Easy Turkey Swedish Meatballs (2024)

April 8, 2024February 14, 2024 by Erin

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.

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.
• Use a cookie scoop to make the process easier and ensure your meatballs are all the same size.
• 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:

1. Bake.
2. Let cool.
3. Freeze on a baking sheet, with meatballs spaced apart so they don’t stick to each other.
4. Once frozen, store in freezer safe bags.
5. 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
• Mashed Potatoes
• Rice
• Orzo
• Mashed Cauliflower
• Slow Cooker Spaghetti Squash
• Egg Noodles
• Lingonberry Jam
• MORE → 25+ side dishes for 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

• Taco Zucchini Boats
• Turkey Picadillo
• Pumpkin Chili
• Thai Curry Meatballs
• MORE → 25+ BEST ground turkey recipes

Did you try this turkey Swedish meatball recipe?

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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.