I don’t know about you, but almost all of the meatball recipes I was familiar with from childhood included ingredients like flour, bread crumbs, cheese, rice, or eggs. The same goes for restaurant meatballs. Yet, none of those things sound appealing to me when making meatballs and when it comes to cheese, forget about it. With a dairy allergy cheese is a no-no.
At first, I thought meatballs were just not going to be something I could eat. But then I did my first Whole30 and when researching meal ideas, I came across all sorts of meatball recipes. From what I could tell, all of the Whole30 compliant meatball recipes just used different mixtures of meat and vegetables and I was stoked!
I first followed an amazing recipe for Coconut Curry Chicken Meatballs Over Cauliflower Rice (Whole30) and what I realized is that I can mix anything in with ground turkey or chicken to make meatballs.
My first “made up” meatballs were Spicy Turkey And Vegetable Meatballs (Whole30). They were packed with onions, bell peppers, green onions, radishes, red pepper flakes, and garlic and they were incredible. Brian and I couldn’t stop popping them into our mouths! I’ve made these over and over with one adaptation: I realized you don’t actually need the almond flour.
The Spicy Turkey And Vegetable Meatballs have become a core staple of our road trip meal prep. There’s just one problem: Natalie loves meatballs but doesn’t like all the veggies or spiciness in them. So for road trips, I had to make two giant batches of meatballs — a spicy one with veggies and a non-spicy one with less veggies. Natalie’s meatballs are these Artichoke Garlic Chicken And Turkey Meatballs.
Artichoke Garlic Meatballs
The secret to these mouthwatering, juicy meatballs is the sauteed artichoke bottoms. So good.
Quarter the artichoke bottoms, add them to a large skillet, drizzle olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder over the tops, and toss until coated. Then cook the artichoke bottoms over medium heat, stirring every once in a while. When you see the first hint of brown, add minced garlic and parsley and saute until most of the artichoke pieces shown signs of browning.
The meat in these meatballs is a mixture of chicken sausage and ground turkey. While the artichoke bottoms are cooking in the garlic, the chicken sausages get ground up.
- When doing Whole30, I use Applegate Organics Organic Fire Roasted Red Pepper Chicken Sausage — they’re spicy and delicious.
- My favorite chicken sausages are the O Organics Hot Italian Chicken Sausages.
- When I make these meatballs for Natalie specifically, I use Adelle’s Artichoke Garlic Chicken Sausages because she doesn’t like spicy food.
Once the chicken sausages are ground up, I do the same to the artichoke bottoms, grinding them into a thick artichoke paste. The artichoke paste, ground turkey, and seasonings get added to the chicken sausage and I mix it all together really well with my hands.
Next, it’s time to fill my foil lined baking pans with the meatballs. I use a tablespoon to scoop the meatball mixture into balls — it makes the perfect size little meatball!
This isn’t a fast process, but knowing how yummy they are makes it totally worth it.
The Artichoke Garlic Chicken And Turkey Meatballs cook at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, with a flip halfway through at 15 minutes. When you finally take the meatballs out of the oven, they’ll be sitting in juice and that’s okay! You can serve them right out of the pan.
The meatballs are two bite meatballs and they are so delicious you’ll want to eat far more than you should! Every time I make these, I have to almost ration them so keep Brian from eating half the batch on the first night!
Most of the time, we eat these meatballs all by themselves and we eat them both hot and cold right out of the fridge. They don’t need anything extra. But, if you’re a sauce person, we like dipping them in barbecue sauce or horseradish mustard!
Artichoke Garlic Chicken And Turkey Meatballs
These juicy meatballs are packed with rich flavors and are delicious hot or cold!
Ingredients
- 2 cans artichoke bottoms
- 2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
- 2 pounds ground turkey
- 2 packages chicken sausage
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon coconut aminos
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F using the convection setting. Line three 13x9" baking pans with foil.
- Quarter the artichoke bottoms, add them to a large skillet, drizzle olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder over the tops, and toss until coated.
- Cook the artichoke bottoms over medium heat, stirring every once in a while. When the first hint of brown appears, add minced garlic and parsley. Saute until most of the artichoke pieces shown signs of browning.
- Quarter the chicken sausages. Grind them up in a food processor or blender, pulsing several times. Add the ground chicken sausage to a large bowl.
- Add the sauteed artichoke bottoms to the food processor or blender. Pluse several times to create a thick artichoke paste. Add to the ground chicken sausage.
- Add the ground turkey and all remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix with your hands until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Using a tablespoon, scoop the meatball mixture, pack it with your palm, remove the meatball and place it in the baking pan.
- Cook all three pans of meatballs for 15 minutes. Remove pans and flip the meatballs. Return pans to the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately. Or let the meatballs cool, place in a storage container, and refrigerate.
Notes:
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce can replace the sea salt, balsamic vinegar, and coconut aminos if you're not doing Whole30.
Whole30: Use Applegate Organics Organic Fire Roasted Red Pepper Chicken Sausage.
Spicy + Not Whole30: Use O Organics Hot Italian Chicken Sausage.
Extra Artichoke And Garlic: Use Adelle's Artichoke Garlic Chicken Sausages
