My family loves Italian food. Especially pasta with meatballs. That goes great on the taste buds and not so great on the tummy. So I created a version of that dish that still gives the deliciousness of the tomato sauce, spaghetti strings and meatballs and yet no indigestion later: Healthy Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini Spaghetti. It is also lower in calories as it replaces pasta with zucchini strings and beef with turkey. My mouth is watering right now.
I usually have handy tomato sauce that I made on another day. If you don’t, it’s not a big deal. Just chop up some tomatoes in a non-stick skillet and cook them on low flame with garlic, oregano, basil and salt to taste. You can make it to be less saucy and more paste-like. You can cut the tomatoes in half and squeeze them, discarding the water. This will also shorten the cooking time. You can cook them for 45-60 minutes or until they get to the desired consistency. For the full tomato sauce recipe, click here. Now let’s move on to making the Healthy Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini Spaghetti.
Healthy Turkey Meatballs With Zucchini Spaghetti
Ingredients
FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:
- 5 cup ketchup (tomato sauce Australia and UK) - if you’re making the sauce using fresh tomatoes, about 3-5 tomatoes per person
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
- ¼ cup garlic - optional
- 3 tablespoons oregano - to taste
- 3 tablespoons basil - to taste
- 1 pinch salt - to taste
FOR THE MEATBALLS:
- 1.25 pounds ground turkey (minced turkey)
- 10 ounce mushrooms - finely chopped
- 2 medium egg
- 4 tablespoons parsley - roughly chopped
- 1 pinch cumin
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch paprika
- 1 pinch salt
FOR THE ZUCCHINI PASTA:
- 10 medium zucchini
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350°F. Then whisk the eggs in a bowl and add the mushrooms, turkey, parsley and spices (cumin, cayenne, paprika and salt). Mix it up.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and with two tablespoons, shape the meatballs to the desired size. Then put the meatballs in the oven and cook for about 30-35 minutes. As the meatballs cook, get started on the zucchini spaghetti.
- Cut off the ends of the zucchini and put them through the vegetable slicer.
- Add 1/2 cup water to a non-stick pan and put in the zucchini, mixing it up from time to time. I like to use plastic tongs to do that. Cook the zucchini for about 10-15 minutes or until it looks cooked.
- Note: you want it to be cooked but not overcooked. If the zucchini starts to look “transparent,” remove it immediately and put it through a pasta strainer.
- As the zucchini spaghetti is cooking, reheat the tomato sauce. Once the turkey meatballs are ready, plate the zucchini spaghetti, then the tomato sauce both under and over the turkey meatballs. If you’d like, sprinkle a bit of cheese on top. Enjoy!