Chipotle Turkey Meatballs

Meatballs are the best! Great as an appetizer or entree, they're little lean mounds of great nutrition and energy when you make them like we did here, with just meat, veggies, herbs and seasoning and NO breadcrumbs! These are especially wonderful since they have a little chipotle kick along with bold flavors such as garlic and cilantro! And yes, the meat holds together perfectly even without the breadcrumbs! Hopefully, you'll never add breadcrumbs to your meatballs again!


Chipotle Turkey Meatballs


Ingredients:
4 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1/2 cup minced sweet onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tspn finely chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey (Jenni-O 93% lean is my favorite)
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
Sea salt & pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat broiler.

2. Chopped uncooked turkey bacon on plastic cutting board. Cook bacon in medium skillet over medium-high heat until fully cooked, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove cooked bacon from pan and set aside. Pour out bacon drippings, leaving about 2 tablespoons in pan. Add chopped onion to the skillet and cook over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, the chiles and 2 tablespoons of water, scraping up any of the browned bits.

3. Add the ground turkey, turkey bacon and cilantro to the onion mixture, season with sea salt and pepper, and mix well.

4. Line a baking sheet with foil, coat with cooking spray. Form the turkey mixture into about 1 inch meatballs. Lay meatballs on the baking sheet, giving a little room, not touching. Broil the meatballs for 6 minutes. Turn once and broil for additional 6 minutes on other side (for a total of 12), until just cooked through.

Serve with toothpicks and for an instant starter at any gathering!

Here is a video of a 'Healthy Game Day Buffet' morning news segment where these seemed to be the hit of our little tailgate party!

You Can Still Eat Healthy on Game Day - Featuring my Chipotle Turkey Meatballs


Bon Appetit!