Healthy comfort food.
Is there such a thing? Yes! If you swap the ingredients you use in a traditionally fattening comfort food for healthier options, you can! Gobble up my Healthy Turkey Meatball Sandwiches for lunch or dinner and feel good doing it. Of course, I needed something to wash these babies down with so I opted for a cold, light beer.
In this recipe I use skim milk instead of heavy cream, low-fat shredded mozzarella, and ground turkey instead of fatty ground beef. The fresh herbs are aromatic and take basic turkey meatballs to the next level. Use fresh herbs, people! It makes the difference.
Rolling your meatballs in a bit of all-purpose flour is the key to a getting a crispy exterior. Once in the pot, rotate them often even allowing them to stand on end. Don’t walk away from the stove because you need to move the meatballs often using tongs.
Once the meatballs reach that beautiful golden color on all sides, remove them from the pan and let them rest. (Don’t worry if the meatballs are a bit soft on the inside still because they will finish cooking in the spaghetti sauce.)
Finished cooking off the meatballs, add all of them back to the pot. Add your preferred jarred spaghetti sauce to finish cooking them on a low simmer with the lid on until you’re ready to make a sandwich.
Want perfectly browned mozzarella cheese and a slightly crispy bun? Place your meatball sandwiches under the broiler for a couple minutes or place them in a toaster oven on the broil setting. Watch them closely!
Don’t forget to garnish your finished meatball sandwich with a tablespoon of chopped basil.
Healthy Turkey Meatballs Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 c. shredded low-fat mozzarella
- 1 T chopped basil for garnish
- 1 pkg Pepperidge Farms Top Sliced Hot Dog Buns
- 1 jar Prego traditional spaghetti sauce
- Meatballs:
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 T. fresh oregano
- 2 T. fresh chopped basil
- 3 diced garlic cloves
- 2 T. parmesan
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 c. Italian bread crumbs
- 1/2 c. skim milk
- 3 T all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Add all meatball ingredients to a large bowl.
- Using your hands, make meatballs (slightly larger than a golfball) and place them in a slightly flour glass 9"x11" pan. Once all the meatballs are made, roll them around in flour to coat evenly.
- Add 2 T. olive oil to large pot. Bring to medium heat.
- Once at temperature, add 7-8 meatballs. Be careful not to crowd them.
- Rotate the meatballs until they are golden on all sides. Continue to add more olive oil to the pot before adding additional meatballs.
- Remove them from the pot and let them rest on a new glass pan.
- Finish cooking all meatballs.
- Reduce heat to low and add spaghetti sauce and return meatballs to the pot.
- Cover and let simmer at least 10 minutes.
- Add two meatballs into a split top hot dog bun and top with any extra sauce from the pot.
- Top with low-fat shredded mozzarella and put in a toaster or oven on broil for 2-3 minutes to melt cheese to a bubbly golden brown.
- Remove sandwich and sprinkle with chopped basil for garnish.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
If you roll the basil leaves like a cigar and then run your knife through them, you can chop it easily into ribbons.
Parmesan is salty so you cold eliminate the 1 tsp salt in the meat mixture.
