Sweet and spicy turkey meatballs are a take on a Chinese recipe of sweet and sour pork. Skipping the sour for spicy gives these turkey meatballs a serious kick to your palate and adds an even more delicious take to this recipe. Of course if you are not a spicy flavor fan, skip the hot sauce in the sauce and keep it sweet and sour.
Meatballs are a great weeknight meal to prepare. First off you can meal prep this recipe a few days in advance. You can also prepare cook off the meatballs and freeze them in a freezer safe container or bag. When you are ready to enjoy the meatballs you can then prepare the sauce, which is great to have a recipe planned ahead in your freezer.
As far as the protein used you can really use any ground meat, chicken, pork, beef, or a mix of a few. Whatever you are in the mood for. I am a big fan of ground turkey. Usually turkey needs a lot of flavor to taste yummy so this recipe works well for ground turkey. Also I also always have ground turkey in my fridge so it is easy to make on a whim.
Serve these sweet and spicy turkey meatballs over some rice, a bowl of noodles, zoodles, or cauliflower rice. Really you can serve this recipe over anything. There is so much flavor coming from the recipe that you don’t have to pair it with anything really flavorful.

Sweet and Spicy Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Turkey
- 1 Scallion minced
- 1 TBLS Minced Fresh Ginger
- 2 TBLS Neutral Oil or Sesame Oil
- 1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice optional
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Sweet and Spicy Sauce
- 3 TBSL Ketchup I used Annie’s Ketchup
- 1 TBLS Siracha Hot Sauce
- 3 TBLS Honey
- 2 TBLS Water
- 1 TBLS Rice Vinegar
- 1 TBLS Soy or Tamari Sauce
- 1/2 White Onion large diced
- 1 TBLS Corn Starch
Instructions
- 1. In a bowl mix together the ground turkey and all spices and ingredients. Form even amount of meatballs, about 12-14 meatballs. 2. In a large skillet pan heat oil over medium/high heat. Then add the turkey meatballs. Let the turkey meatballs brown and then turn/flip the meatballs and continue to cook and lower the heat to medium/low. If necessary add 1/4 of water to steam lightly. Once the turkey meatballs have cooked place them in a plate while you prepare the sauce. 3. Using the same skillet pan, add the onions and allow them to saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Then add all the remaining ingredients for the sweet and spicy sauce. Stir and mix everything together. Let the sauce simmer and thicken slightly. Allow the sauce to cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the meatballs back into the skillet pan, turn heat off, and evenly coat the meatballs with the sweet and spicy sauce. Serve and enjoy
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