Week 4 of my 6 weeks of summer meal plan is already here. This is the first weekend I actually got to do some meal prepping with all the rain we had on Sunday. Although I didn’t make these meatballs, I’m sharing this Arugula Pesto Turkey Meatball recipe because it’s easy enough to make during the week and can be ready in less than 30 mins.
Since I’ve been obsessing over arugula lately, I decided to make arugula pesto instead of basil pesto. Same concept just a little bit different taste but still so fresh and amazing. I love adding lemon and parmesan cheese to arugula salads along with EVOO so making pesto with arugula made sense since these flavors blend so well.
I am not much of a red meat eater but I also don’t like my meat dry so I’ve been lovely turkey thigh meat lately, it still has so much juiciness that I look for in a burger or meatball but with more lean protein. I get my turkey thigh meat at the butcher section of Whole Foods but if you can’t get to a Whole Foods, Stop and Shops’s Nature’s Promise brand has a great packaged turkey meat that I also love.
Let’s get cooking.
You can prepare your pesto sauce ahead of time and store in the fridge up to 7 days if you want to save on time and mess in the kitchen when making the meatballs. Or just buy a good quality store-bought pesto that is low in sodium 😀.
Arugula Pesto Turkey Meatballs
Arugula Pesto Recipe:
- 2 cups of fresh baby arugula
- 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup of good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup of walnuts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 garlic cloves
- squeeze of 1/2 lemon
- Blend all ingredients together in a blender or food processor until mixed well.
- Set aside for later or store in fridge in a airtight container until meatballs are ready.
Turkey Meatball Recipe:
- 1 pound of turkey meat (regular not lean)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup of panko or gluten-free breadcrumb
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese (optional but so good)
Preheat oven to 350 F
- Add all ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mix well with your hands or a spoon. Add more breadcrumb if too sticky.
- Using your hands, form into 1 inch or smaller meatballs and add them to a heated non-stick pan over the stove with 2 tsps of virgin/light olive oil or avocado oil
- Brown meatballs on each side on medium to low heat. Your meatballs should be browned not cooked all the way through.
- Transfer browned meatballs to the oven in an oven safe baking pan or the pan you used (assuming it’s oven safe) and cook for about 17 minutes until fully cooked–they should be firm when cooked.
- Remove from oven and serve with pesto and cooked pasta. Optional: Top with arugula and fresh Parmesan cheese.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to know what you think! Leave a comment below.
xoxo
Marisa
