Hoisin Glazed Baked Turkey Meatballs

Name: Hoisin Glazed Baked Turkey Meatballs
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: 20 meatballs + glaze
Ingredients: 1 16- oz pkg ground turkey (I used 93% lean); 1/4 cup grated onion; 1 cup panko breadcrumbs; 2 tbsp hoisin sauce; 1 egg; 1 1/4 tsp sriracha (or to taste); 1 tbsp sesame oil; 3/4 tsp Chinese five-spice powder; 3/4 tsp minced garlic; pinch of salt and pepper; 1/2 cup hoisin sauce; 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce; 1/4 cup rice vinegar; 1 tsp minced garlic; 1 tsp sesame oil; 1 tsp sriracha (or to taste); 1/4 tsp ground ginger; 1/8 tsp Chinese five-spice powder; Scallions (for garnish); Sesame seeds (for garnish)

January 5, 2015 By Alyssa 26 Comments

Well, it’s 2015! Time to eat more kale, say hello to the gym, and be bigger/better/faster/stronger than our last years’ selves. Or we can get specific with our resolutions, and add some such as digging out half-done DIYs and actually finishing them or brushing up on that foreign language you used to know. Your choice.

I’m gravitating toward the latter this year, starting with 1) this fab heart I bought 1,000 cocktail straws for and 2) Italian. I’ve also decided to improve my meal planning skills. This has actually been on my to-do list for months now, but seeing as it’s the beginning of the year, I might as well elevate it to resolution-level importance. It’s just B and I living together, and we’re both super easy going when it comes to food. This is good/bad. Good because we like to eat the same meals and bad because we fall into ruts…because we eat the same meals.

Five days in and I haven’t found my pliers or downloaded an Italian app yet, but new meal ideas? Check! Meet these hoisin glazed baked turkey meatballs. Served over brown rice, they’re a tasteful, satisfying, and resolution-friendly dish!

These baked turkey meatballs are JUICY from the grated onion. Grating the onion instead of just chopping is one of my favorite new tricks for meatball making. Those little onion bits mix in with the turkey, breadcrumbs, and other good stuff and add some serious all-over moisture. Just a word of warning – grate with caution. I grated with vigor and ended up with a face full of onion juice. Yowza. Next time I think I’ll wear swim goggles. 🙂

Then there’s Chinese five-spice powder, which adds a really unique flavor that works so well with the turkey. If you’re unfamiliar, Chinese five-spice powder is a blend of different spices, with the result being a warm/slightly sweet/tangy mix. It might not sound like it, but it tastes so great with savory dishes. There may be different spice blends depending on the brand, but the shaker I have (that I bought in our regular supermarket) actually has six spices – cinnamon, anise, fennel, ginger, clove, and licorice root. Feel free to mix up your own blend if you’re feeling ambitious!

As the meatballs are baking, the hoisin glaze is simple to whip up on the stove top. Hoisin sauce is thinned a bit by soy sauce and rice vinegar, then garlic and sesame oil are stirred in. I couldn’t stop myself from adding more five-spice (can you tell I’m obsessed?) and extra ginger. Then I zipped it up a teensy bit by adding some sriracha. As written the glaze isn’t that spicy, but you can certainly change that by adding an extra squeeze (or two).

Once the meatballs are done baking, I dipped them in glaze and served over brown rice (because, resolutions) with sesame seeds and chopped up scallions for garnish. I may or may not have drizzled extra glaze over top because rice soaking up any sauce is pretty much perfection in my opinion.

And oh yeah, besides being a healthier alternative, baking the meatballs gives them this faaabulous crust I can’t get enough of. Maybe you’re a crust/end piece/coating/crisp bits person too? Then this meatball is for you.

Ughhh. SO GOOD.

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