This weekend was WILD y’all.
That’s right, totally wild. I did crazy things like GO TO PARTIES and STAYED UP WAY PAST MY BEDTIME and CAME THISCLOSE TO DRINKING A VODKA TONIC.
This all makes me sound sort of lame, right?
Well let’s just put it all in perspective real quick: we went to a going-away party for some very good friends of ours and took Weston with us. I had every intention of having a beer or two and then I forgot a vital part of Wes’s bottle that keeps it from leaking everywhere and then had to nurse him at the party instead of giving him the milk we brought. And thus, no alcohol for Heather.
But it was almost totally WILD. Almost completely crazy!
In other news, these meatballs are sort of like a party in your mouth. I’ve searched long and hard for a great meatball recipe, trying my hand at baking them, frying them, browning and then baking, and yet I just couldn’t find THE ONE. Until now. The secret is the ricotta cheese and then baking them in the sauce that makes all the difference – trust me. You want these.
BAKED TURKEY RICOTTA MEATBALLS
- 2 lbs ground turkey
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 whole eggs
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 8 oz ricotta cheese
- 4 cups fresh spinach, chopped
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp prepared pesto
Preheat oven to 350. Heat a skillet over medium low heat; add the oil and onion and saute until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and saute another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the spinach; it will wilt with the carry-over cooking from the onions and garlic. Let the mixture cool for about 4-5 minutes off the heat. In a large bowl mix together the eggs, parmesan, bread crumbs, ricotta and Italian seasoning. When the onion mixture has cooled fold that in. Add the turkey and, using your hands, mix until everything is well combined. Form into 20 meatballs (about 2 inches in diameter). Wash your hands. In another bowl mix together the tomatoes and pesto. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of the tomato mixture into the bottom of the pan, then evenly place the meatballs on top – you may have to squish them together some, but they’ll shrink a bit during the cooking. Top the meatballs with the remaining tomato mixture. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 2.5 hours. Let sit for a few minutes when done baking to let them cool and to allow the juices to stay in the meatballs. Serve hot!
I’m telling y’all – it’s wild!
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Love these! So nice and light. The ricotta really helps the texture. I’ve made something similar with feta before, but these are better. I made them with kale last time (I had farmer’s market turkey, kale, and homemade ricotta – a failed yogurt making attempt that I then strained) and they were wonderful. I was eating them out of the fridge after the kids went to bed! Going to try again today with some dandelion greens and store bought ricotta this time.
thanks catherine! i’m so glad you liked them – they really are a go-to for us these days. i like that you’re using different greens too!
Maybe these will make my hubby a meatball lover. Can’t wait to try!
OH MAMA. I’ll totes let you feed me 4 billion of these.
Heather I love how you snuck some spinach in these! You’re so clever!
Adding riccotta is a great idea, especially since ive found turkey meatballs to be drier than ground beef ones!
I’m not normally a huge meatball fan, but these sound fantastic! I love the spinach in there 🙂
Total comfort food. They look great!
Looooove a good baked meatball. And your almost partyin’ cracked me up! 🙂
i am tres cool 🙂
Ooohh this looks good!!!
I love meatballs with ricotta! I will def be trying your way using turkey with spinach added.
Girl, mmmm. Just MMMM!
Those look delicious! Where did you get the idea to use ricotta in them?
honestly i would normally have added milk to the mixture, but was out and saw that i had an 8-oz container of ricotta in the fridge! it worked out perfectly!
Sounds fabulous! A GOOD Spaghetti and meatballs dinner really can’t be beat. Pinning this for later.
I love trying new meatball recipes – and this one with ricotta sounds fantastic!
Oh these meatballs look awesome! Love that you added ricotta, never tried that! I’ll hav to bake these up soon.
Have a great week!