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!
Do you think this could be transformed into a soup?
Hmm, probably. I bet anything could be transformed into a soup! :)
Hey, so have you ever thought of doing these meatballs, but in the sesame chicken sauce? I got bored one night, so I made these meatballs (but with chicken), and like… 4 sauces (the sesame chicken sauce, a red curry sauce, a hollandaise sauce, and a spicy black bean sauce). Lovely. (Well… except the hollandaise. That didn’t really work, so I used the rest of it on a poached egg.)
Wow, I love the idea of making meatballs with a variety of sauces! Yum! :D My Teriyaki Meatball Bowls is pretty much the same thing as these with the sesame chicken sauce… maybe small differences, but the basic concept is the same.
Finally made these last night.. had to use up some ground beef so I made a double recipe, with beef instead of turkey. Everything else the same. So delicious!
I did add frozen broccoli (warmed/cooked) to the meatballs and sauce, and served over jasmine rice for a full meal.
Eating leftovers for lunch now, and I think it’s even better the 2nd day because the rice soaked up all that sauce. Mmm!
Made these tonight. Very good. A little too spicy for us. Added some garlic, salt and Chinese 5 spice. Thanks.
Amazing! Sauce is good enough by itself to warrant a separate post. I plan to try this sauce in stir fry with chicken and veggies, too!
Ooooh so yummy! I added a little more water and a dash more soy cause and vinegar as it got a little too thick. The glaze and meatballs together were magic!! I reduced the sriracha to 1 teaspoon so it wasn’t too spicy for 12 and 16 year olds then I drizzled my balls with extra sriracha..:)
As a full time student with a full time job I have such little time, but this recipe is just perfect! Make the meatballs, throw them in the oven, go do some homework, come back make the glaze and then the meatballs are done! Super delicious and perfectly frugal!
I have literally been using your website to make meals for my family every night for a month.
They have all been good, but this one..this one is REALLY good. That glaze is incredible and I cannot wait to make this again. I doubled the glaze, and I glad I did. It is hot though, I’m a hot food fiends..but the kids ate theirs dry, and they still loved it.
I made these last night and they were delish!! My glaze got really, REALLY thick – maybe I added too much cornstarch, it tasted great though, will definitely be making this again.
My husband made these last night and he seemed to have fun making them.
They were pretty good!
This was amazing! I’ve made about a million Budget Bytes recipes and this was probably one of my favorites. My husband (who ADORES spicy) added more sriracha to his and my sister (who is a spicy wimp) said it made her nose run, but they all went back for seconds so I’d call it a win. Thanks for the inspiration, Beth!
Oh! I also put it over your Coconut Rice and that just totally put it over the must-make-again edge for me!
Freakin’ awesome!! Only had one pound of turkey, so I cut the bread crumbs a bit, but otherwise, left all the same. The extra sauce over brown rice and a little steamed broccoli left my hubz telling me that this meal is the best I’ve ever made. Needless to say, we like it spicy in this house ~ thanks for the excellent recipe! Lovin’ Budget Bytes’ recipes thus far.
Made ’em, loved ’em. Definitely a nice kick to them, but I love sriracha so it was fine by me.
I just made these with Trinidad Scorpion Peppers ( I only used <1/4 of the pepper). They were amazeballs! So delicious and again super easy and quick. Thanks, Beth!
Mmm made these tonight and they went perfectly with some rice. I did feel the ginger was a bit overpowering with the turkey–might try it with pork next time!