Juicy Ricotta Turkey Meatballs Recipe

These cheesy, light as a feather, juicy ricotta meatballs are gluten free and bake in the oven. Serve them with your favorite marinara sauce on their own or over pasta, grains, cauliflower rice or more!

There’s nothing better than biting into a juicy, cheesy, flavorful meatball!

The problem is, oftentimes meatballs come out tough. Or they seem tough to make! I promise you there’s a better way.

These juicy ricotta turkey meatballs are naturally gluten free because we use flax meal in lieu of breadcrumbs as the binder in this recipe. The meatballs are great served on their own in marinara sauce or over top of mashed or riced cauliflower for a gluten free, low carb meal. They’re also a perfect compliment to pasta, couscous, or any other grain you have on hand!

I love that these meatballs are oven baked because you a) aren’t committed to standing over the stove to brown them, and b) you can actually — legitimately! — relax while they bake. We love a hands-free cooking moment.

Here’s how you’ll make these Juicy Ricotta Turkey Meatballs:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400º.
  2. Cook diced onions and garlic on the stove to soften then take off heat to cool.
  3. Mix together ricotta, egg, flax meal, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper before adding in cooled onions & garlic.
  4. Gently add in ground turkey to combine.
  5. Scoop out mixture and form meatball, placing on a foil-lined and greased sheet pan.
  6. Bake all meatballs in oven for 20 mins.
  7. Heat sauce stovetop then add meatballs to sauce before serving!

They key to light and pillowy meatballs is to AVOID OVERMIXING when you’re combining all of your ingredients together! You can do so by mixing everything *except* the meat first, then gently folding/mashing in your ground turkey last.

What can I serve these Juicy Ricotta Turkey Meatballs with to keep them gluten-free?

  • On their own in sauce, with a big side salad
  • Over mashed cauliflower
  • Over riced cauliflower
  • Over quinoa
  • Over chickpea pasta (I love Banza brand)
  • Over brown rice

I hope you love these light-as-air meatballs! If you make them, a rating/review is SO appreciated! Thank you fam!

Looking for other meatball recipes? Check these out:

Whole30 Chicken Piccata Meatballs

Lightened Up Swedish Meatballs

Coconut Red Curry Chicken Meatballs

Feta-Stuffed Greek Meatballs

Baked Asian Glazed Meatballs

Skinny Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with Greek Ranch Dip

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Juicy Ricotta Turkey Meatballs

These cheesy, light as a feather, juicy ricotta meatballs are gluten free and bake in the oven. Serve them with your favorite marinara sauce on their own or over pasta, grains, cauliflower rice or more!
4.84 from 12 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian
Servings 28 meatballs, roughly

Ingredients
  

  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup flax meal can sub breadcrumbs
  • 2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 lb. ground turkey
  • 1 24-oz. jar your favorite marinara I love Rao's

optional for serving

  • parmesan cheese, fresh basil

Instructions
 

  • Start by preheating your oven to 400º.
  • In a dutch oven or deep sided pan, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook 3 minutes before adding minced garlic. Cook until onions are soft but not browned, about 5 minutes total. Turn off heat.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, egg, flax meal, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Add in cooled onions & garlic. Once combined well, add in ground turkey meat and combine, being careful not to over mix.
  • Line a sheet pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Using a 1 1/2" cookie scoop or a round tablespoon, scoop out meat mixture and roll into meatball. Place on sheet pan and continue to create all meatballs, leaving some space between them on the pan.
  • Place into oven and bake for 20 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink.
  • While meatballs cook, place jar of marinara sauce into the same deep sided pan you used for onions & garlic and bring to a simmer over medium low heat. When meatballs are finished baking, use tongs to place them carefully into the marinara.
  • Top meatballs and marinara with more parmesan cheese and fresh basil, if desired.
Keyword ground turkey, italian,, marinara sauce, meatballs, ricotta
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6 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    This is so easy and delicious! The texture on the meatballs is great- we loved it! Will be making again 🙂

    1. Thank you so much Maddey!! xx

  2. 5 stars
    Made these tonight for some friends and they raved about them. Were delish. Didn’t have flax meal so cheated a little with breadcrumbs, but it still tasted a lot lighter than the ground beef version and was so good. Thanks, Cayla! And thank you for the tip about Rao’s, def gonna nab that for my next spaghetti night.

    1. Thank you so much Peggy! <3

  3. 5 stars
    my husband asked for them two weeks in a row!! 😂

    1. That is a great sign!! Thank you so much Linda! xx

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