Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs

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Now that the school year is picking up, I’m going to be working from home less and out in schools more. I love getting in and seeing what teachers are doing with the literacy programming in the school district, but it will start to eat into my time to deal with dinner even on the days I’m working from home all day because I’ll be spending a lot of time writing online professional development and reports for schools on those days.

Slow cooker meals are great for my work from home days because I can put them together during a break and then finish them up when it is time for my husband and daughter to get home. Last week when I made these turkey meatballs, I put the meatball mix together right when I got home from dropping my daughter off at daycare. Then, I had a bunch of meetings with a break that was close to an hour just after my normal lunch time. So, at that point, I shaped my meatballs, browned them, and put them into the slow cooker so they would be ready by the time everyone else got home for the evening. All that I had left to do was spiralize and roast some zucchini noodles (a la Whisking Mama) to finish preparing dinner.

Talk about an easy meal!

One thing I really like about this recipe is that I have the option of cooking the turkey meatballs completely in the slow cooker to save time, or browning them a little bit. Personally, I prefer browning them, because I feel like they end up a little firmer after cooking, but in a pinch, I’ll still skip that step in favor of cooking them in the slow cooker the whole time. In the winter, we’ll probably put the turkey meatballs over whole wheat noodles in lieu of the zoodles, but we love spiralized zucchini this time of year!

So, without further adieu…here is the recipe!

Slow-Cooker Turkey Meatballs and Sauce (printable recipe here)

Meatball Ingredients:
1.25-1.5 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
½ cup minced mushrooms
½ cup minced onion
½ cup old-fashioned oats, ground to coarse flour
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 egg
3 tbsp fresh basil
3 tbsp fresh parsley
½ tsp salt

Sauce Ingredients:
24 oz jar of prepared sauce or 2 ½ cups homemade sauce
½ cup good quality red wine

Combine all ingredients for meatballs in a large mixing bowl and mix with hands until all ingredients are incorporated. Divide into meatballs approximate 1 – 1 ½ inches in diameter. Mixture will be loose, but for more tender meatballs, do not compact.

Option 1: Place meatballs in a single layer in the bottom of a slow cooker, add sauce and wine to slow cooker. Cook on high for 1 hour, then reduce to low for 2-3 hours. Turn slow cooker to warming option until ready to eat.

Option 2: Add 1 tbsp olive oil skillet to large nonstick skillet. Brown turkey meatballs in a single layer for 2-3 minutes on each side, then add to slow cooker. Top with sauce and cook 2-3 hours on low. Turn slow cooker to warming option until ready to eat.

Yields approximately 40 turkey meatballs.

Eat them up and enjoy some other recipes over on Miz Helen’s Country Cottage Full-Plate Thursday!