Swedish Turkey Meatballs – Emily Bites

These Swedish Turkey Meatballs are the perfect lightened-up comfort food dish for the cooler fall and winter months ahead. The meatballs are super flavorful and served with a rich and tasty beef gravy with a tangy hint of sour cream. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may already know that I adore gravy. I also love meatballs, so these Swedish Turkey Meatballs are truly a dish after my own heart. My husband and my 1 ½ year old daughter loved this recipe as well, so it was a hit with the whole family! I particularly enjoy serving these over mashed potatoes, but they’re also great over egg noodles, pasta or rice. The recipe makes enough delicious sauce to smother over whichever base you choose! I also recommend adding a vegetable on the side like cooked carrots or green beans (my family’s favorites). Three meatballs and ½ cup of gravy are just 278 calories or 5 WW Freestyle SmartPoints!

Looking for more tasty, lightened up comfort food dishes like these Swedish Turkey Meatballs? Check out my Chicken and Dumplings Casserole, One-Pot Barbecue Chicken Mac and Cheese, Stuffed Turkey Bundles with Gravy, Meat and Potatoes Bake, Chicken Pot Pasta, Chicken and Squash Wild Rice Casserole, Butternut Squash Pasta with Bacon, Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup, One Pot Dirty Rice with Chicken and Sausage, Turkey Sloppy Joe Pasta, Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Chickpea Bake, Crispy Cheddar Chicken with Cream Sauce, Rustic Sausage and Potato Skillet, Cottage Pie, Beef Stroganoff, Beefy American Goulash, Chili Cornbread Bake, Pimento Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Bubble Up Chicken Pot Pie Casserole, Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini Skillet, Cheesy Bacon BBQ Chicken, Slow Cooker Beef Stew, Cheesy Chicken and Stuffing Bake, and many, many more in the Comfort Food section of my recipe index!

Swedish Turkey Meatballs

Yield: 4 (3 meatballs + 1/2 cup gravy) servings

Ingredients:

• 1 lb raw 99% lean ground turkey breast
• 1/3 cup panko crumbs
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon dried minced/chopped onion (found by the other dried spices, different brands call it minced/chopped)
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons light butter (I use Land O’Lakes light butter)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 ½ cups reduced sodium beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Beef Base (you can also use powdered bouillon or ½ a bouillon cube, but I highly recommend BTB, it’s awesome)
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ cup fat free sour cream

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, add the ground turkey, panko, egg, dried minced onion, parsley, salt, nutmeg, allspice, garlic powder, and pepper and mash together until well combined. With clean hands, roll the meat mixture into 12 evenly sized meatballs.
2. Drizzle the olive oil into a large saute pan or skillet and bring over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the meatballs in a single layer with a bit of space in between them. Cook, flipping them every 1-2 minutes to brown all sides, for 8 minutes. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook the meatballs covered for an additional 2-4 minutes until cooked through. Remove the meatballs to a side plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.
3. Add the butter to the pan and bring over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and whisk the flour and butter together until combined (it will become sort of like a paste). Whish in the broth a little at a time to combine it smoothly. Add the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, bouillon, dried parsley, and paprika and whisk into the sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring regularly, and then reduce the heat to low to simmer. Simmer uncovered for a few minutes until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in the sour cream until smoothly combined. Add the meatballs back in and stir to coat. Return to low heat for 1-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meatballs are heated through.

WW Freestyle SmartPoints:
5 per (3 meatballs + ½ cup gravy) serving (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

Weight Watchers Points Plus:
7 per (3 meatballs + ½ cup gravy) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers brand PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition information below)

Nutrition Information per (3 meatballs + ½ cup gravy) serving:
278 calories, 14 g carbs, 3 g sugars, 11 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 32 g protein, 1 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)