Easy Turkey Swedish Meatballs are a lightened-up version of traditional Swedish Meatballs. Served in a delicious, creamy sauce. Serve them over mashed potatoes, rice or egg noodles.
You’ll absolutely love diving into a big plate of these!
This lightened up version of Swedish Meatballs is made with ground turkey instead of the traditional combination of ground beef and ground pork. Plus, they’re doused in a better-for-you sauce made with reduced-fat sour cream, instead of the traditional heavy cream.
Table of Contents
Ingredients needed
- Ground Turkey – Or, ground turkey. You can also use ground beef.
- Chicken Broth – Or, bone broth or turkey stock.
- Sour Cream – I used reduced fat sour cream.
- Worcestershire Sauce & Soy Sauce
- Dijon Mustard
- Bread Crumbs – I used Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. You can also use panko.
- Egg
- Butter & Flour
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Spices – Allspice, nutmeg, onion powder, salt & pepper
How to make them
The most time consuming part of making Turkey Swedish Meatballs is forming them. I’ve found that using a cookie scoop makes the process much easier. If you don’t have a scoop, you can also form them by hand. Wetting your hands before forming the meatballs makes them less sticky to work with.
- Combine ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, parsley, allspice, nutmeg, onion powder salt and pepper.
- Shape mixture into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet.
- Bake at 400-degrees for 15-20 minutes.
On to that delicious Turkey Swedish Meatball sauce! The best part if you ask me!
It’s tangy, creamy and delicious and I like to drown my meatballs in it:
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the flour and cook for a couple minutes, stirring constantly, until it turns golden.
- Whisk in the chicken broth. Then add the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and dijon mustard; cook for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in sour cream. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Add meatballs to the gravy; simmer for 1-2 minutes, spooning gravy over the meatballs.
- Enjoy over mashed potatoes, rice or egg noodles, garnished with fresh parsley and lingonberry jam, if desired.
Recipe tips
- Don’t over handle the ground turkey, otherwise your meatballs can become too dense, and not as tender.
- Be sure your meatballs are roughly the same size before baking. This ensures they’ll cook evenly.
- If using your hands, wet them to make the process less sticky.
- Meatballs are done when they reach a temperature of 165-degrees. I love using this meat thermometer to test for doneness.
- You can use beef or pork (or a combination) to make these Swedish Meatballs more authentic. The process and cook time will remain the same. You may want to swap beef broth for the chicken stock.
How to make ahead & store
You can form the turkey meatballs ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for up to three days until you’re ready to cook them. Or, to store the cooked meatballs, simply store them with the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Freezing
To freeze Turkey Swedish Meatballs:
- Bake.
- Let cool.
- Freeze on a baking sheet, with meatballs spaced apart so they don’t stick to each other.
- Once frozen, store in freezer safe bags.
- To serve, bake meatballs at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until heated through.
Note: I don’t recommend freezing the swedish meatball sauce. I would make that last minute and add the meatballs to it before serving.
What to serve with them
- Serve them alone with gravy as an appetizer
- Orzo
- Egg Noodles
- MORE → 20+ side dishes for Swedish Meatballs
Wine pairings
- Red – Pinot Noir or Beaujolais
- White – Lightly oaked Chardonnay or dry Riesling
- MORE → the BEST wine pairings for turkey
More ground turkey recipes
- MORE → 25+ BEST ground turkey recipes
More meatball recipes
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Full Recipe
Turkey Swedish Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1/3 cup bread crumbs (or panko)
- 1 egg (lightly beaten)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced or grated)
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Swedish Meatball Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
For Serving:
- Chopped parsley (to garnish)
- Mashed Potatoes (Rice, or Egg Noodles)
- Lingonberry jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, parsley, allspice, nutmeg, onion powder, salt and pepper.
- Shape mixture into 1-inch balls and arrange on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through. (Temperature should register 165-degrees)
- Meanwhile, make the gravy.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring continuously, until it begins to turn golden.
- Slowly whisk in the chicken broth. Then add the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and dijon mustard.
- Let simmer for about 5 minutes, until thickened slightly. Reduce heat to low and stir in sour cream. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Once the meatballs are done baking, add them to the skillet with the sauce and continue to cook for a couple minutes, spooning the sauce of over the meatballs.
- Garnish with parsley and enjoy over mashed potatoes with lingonberry jam, if desired. Enjoy!
Nutrition
This Swedish meatballs with ground turkey post was originally published in 2020. It was updated in 2023 to add new content, and again in 2024 to add new photographs and change the meatball recipe slightly.
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