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These Easy Baked Turkey Spinach Meatballs are delicious and healthy meatballs made with fresh spinach, rolled oats, and ground turkey. They are baked in the oven and are a simple way to sneak veggies into a meal! Naturally gluten-free and dairy-free.
Need a way to sneak in some spinach into your life? Then you need to try these turkey and spinach meatballs!
I love this healthier meatball recipe because they are baked, they are made with a leaner protein option and they are made without bread crumbs. Oh and they are easy to make AND are family + toddler approved. Win-Win. (Try them with these cauliflower gnocchi with mushroom sauce. YUM)
Table of Contents
Why this recipe works
- This recipe uses oats as a bread crumb replacement. My Ground Turkey Meatballs with Oats recipe is made weekly because my toddlers love them so much.
- It is kid friendly! Its an easy way to hide veggies in delicious meatball form.
- It is naturally gluten free and dairy free.
- You only need a handful of ingredients.
- It’s easy to make and comes together quickly!
Recipe ingredients
- Ground turkey-using regular fat instead of fat free turkey is better here because it makes the meatballs more juicy
- Rolled oats– you can use regular or quick oats.
- Fresh spinach– I like to use organic baby spinach.
- Onion powder, garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme– these season the meatballs.
- Egg– this binds the mixture together.
- balsamic vinegar– this gives flavor to the meat.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Additions/ Substitutions
- Instead of ground turkey, you can use ground chicken.
- Instead of fresh spinach, you can use swiss chard.
- Instead of balsamic vinegar, you can use soy sauce or coconut aminos.
Step by step instructions
Step 1: Chop up the fresh spinach! To do this, put the spinach into a food processor and mix it until finely chopped.
Step 2: Mix all the ingredients together. In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients from the ingredient list together.
Step 3: Roll the meat into Tablespoon sized meatballs.
Step 4: Bake.
Expert tips
- Don’t use low fat ground turkey. Use a higher fat ground turkey. This results in a more moist meatball.
- Use fresh spinach! I have not tested these with frozen spinach, but I imagine the process of the frozen spinach melting would change the texture of the recipe.
- Make sure your rolled oats are certified gluten-free to avoid cross-contamination.
- Use a mini cookie scoop to roll the meatballs. These turn out to be the perfect sized meatball!
- Don’t over-bake or the meatballs will dry out.
Recipe FAQs
1) For starters, you can serve these covered in tomato sauce with pasta.
2) I also really like eating these meatballs with pesto sauce. YUM.
3) Or you can eat them as is, with veggies and potatoes on the side.
4) You can use them to make a healthier meatball sub or sandwich!
In an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Yes! You can freeze theme either cooked or uncooked. They are good for 2 months in the freezer.
Other meatball recipes you’ll love
These Keto Meatballs from Four Score Living. They look amazing and are made using a handful of healthy ingredients.
These General Tso Meatballs have the most amazing ginger and honey sauce. YUM.
These gluten free baked turkey meatballs are crispy and juicy and delicious all at once.
These Almond Flour Meatballs and Sauce are a delicious recipe where the meatballs cook in marinara for 3 hours.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave me a ⭐ review below!
Easy Baked Turkey Spinach Meatballs (Gluten-free)
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey, (93% lean)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil.
- Put spinach into a food processor and mix until all chopped up.
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Roll into tablespoon sized balls and place on cookie sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Makes 19-20 meatballs
Notes
- Instead of ground turkey, you can use ground chicken.
- Instead of fresh spinach, you can use swiss chard.
- Instead of balsamic vinegar, you can use soy sauce or coconut aminos.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oh man these are good. It helps to know what you’re doing when cooking meat. These are actually tasty!! Thank you for sharing.
🙂
I added extra spinach, omitted garlic and onion powder and instead used garlic scapes and scallion greens. I also added cheve and swiss because the extra spinach made them not want to ball up. Perfection !
Thanks for sharing!! 🙂