Easy, oven baked turkey meatballs baked with tasty vegetables in a healthy casserole dish! So much flavor in your casserole pan, these juicy turkey meatballs are definitely not dry! Makes great use of those leftover vegetables in the refrigerator for a nutritious meal!
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These oven baked turkey meatballs makes a great casserole dish loaded with healthy vegetables all done in one pan! Nutritious and delicious!
Using baked turkey meatballs without breadcrumbs, this dish is easy, nourishing, and perfect for a hearty weeknight family dinner!
As an added benefit, some of these ingredients uses quick canned good options making it a simple toss-together meal with those vegetables! Literally the best smell in the oven!
This post will go over everything you need to know to create these oven baked turkey meatballs.
Recipe difficulty: Easy to moderate level for that JUICY flavor!
These easy oven baked turkey meatballs are full of flavor from the fresh vegetables and tomato sauce! A healthier option to ground beef, you’ll feel great about yourself eating this hearty dish low in carbs! Yay! Keep reading the tips below to get the best flavor in those meatballs with some time-saving tips!
Sam’s Pro Tips for this Oven Baked Turkey Meatballs
Brown the Meatballs
Discussed more in my Habanero Herbed Spicy Pork Chops Recipe for an Easy Dinner, browning the meat adds a ton of flavor before baking in the oven!
Therefore, there are TWO concepts you need to focus on when browning the meatballs. The ultimate tricks right here!
First, the turkey oatmeal meatballs should be BROWNED on the outside to get a nice sear. Second, it needs to be MOIST on the inside.
Cook the meatballs just until browned and then have the meatballs simmer on low for 10 minutes with the vegetables in all that juice!
If you leave it on the pan for too long without simmering, the oven baked turkey meatballs can become dry. Not good!
Which Casserole Dish Should I Use?
We love no-fuss recipes, so please please use whatever you have!
We used an 8½ inch round casserole dish that was 4 inches deep (as seen in the pictures!) However, a 13×9 casserole dish can be used as well.
Since our round casserole dish was deep, we baked our turkey meatball casserole for one hour. In a 13×9 dish, you can bake for 45 minutes and adjust as needed.
The biggest test is to make sure the carrots and celery are soft. So, depending on which dish you use, you can check one at the end of the baking time to check for softness.
Need a casserole dish? Check out this one from Amazon below rated 4.5 stars!
Time Saving Tips
Like my Easy Mexican Chicken Salad Tostadas Perfect for a Crowd, I love using quick canned good options to save me time!
These turkey meatballs with oats also used cut green beans, sliced stewed tomatoes, and cream of chicken that you can literally just dump in the dish! So easy!
The sliced stewed tomatoes gives so much flavor and makes these oven baked turkey meatballs EXTREMELY juicy! I don’t strain the juice either!
Key Ingredients – Oven Baked Turkey Meatballs
Below are some key ingredients for this recipe:
Oven Baked Turkey Meatballs
- Ground turkey: 1.5 pounds of ground turkey will be used to create these oven baked turkey meatballs with the vegetables. No need for anything fancy, as this is a nice healthy option.
- Egg: Only 1 egg is needed to assemble the ground turkey into meatballs. Mix well!
- Quick oats: For these baked turkey meatballs without breadcrumbs, we used quick oats as a filler. No breadcrumbs needed! Old fashion oats can be used as an alternative.
- Tomato sauce: Only 4 ounces needed for extra moisture in the meatballs. The tomato sauce will also help as a binder in these juicy turkey meatballs.
- Onion: Like my Easy Burger Patty Recipe Without Breadcrumbs, minced onion will be added to these oven baked turkey meatballs. Half an onion will also be quartered to bake with the vegetables!
Vegetables and Sauce
- Green beans: We love using canned green beans for a quick option to toss into the dish! Make sure to drain the can!
- Carrots: Carrots adds a beautiful color to this turkey meatball casserole and is a nutritious vegetable.
- Celery: 4 stalks of celery is used to cook in the casserole and add to all that greenery! Can you see the amount of vegetables yet?
- Stewed tomatoes: Sliced stewed tomatoes will simmer with the vegetables, and you can literally dump the can in, including the juice! This definitely adds to the sauce.
- Cream of chicken: For extra flavor, add a can of cream of chicken into the sauce to create a yummy sauce for all the flavors to mix.
More Variations to these Oven Baked Turkey Meatballs
There are a few ways you can variate these oven baked turkey meatballs. Here’s how:
- Change the vegetables: Feel free to use those leftover vegetables in the refrigerator! Sliced bell peppers are great options for some spice or even broccoli florets. Make sure to adjust the cooking time as needed.
- Do you have other quick, nutritious recipes? Yes! We love our 6-Ingredient Asian Mango Salad with a Toasted Sesame Dressing | No Measuring or 11-Minute Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad Recipe as great vegetable options!
- What can I pair with this dish? These oven baked turkey meatballs is a hearty dish perfect for a cozy family dinner. To make this a complete meal on your dinner table, add our Creamy Filipino Leche Flan for Your Next Party or 4-Step Extremely Soft Cookie Butter Bars That is Way Too Easy | No-Bake for some favorite options!
Looking for some awesome printables that are totally FREE? Our favorite! Check out our FREE LIBRARY for our Grocery Checklist or our Instant Pot Cooking Times Chart to help you on your cooking journey!
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Juicy Oven Baked Turkey Meatballs with Healthy Vegetables
Ingredients
Turkey Meatballs
- 1.5 pounds ground turkey
- 1 egg
- 1½ cups quick cooking oats
- 4 ounces tomato sauce
- ½ onion minced
Vegetables and Sauce
- 4 celery stalks cut in 1-inch pieces
- 4 carrot sticks cut in 1-inch pieces
- 14.5 ounces sliced stewed tomatoes undrained
- 10.5 ounces cream of chicken
- 14.5 ounces cut green beans drained
- ½ onion cut in quarters
- salt and pepper to taste
- vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, egg, quick cooking oats, tomato sauce, minced onion, and salt and pepper to taste. Once combined, form into 2-inch meatballs.
- In a large frying pan, add vegetable oil over medium heat. Brown the meatballs for 1-2 minutes on each side. Tip- If you don't have a pan large enough to brown the meatballs, you can use two pans at the same time. Combine to one pan when simmering.
- Add the cut celery stalks, cut carrot sticks, sliced stewed tomatoes (don't drain the can), and cream of chicken to the pan with the meatballs. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes over medium-low heat.
- Add the drained cut green beans to the pan. Stir gently to combine. Dump the pan into a casserole dish. Put the quartered onion on the outside corners on top of the casserole dish.
- Cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour or until the carrots and celery are cooked and softened. Season with additional salt and pepper when serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- I made 15 meatballs with the measurements in this recipe.
- If you don’t have quick cooking oats, old-fashioned oats can be used instead.
- I used an 8½ inch round casserole dish that was 4 inches deep. However, a 13×9 casserole dish can be used as well. In a 13×9 dish, you can bake for 45 minutes and adjust as needed.
- The biggest check is to make sure the carrots and celery are soft. So, depending on which casserole dish you use, you can check one at the end of the baking time to check for softness. The meatballs will be cooked already at this time, as it was previously browned and simmered!
- See Sam’s Pro Tips for this Oven Baked Turkey Meatballs for further detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long to bake turkey meatballs at 350?
We bake our oven baked turkey meatballs at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour in a casserole dish.
Is it better to cook meatballs in oven or on stove?
For the best flavor, brown the turkey meatballs in a frying pan first before baking to get a nice sear on the meat.
Why are my turkey meatballs rubbery?
Overworked or dry meatballs can cause the meatballs to become rubbery. Make sure to mix all the ingredients until combined and simmer on the stove before baking.
How do you keep turkey meatballs from falling apart?
We add minced onion, an egg, tomato sauce, and quick cooking oats into our meatballs for firmness and to keep these turkey oatmeal meatballs moist.
This post was all about how to create these oven baked turkey meatballs.
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