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm going to add "servings" to that number and update the post.
Joni
I finally made these last night and they are absolutely delicious! I did substitute parsley for the cilantro as I'm not a fan of cilantro. My meatballs were more like a small patty but we loved the flavor and will be serving again tonight for family. Love these!! Thanks to Lisa!
Lisa Goldfinger
Yay! I'm glad this recipe worked out so well for you. Nice to know that parsley is a good option for those who don't like cilantro. Thanks for sharing the details!
Melissa
Absolutely delicious. This recipe is a keeper! We served it with garlic naan bread and sautéed veggies (zucchini, onion, mushrooms, garlic)
Lisa Goldfinger
That sounds like the perfect meal. I'm really glad you enjoyed the meatballs!
Holly
This was my first Ottolenghia recipe and it was AMAZING. Seriously, I've never had such flavorful and moist turkey meatballs.They were truly delicious. Not to mention left my kitchen smelling incredible. A new favorite recipe for sure. Next time I would cut back a little on the cayenne though.
PS I have no idea how you get your meatballs to stay so neat! Mine always stick and kind of fall apart in the pan! They still taste amazing though lol
Lisa Goldfinger
Hi Holly - These are maybe the most challenging meatballs to shape so you are not alone in your struggle. It took me many tries to get the technique down. But I agree - it's not about how they look!
Laetitia
excellent. made with chicken breasts.
Isabella Gomez
Great taste but I would deff squeeze out the water for the zucchini next time! Maybe my zucchini was too large but when I was pan-frying them it was hard to get them to brown because of the excess water coming out. Other than that it was delicious.
Lisa
Hi Isabella - Squeezing out the water is a great idea. I haven't had that problem but I can see where it could happen with a particularly large juicy zucchini. I'm glad that you enjoyed the meatballs, despite the watery zucchini. Thanks for circling back to leave a rating and comment.
Pat
Great idea to reduce the juices the zucchini gives. That would have negated my need to add panko when I made them.
Joni
I'm back to the market for the ground turkey. Can't wait to try this one!
Lisa
Great - I hope you enjoy!
Nom
DELICIOUS just as is!! Tender, light meatballs, interesting sauce. Instead of four minutes to brown, it probably took me six. I also took others advice and squeezed liquid out of the grated zucchini. I think that was a worthwhile step because the raw mixture is quite loose and wet as it is. This goes into rotation and I’ll make enough to freeze too. As someone who doesn’t eat dairy or flour, this is a great meatball recipe to have in the lineup.
Denise
How many cups of zucchini do I need?
Thanks
Lisa
1 3/4 cups to 2 cups. Enjoy!
Amanda
Love love love this recipe ! Quick question - I grated my zucchini finely and then squeezed out the water. Do you do the larger grate and leave the excess water ?
Lisa
I've never squeezed out the water, Amanda. I just grate the zucchini and add it to the bowl with all the other ingredients. I do think there might be more water when you grate the zucchini more finely. I think you'll have success any way you do it but the meatballs might be a bit easier to form if they have less liquid, so your technique is probably right on!
Lisa
Step three of instructions most likely has a typo "Slice half of the meatballs" should probably be "Slide half of the meatballs."
Lisa
I made the correction. Thanks for your editing help 🙂
Paula
Hi. Ive just come across your recipe. Can these be made and then frozen before you put them in the oven.
Lisa
Hi Paula, I haven't tried this but I am quite sure it will work well. I like the idea of sautéing them to firm them up, and then freezing them. Then all you have to do is pop them in the oven to cook them through.