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!
These are to die for! So, so good. My husband and I both loved them. I kept a few meatballs sauce-less for my 17 month old (he’s not too crazy about spicy food yet) and he devoured them! Wonderful recipe!
Put this recipe together & my 2 picky eaters gave it 2 thumbs up, delish!!!
Hey! Great recipe, very simple and loved the taste of the end result- one problem though, I found the glaze so sweet and full of sugar that I basically had a sugar crash, headache, and felt generally terrible after eating them. Had to wipe the glaze off the leftovers. Any suggestions as to substitution for the brown sugar for a slightly healthier version?
You can use honey, and definitely cut back the amount. Start with half, give it a taste and add more if you feel like it needs it. :)
Just made these for the first time tonight and they were the best. Just the right amount of sweet and spicy. And they were so tender that I can’t believe they were made with low fat turkey. Definitely will be making these again.
I stumbled on a sale for ground Turkey for $1.89 a package. I love it when that happens. This is my go-to recipe for ground turkey. Made a bunch of these and they are easy to make, delicious and inexpensive. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Made these for a work potluck and served the glaze on the side. Everyone loved them and they were gone in a flash! Really easy to make as well, keeping this recipe to use later.
Thank you, Beth! I just made these tonight exactly as written, and they were amazing! Just the right amount of spicy and so flavorful. We ate these with your Dragon noodles made half spicy, and loved everything.
That sounds delicious!! I’ll have to try that. :-)
Oh. My. God. The flavor of these was outstanding and reminded me of pot stickers. I broiled them for the last few minutes so the outside crisped up. The sauce is awesome (I added a touch of honey) and so versatile for other dishes. This is definitely one of my new go-to recipes! Thank you!
Beth, you’ve done it again! I have been dying to make this recipe for a few weeks, and finally had all the ingredients to put it together today. Not only does it smell and look good, but it tastes amazing. My super picky husband even gave it the thumbs up, which means it’s a keeper. Actually, I would have made these for myself even if he didn’t like them, as they were so delicious! You rock, Beth!
I added some roasted sesame seeds in there too- SO GOOD!
hey! think I could just use vegetarian meatballs from the store with the glaze?
Absolutely! :) They’ll taste a little different because they probably don’t have ginger, but I’m sure they’d still be great with the sauce!
Hello everyone! OMG these are just amazing. They have become part of our weekly menu. Everyone loves them. Additionally I share the same philosophy on cooking can be easy, cheap and good.
I have this websites saved to my favorites and can’t wait to try something else!
Michelle
These are AMAZING. Made them for the first time today, paired with some lime cilantro rice. Accidentally forgot to pick up brown sugar at the store and just substituted white sugar. So yummy, thank you!
I made these and they were seriously delicious! I liked them so well in fact, that I ate leftovers for breakfast the next morning. lol :)
Thanks so much for the amazing recipe.
This is the first time I’ve commented but I’ve tried at least a dozen over the past 2 years and I can already tell these will be in the regular rotation along with your Dragon Noodles and Sesame Chicken!! Thanks for all that you do, I love your site :) Inspires me to do my own cooking, try new flavor combos, and stick to a reasonable food budget!