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A great weeknight meal, these yummy baked turkey ginger garlic meatballs are tossed in a lip-smacking hot honey glaze everyone will love!
Why You’ll Love These Meatballs
Aside from being super hasty and simple, these baked turkey meatballs bring on a TON of flavor! The ginger and garlic give off an awesome savory Asian-inspired essence while the hot honey glaze brings the sweet and spicy. It’s harmonious.
The good news is you can control the spice level to adapt it to your preference. This also makes it more of a family-friendly dish if you’ve got younger kids that aren’t into fiery foods quite yet.
What to Serve With Them
- One of our favorite sides for these sweet and sticky meatballs is seared baby bok choy.
- Serving ginger garlic meatballs over a bed of fluffy coconut ginger rice is quite possibly the best thing ever. If noodles are more your jam, that works too.
- These honey roasted miso sweet potatoes are a wonderful pairing.
- And if you want to stick with the hot honey theme, these sweet and spicy carrots are a win.
Quick Tips
- To lessen the heat, use less of the sambal oelek in the honey glaze. You can always add more if you want to make it spicier.
- Ground turkey makes for a fantastic meatball, but if you’re used to using beef or sausage, you might find the texture while rolling the meatballs to be stickier than you’re used to. This is okay! Totally normal. Just rub a bit of olive oil into the palm of your hands and rolling the meatballs will be a lot easier with much less stickiness.
- Have a meat thermometer on hand to check the internal temperature of the meatballs to ensure you don’t overcook them.
- Place parchment over your baking sheet to prevent sticking.
Ingredients
Exact measurements included in the recipe card below.
- Ground turkey. For baked meatballs, I’d go with the 93/7 blend since it contains a little more fat which will help with tenderness and flavor.
- Sea salt & pepper.
- Onion powder. We’re using fresh onions in this mix, yes, but onion powder tends to add a little extra oomph that I am here for!
- Garlic. Grated to a paste or finely chopped it fine.
- Scallions. Green onions go so well with Asian-inspired flavors, so it was a no-brainer to use these in here as opposed to the usual yellow or red onions I use in other meatball recipes. I also like saving some for garnish in the end.
- Soy sauce. Go for the low sodium if possible, as it doesn’t affect the flavor at all.
- Panko bread crumbs. These act as a binding agent and will help your meatballs come out nice and tender.
- Honey. A nice quality raw unfiltered honey. If you really like spice, you can use a hot honey! I’ve done this before with Savannah Bee Company’s hot honey and it’s delicious!
- Sesame oil. An essential flavor for this glaze.
- Ginger. You can use freshly grated ginger or ginger paste.
- Sambal Oelek. A hot chili oil like this is where you’re going to get your heat. You could also use Sriracha instead. Even if you’re already using a hot honey.
- Sesame seeds. I like using these as a garnish. You can toast them prior to garnishing to bring more of a toasted sesame flavor if you want.
How to Make Ginger Garlic Meatballs
Preheat the oven to 375º F with the rack positioned in the center of the oven; prep a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper and set it aside.
Mix all of the turkey meatball ingredients together, from the ground turkey through to the panko, in a large mixing bowl.
Rub a bit of olive oil onto your hands and start forming the meatballs, about 2 TBSP worth of meat mixture. Set the meatballs onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.
When done, pop the meatballs into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until they reach an internal temperature of 160-165º F.
While the meatballs bake, prepare your hot honey glaze! Just mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
Once the meatballs are done, remove them from the oven and let them sit for a 3-5 minutes. Then transfer the meatballs to a bowl and drizzle them with the hot honey glaze, tossing to coat.
Garnish them with sesame seeds and scallions, and serve!
Storage, Freezing, & Reheating
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-5 days.
- To freeze, let the meatballs cool once they’re out of the oven and pop them into gallon-sized zip-top bags without tossing them in the hot honey glaze. Make sure the meatballs are laying in a single layer. They will keep in the fridge for up to 2 months. Transfer them to the fridge and thaw overnight before you plan to cook them. Once cooked, you can then toss them in the honey glaze.
- To reheat, pop the meatballs into the microwave and heat in 25 second increments until warmed through.
More Yummy Ground Turkey Recipes to Try
- The Best Turkey Burger
- Lasagna With Ground Turkey Meat Sauce
- Ground Turkey Stir Fry With Cabbage
- Instant Pot Sloppy Joes With Ground Turkey
- Turkey Meatloaf
Have You Made This Recipe?
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Ginger Garlic Meatballs With Hot Honey Glaze
Ingredients
GINGER GARLIC MEATBALLS
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion, white parts only
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
HOT HONEY GLAZE
- 2 TBSP raw/unfiltered honey
- 2 TBSP sesame oil
- 2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 tsp sambal oelek, More or less to taste, depending on how much heat you like.
GARNISHES
- Sliced scallions
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
Turkey Meatballs.
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix all of the turkey meatball ingredients together—from the ground turkey through to the panko—with your bare hands. (It's so much easier to properly blend and get an even mix with your hands.)
- Rub a small amount of olive oil onto your hands and start forming the meatballs. Aim for about 2 TBSP of meat mixture for each meatball. Place the meatballs onto the parchment-lined baking sheet when done; repeat until the entire mixture is used up. You should get about 12 meatballs.
- Transfer the meatballs into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until they reach an internal temperature of 160-165º F. (Check in at the 15 minute mark.)
- While the meatballs are cooking, get your hot honey glaze going. Mix all of the ingredients for it in a small bowl; set aside.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven when they're ready; let them sit for about 3-5 minutes. Once slightly cooled, transfer them to a bowl and drizzle them with the hot honey glaze. Gently toss to coat.
- Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds, and enjoy!
Wow, these ginger garlic meatballs with hot honey glaze are a game changer! The combination of spices and sweetness is absolutely delicious. I’ve never been a fan of meatballs before, but these have converted me. Definitely trying this recipe again and experimenting with different variations. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, so happy these were the ones to convert you! I used to have an aversion to meatballs when I was a kid, and I’m just glad I grew out of it. So happy you were able to enjoy these :)
This is so delicious! Love this recipe!
Yay! Love to hear it.
Delicious! I served it with spinach instead of bok choy because that is what I had and made the meatballs gluten free with gluten free panko. Everyone loved it! Thank you!
So glad it was a hit!
These meatballs are outstanding…I air fryer them and then tossed in the glaze
I love that you air-fried them! I definitely need to give that a whirl :)