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Jump to RecipeAn easy recipe for 5 ingredient paleo turkey meatballs with sweet potato. This turkey meatball recipe has no breadcrumbs and no dairy, AND these kid-friendly meatballs have vegetables inside. If you are looking for an easy freezer-friendly turkey meatball recipe that’s gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and grain-free, this is it!
5 Ingredient Paleo Turkey Meatballs with Sweet Potato
Though I haven’t eaten red meat in 27 years, I’m a big lover of turkey meatballs. Most recipes include gluten and dairy (think breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese); I actually have a pretty popular recipe for kid-friendly meatballs that has both of those ingredients within. But I personally can’t do gluten, dairy or grains … so I wanted a paleo turkey meatball that was easy to make that I could enjoy, too. I try to eat plant-based most of the time, but sometimes I just feel like I need a little bit extra protein! So there ya have it – I had a selfish reason to make this recipe;).
Easy baked paleo turkey meatballs – they’re:
- made with 5 ingredients
- grain-free
- dairy-free (no cheese!)
- perfect for kids and lunchboxes
- freezer-friendly
- meatballs made with vegetables
- a coconut-flour recipe
How to make meatballs without breadcrumbs
You might be wondering – how do you make meatballs without breadcrumbs? Well if you are gluten-free, you can use gluten-free breadcrumbs or even oats. But in this case, I wanted no grains at all – so I opted to use coconut flour. Coconut flour is unlike other flours and typically can’t be substituted on a 1:1 basis. But one of it’s characteristics is that it soaks up lots of liquid. And for this reason, I knew it’d be perfect for helping to form a more solid structure that I needed in these meatballs. And it worked! If you’re new to using coconut flour, I’ve got a number of recipes that use this paleo flour – I only mention this, because there’s nothing that I hate more than buying an ingredient for one recipe and never using it again.
What you need to make baked meatballs with sweet potatoes:
- This 1 inch cookie scoop makes making meatballs soooo much easier. Simply scoop and place on a lined cookie sheet!
- Speaking of – these are my favorite cookie sheets. I bought them years ago and they are still going strong.
- A microplane is necessary for grating the ginger. As an aside, this is a job that my kids love to do!
- Of course you’ll need roasted sweet potatoes to go in this recipe, too. Here’s more on that:
How to roast the sweet potatoes
Roasting whole sweet potatoes is easy. Here’s what to do:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Wash potatoes well. Dry them and poke holes in them with a fork.
- Rub the potatoes all over with oil. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet or aluminum foil and roast until tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes.
- Let cool.
For this recipe, I make the sweet potatoes ahead of time and peel the skin off when ready to use. If you don’t have time to roast the sweet potatoes, you can cook them in the microwave by cooking them on high for 5-6 minutes.
How to serve these easy paleo turkey meatballs:
- My daughter has been great about making salads – she crumbled up some of these baked meatballs and put the on top of this yummy salad.
- For a simple lunch, serve these paleo meatballs along with fresh or cooked vegetables.
- Add these to your child’s lunchbox for a perfectly portable protein addition.
- These baked paleo turkey meatballs would be wonderful served on top of roasted butternut squash or alongside some Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Brown Butter Sauce.
- This Easy Green Tahini Sauce is soooo good on these! Another option would be to use some type of teriyaki-type of sauce. Yum!
Additional notes about these baked paleo turkey meatballs with sweet potato:
- This is a very basic recipe. You can spruce it up by adding either chopped cilantro, or a little bit of soy sauce to the mixture before forming it into meatballs.
- These are really easy to freeze. Bake the meatballs and then put them in either a freezer-safe bag or in a covered glass dish to freeze. These make great throw-ins for kid (or adult) lunches to take with you.
An easy recipe for 5 ingredient paleo turkey meatballs with sweet potato. This turkey meatball recipe has no breadcrumbs and no dairy. Meatballs are kid-friendly and have vegetables inside. If you are looking for an easy freezer-friendly turkey meatball recipe that's gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and grain-free, this is it!
- 4 pounds ground turkey
- 2 medium roasted sweet potatoes , cooled and peeled
- 1 1/2 inch knob ginger , grated
- 1 tsp salt (add more to taste)
- 3/4 cup coconut flour
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
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In a large bowl, combine turkey, sweet potato (mashed with a fork), grated ginger, salt and coconut flour.
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Line two baking sheets with tin foil. Using a 1 inch cookie cookie scoop, scoop into 1-1 1/2" meatballs onto lined baking sheets leaving a little space in-between.
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Bake for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. As an alternate way to check, a meatball in the center of the baking sheet should be fully cooked through when cut in half.
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Let cool before serving.
So there you have it! Super simple baked turkey meatballs without breadcrumbs or eggs. I hope you love these as much as we do. Let me know if you try them!
