The pioneer woman was one of my go-to places for recipes before I started counting macros. I mean, who can blame me? Her recipes are simple, delicious, and always a hit with the family! My kids especially love her comfort meatballs, but since I started macro counting, I haven’t made it. Then I got to brainstorming and thought, I bet I could use Lillie Eats and Tell’s Skinny Turkey Zucchini Meatballs as a base for the recipe and then top with the barbecue like sauce from the Pioneer Woman. It’s a match made in macro friendly comfort food heaven!
The mini turkey meatballs get lots of moisture from the grated zucchini and the paste made from parsley, onion, and garlic. Instead of using eggs as a binder for this recipe (I’m allergic), I used Greek Yogurt and that worked out well. Then these meatballs get dolloped with a yummy sauce made from pantry staple ingredients, like ketchup, sugar, and vinegar. We like to eat these with mashed potatoes and veggies for a real home style meal. Macros for 110 g of meatballs and sauce are 6f/18c/19p.
Skinnier Comfort Meatballs
Ingredients
- 24 oz 93/7 ground turkey (~1.5 lbs)
- 1 medium zucchini, grated with excess water absorbed with a paper towel (232 g)
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 onion, diced (100g)
- 10 g fresh parsley
- 1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
- ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/3 cup Greek Yogurt (85 g)
- 1 cup Ketchup (240 g)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 3 tbsp Dried minced onions
Instructions
- Preheat an onion for 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray foil with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a blender or food processor, puree red onion, parsely, and garlic until completely smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, zucchini, Greek yogurt, and parsley/onion/garlic paste, seasoned salt, and pepper until evenly combined. It works best to get your hands in there!
- Take about 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture and roll it into a meatball. Once finished, set the meatball onto the baking sheet and finish with the rest of the meat mixture. It’s ok for the meatballs to be close together.
- After you have rolled all the meatballs, thoroughly wash your hands. Then combine ketchup, sugar, minced onion, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce until evenly mixed. Scoop a spoonful of the sauce over each meatball, so it is all used up but also evenly distributed among all the meatballs.
- Bake meatballs in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take out the meatballs and drain off any excess liquid in the pan. Return pan back into the oven until the meatballs are cooked through (will vary depending on the size of your meatball, but about 5-10 minutes).
- Take out of oven, serve, and enjoy!