Ground turkey is my preference when it comes to meatballs for a couple reasons. The first reason being that they are more moist, in my opinion. The other reason is just simply that I feel they are healthier than ground beef.

Tonight for dinner I made ground turkey and pancetta meatballs to serve over spaghetti noodles. I was setting up my Halloween decorations and I figured that once the meatballs were simmering away in my sauce, I could continue on with the decorating without having to stand over the cooktop.

Check out these awesome witches boots I found today at Home Goods! That put me in the mood to put the rest of my Halloween out.

For the meatballs, I mixed together a pound of ground turkey, 4 ounces of pancetta, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 2 teaspoons Pizza seasoning (that I bought at The Spice Way – http://www.thespiceway.com, 1 tablespoon fresh minced thyme, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 egg, and 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs. Note: You can certainly use Italian seasoning in place of the pizza seasoning.

I mixed everything together in a glass bowl lightly with a fork.

I rolled my meatballs into about a 2 inch size before placing them in my Dutch oven.

After I placed my meatballs into the Dutch oven, I added 2 28-ounce cans unsalted crushed plum tomatoes, 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes and 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning. I mixed the seasonings together with the tomatoes and let it simmer on my cooktop for 45 minutes.

A little something funny happened, my can opener fell apart while opening the third can of tomatoes. Of course, it was the can of plum (whole) tomatoes – so those couldn’t slip through a small opening. It was quite comical, really. 

These meatballs were really tasty. Both Dennis and Kylie really loved them. Kylie is a bigger fan of ground beef meatballs and mentioned that she loved these just as much. She even asked if she could have leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Can you see the little pieces of pancetta in the meatballs? Yum!

I hope you get a chance to make these meatballs and that your family will love them as well.

Ingredients for Meatballs

• 1 pound ground turkey

• 4 ounces pancetta

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 2 teaspoons Pizza seasoning (or Italian seasoning)

• 1 egg

• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Ingredients for Sauce

• 2 28-ounce cans crushed (unsalted) plum tomatoes

• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Place ground turkey, pancetta, kosher salt, pepper, pizza seasoning (or Italian seasoning), egg, garlic, thyme and bread crumbs into a large bowl.
2. Gently mix together with a fork.
3. Form 2-inch balls and set into a Dutch oven or large pot.
4. Pour tomatoes over meatballs and add kosher salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning and stir. Gently stir meatballs into the sauce.
5. Cook on Medium to medium-low for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep meat balls off bottom of pan.
6. Serve with your choice of pasta.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris