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Take a little time now to whip up these turkey meatballs and pop them in your freezer for a fast dinner later. Voila Frozen Turkey Meatballs!
So, here I am back to reality and back from my vacation. I’m not gonna lie, I was ready to come home 3 days in which is both shocking and embarrasing but, whatever. I just missed my babies!! Mostly Blake. He’s barely 1, sooooooo doesn’t he need a mother? Like so he can sleep and eat?
Umm, APPARENTLY NOT.
That boy was a.o.k without me…like he THRIVED. Do you know what thrived means? Yeah……
Excuse me while I go cry myself to sleep.
I knew independence was imminent, but come on!! Blake grew a few more inches, pushed out two more teeth, took his first few unassisted steps, figured out how to go up and down stairs without killing himself…… and learned how to drive. All in the last 7 days while I was 14 million miles away in Miami.
That boy. UGH. I love him more than words can say.
Needless to say, my brainwashing techniques aren’t working and I’m going to have to rethink my “can’t live without mother” strategies.
{I’m kidding, Mom.}
ANYWAYS.
I made turkey meatballs meant for your freezer. Because everyone wants to shave a little time off of dinner prep, right? Take a peek at these bad boys and tell me you aren’t craving meatballs by the end of this post. Forreals.
Here’s how you make them:
Start by soaking a couple slices of bread in a little milk. I just put it all in the bottom of my stand mixer…because I’m lazy.
After about 2 minutes, mix it up so everything is nice and……mushy. I know, totally gross but trust The Lauren.
Now grab 3 lbs. of ground turkey and dump that into the bowl.
Also going into the bowl: eggs, salt, pepper and garlic salt.
Stir until everything is well incorporated…it should take about 1-2 minutes. Not long at all.
Now you can take a 1-inch cookie scoop and make your meatballs. I scoop all of mine first onto a lightly sprayed foil lined baking sheet and then roll them in between my palms to make them prettier/more like actual meatballs.
It’s a messy job, but makes a big difference. Place these little dudes into a hot oven and let ’em go until they’re completely cooked.
Like so! PS- don’t be alarmed if they have a puddle of sketchy-looking white stuff around them. Totally normal! Again, grody but normal.
Once they have cooled to room temperature, divide them in between some freezer bags and place into your freezer. And just like that, you have about 3 meals worth of meatballs!
The very first thing I made with my frozen meatballs is…..spaghetti and meatballs. I know; totally original idea.
For my dinner prep, all I did was dump some marinara into a deep skillet, tossed in the frozen meatballs and cooked it up until everything was hot; mayyyybe 10 minutes, if that. PS- this Delallo sauce is pretty rockin’. No, I was not paid to say that.
Top everything with a little parmesan cheese and fresh basil and dinner is done.
These meatballs {and rotisserie chickens} SAVE MY LIFE come 4:30pm most nights. A little effort one afternoon to make these for the freezer seriously goes such a long way. I make these bi-weekly now, that’s how convenient and wonderful they are to have on hand. You MUST try them. Such a wonderful {and healthy!} dinner option to have on hand.
Try out a batch this weekend and let me know what you think! Have a lovely few days off, friends!
Frozen Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 slices whole wheat sandwich bread or white
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 lbs. ground lean turkey 93/7
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place bread in the bottom of a large bowl. Pour milk over top and let it soak in a minute or two. Stir together to mash. Then stir in remaining ingredients until well incorporated.
- Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, scoop out meatballs onto lightly greased and foil lined cookie sheet. Roll between palms to smooth and bake 375 for 20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Cool to room temperature, then divide between freezer bags and place flat into your freezer.
- When you're ready to use, simply pull them out of your freezer and add them to your dish. No need to defrost beforehand! Will last up to 3 months if you package them well.
[…] Turkey Meatballs & Marinara-Lauren's […]
I can’t wait to make these; I just wonder if 1/2 TB of garlic salt is correct. Thank you for answering. Best, Louise
Where can I find the Delallo sauce?
I got mine at Fred Meyer {Kroger stores}.
The man is going to go crazy for these ones! Perfect solution to the Thursday night ‘what’s for dinner?’ scramble, and leftovers for his lunches! Thanks Lauren.
I love freezer meatballs! I usually just freeze them and not cook them first. But either way it’s such a great time saver!
This sounds like such a handy freezer meal, I am going to have to make it!
I love freezer friendly recipes like this!
Such a great idea to have these in the freezer, they would totally save the day!
Oh, I need to make a batch of these soon!
Sounds wonderful. I am going to have to make this for sure. Thanks Lauren, enjoy your weekend as well.
I have recently become obsessed with turkey meatballs. I happened to need some ground turkey for something and made meatballs out of the rest. OMG I loved them!
3 days of vacation is about all my husband and I can handle too. We recently took a trip to South Beach and by day 3 we were ready to come home… and did rebook our flight to get home about 12 hours earlier!
Do you think freezing them raw would work?
Such a great idea, Lauren! We are so busy and doing something like this would be so handy when it comes to needing a quick, healthy meal. And I know what you mean, I miss my boys so much when I travel!