How fitting that just days after I make these scrumptious sriracha glazed turkey meatballs, the Huy Fong Foods factory is in danger of temporary shutdown. So, you know what that means? You better make these meatballs, pronto! There’s about to be a sriracha shortage! Panic in the streets!
Okay. Temporary freakout finished. Back to the meatballs…
Turkey and sriracha go great together, so I took the basic recipe for my Teriyaki Meatballs and switched out the pork for turkey (you can use pork for these, too). Then I whipped up a quick brown sugar and sriracha glaze to slather them in. Deeee-licious! You can serve these over a bed of rice, pierced with a toothpick as an appetizer, or even over a nice salad, like this Crunchy Asian Salad. Very easy and very versatile.
Turkey Sriracha Meatballs
Servings 6 4 meatballs eachIngredients
MEATBALLS
- 19 oz package ground turkey ($4.59)
- 1 large egg ($0.17)
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs ($0.17)
- 2 inches fresh ginger ($0.30)
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce ($0.02)
- 1 bunch green onions, divided ($0.69)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
SRIRACHA GLAZE
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.20)
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.11)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.06)
- 2 Tbsp sriracha hot sauce ($0.17)
- 1/2 cup water, divided ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.12)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the ground turkey, egg, bread crumbs, soy sauce, and some freshly ground pepper to a large bowl. Peel the ginger with a vegetable peeler or by scraping the skin off with the side of a spoon. Use a small holed cheese grater to grate about two inches of the ginger straight into the bowl. Thinly slice 2-3 of the green onions and add to the bowl (save the rest for later).
- Mix the ingredients in the bowl thoroughly. Shape the meat mixture into meatballs about the size of pingpong balls. You should get 25-30 meatballs, depending on the size. Arrange the meatballs on a baking sheet covered in foil and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- While the meatballs are baking, make the sriracha glaze. In a small pot combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, sriracha and 1/4 cup of the water. Heat and stir the mixture over medium heat until the brown sugar is dissolved. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup of water with the cornstarch. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the pot with the glaze. Stir to combine. Allow the mixture to come up to a simmer, at which point the glaze will thicken and become glossy.
- After the meatballs are finished baking, transfer them to a large bowl and pour the glaze over top. Carefully toss the meatballs to coat in the glaze. Serve hot topped with the remaining sliced green onions.
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Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
This is the ground turkey I used… why they package it in 19 oz. portions, I’ll never know.
Combine the ground turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, soy suace, ginger (grated), green onions (2-3 onionts sliced, save the rest of the bunch for later), and some freshly ground pepper in a large bowl. You can actually add a clove of minced garlic for extra flavor, if you’d like (I just forgot it).
Mix these ingredients really, REALLY well. You’ll probably need to use your hands.
Shape the meat mixture into balls about the size of pingpong balls. I got 27 balls, so you should aim for 25-30. Place them on a baking sheet covered with foil and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.
It’s always a good idea to sacrifice one meatball to see if they’re cooked through. You can actually freeze the meatballs at this point. Frozen meatballs reheat easily in the microwave or by heating in any sauce of your choice.
While the meatballs are baking, you can get the glaze going. In a small sauce pot combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, sriracha, and 1/4 cup of water. Heat and stir this mixture over a medium flame until the brown sugar is dissolved.
In a separate small bowl, stir together the cornstarch with the remaining 1/4 cup of water. Pour that into the pot with the sriracha glaze. It will turn the glaze kind of milky looking, like this. Let the glaze come up to a simmer. When it reaches a simmer, the cornstarch will work its magic and begin to thicken the sauce. It will also turn from milky to clear and shiny. Magic!
The last step is to coat the meatballs in the glaze. Now, the turkey meatballs are quite a bit more delicate than the pork teriyaki meatballs were, so if you drop them into the pot of glaze, only do a few at a time, or else you won’t be able to stir them without breaking the meatballs up. You can also add the cooked meatballs to a large bowl, pour the glaze over top, then gently toss to coat.
Slice up the rest of the green onions and sprinkle them over top. You can serve these meatballs over rice, pasta, a salad…
Or just pop ’em into your mouth as is!
Really good but hot. My husband loved them. I might also use half the sriracha too next time I make them…
Have you considered making your own hot sauce? It’s something I’ve personally wanted to try but I haven’t made the plunge yet. I suppose we’ll all be googling “copycat sriracha recipes” if there’s a shortage. ;) These meatballs look really fantastic, they’re now going on my weekly meal plan menu. Thanks for sharing!
I actually did, once! My landlord grew a bunch of cayenne peppers, so I made some “sriracha”. While it was really awesome, it just wasn’t the same. ;)
Made this tonight and loved it. It was pretty spicy so next time I am going to use 1/2 the sriracha. My leftovers will probably be eaten for breakfast. Thanks for another winner!
Could you grind up oatmeal and sub that for the bread crumbs.
Probably, yes. Great idea!
It’s OK! A judge ruled against the shutdown. Sriracha supplies are safe for now! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/sriracha-factory-shutdown_n_4181528.html
I’m a big fan of turkey balls and, having written a few balls recipes of my own, have gotten to be somewhat of a balls expert. I made these tonight and, on a scale of “ehhh, balls” to “BALLS!,” these were BALLS!! with two exclamation points. I served them with some vegetable fried rice, and they were the perfect amount of spice. Definitely a repeat recipe.
Hahaha, this is one of my favorite comments in all of Budget Bytes history. :)
I made these last night and they were amazing! I had mine over white rice and it was perfect. I ended up only doing a 1.5tbsp of Sriracha instead of the 2 and it was just right for me. I actually forgot to put the remaining green onion on mine after cooking them because I couldn’t wait to eat it.
I made these yesterday. Really nice – and the glaze can also be used as a tasty dip for them.
Just made these with some spaghetti and it was amazing! I added extra sriracha of course. I didn’t have rice wine vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar and it was still great! I also subbed the fresh ginger for 1/2 tbl of ground ginger.
Made these last night, they were amazing!!! Love the sweet and spicy flavor. I have leftovers for lunch today and it’s all I’ve been thinking about this morning :)
Oh no!!! Sriracha shortage!!! Good thing I have a new bottle waiting in the cabinet once I run out of my current one …
looks delicious! will be trying these on my menu next week :)
Unfortunately very spicy things give my fiance terrible heartburn. How would you rate these on a heat scale from 1-10 (1 not spicy at all and 10 setting your mouth on fire)?
Probably a 7… but then again my heat sensors may be slightly dulled from all of my hot food :) It’s pretty hot, though. Try the teriyaki meatballs, instead :)
My husband has horrible acid reflux and usually has issues with anything remotely spicy, but for some reason Sriracha doesn’t bother him.
These look delicious!
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I am more than a bit obsessed with sriracha right now. A shortage would be depressing.
Sriracha shortage?????? GASP!!!! That would be HORRIBLE!!!!