Baked Asian Turkey Meatballs with Soy Ginger Sauce

The lovely aroma of fresh ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions and cilantro filled my kitchen when I made these for dinner a few nights ago.  Those ingredients alone make my mouth water.  I am almost always up for Chinese or Thai food, but thinking about how a lot of that stuff is prepared makes me have second thoughts a lot of the time.  It’s usually too oily and greasy and even if I opt for a dish with lots of veggies, it is often soaked in overly salty sauce.  And then I somehow find myself ordering egg rolls, fried spring rolls, or maybe an order of crab rangoon…oh, the deep fried goodness of it all.  These meatballs don’t quite measure up to the pleasures of pad thai and sesame chicken, but the flavors are there, and all without the guilt.

My dinner plans were to make these meatballs from this recent Smitten Kitchen post, Scallion Meatballs with Soy Ginger Glaze.  But after reading through the recipe I decided to look for a baked meatball recipe (instead of pan fried) with more substance that would serve as a meal and not a glorified appetizer.  That search led me to this recipe from Skinny Taste, Asian Turkey Meatballs with Sesame Lime Dipping Sauce.  So I combined the two, and with a little tweaking here and there I wound up with these.

Serve these meatballs with some rice to soak up the delicious sauce.  We ate them with white rice, but brown would be a great choice, and a healthier one.  Simple steamed broccoli is a perfect side dish.  There is so much flavor in the meatballs that you don’t really need anything else.  I used a mixture of turkey and beef because I had an extra 1/2 pound of lean ground beef from another recipe I wanted to use, but use all turkey if you like.  Enjoy!

Baked Asian Turkey Meatballs with Soy Ginger Sauce

Meatballs

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup panko crumbs
  • 1 lb 93% lean ground turkey
  • 1/2 lb lean ground beef
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tbsp peeled ginger, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 4 scallions, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
  • 3 tsp sesame oil

Directions

  1. Combine ground turkey, beef, panko, egg, salt, scallions, ginger, cilantro, and soy sauce.  Mix with your hands until combined well.
  2. Shape 1/4 cup meat mixture into a ball and transfer to a baking dish. Repeat with remaining mixture.
  3. Bake at 400°F until cooked through, about 20-25 minutes.

Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce, reduced sodium
  • 1/2 cup white wine (or mirin)
  • 1/4 cup peeled ginger, chopped

Directions

  1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar melts completely.
  2. Reduce heat to a medium-low and add soy sauce, wine and ginger.
  3. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced, 20-30 minutes.  You can simmer it longer to get a thicker sauce.
  4. Serve sauce on top of meatballs and rice.  You can strain the sauce to get rid of the ginger pieces, but I left mine in the sauce.