Asian Quinoa Meatballs
Healthy, nutritious and packed with so much flavor. Perfect as an appetizer or a light dinner!
Meatballs don’t get as much credit as they should. They’re incredibly versatile, they’re fun to eat, and they can either work as an appetizer or a main dish. Plus, it’s literally a ball of meat!
But for those cutting back on some heavy calories from all that meatball goodness, I have the perfectly lightened up version with quinoa.
The quinoa here is a great substitute for some of the meat, and provides an excellent source of protein too – all the while keeping it light on your pants.
Best of all, not only are these meatballs lightened up but they’re also baked to absolute tender perfection.
The sauce is also packed with tons of flavor – you can even set some aside and toss it on some rice or even a side of quinoa. You’ll be glad you did.
And if you’re anything like us, you’ll double the batch and serve these on game day, and save the rest for a light dinner the very next night!
Asian Quinoa Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- ¾ cup cooked quinoa
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ teaspoon sesame seeds
For the sauce
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, quinoa, garlic, onions, egg, soy sauce, sesame oil, Sriracha, salt and pepper, to taste. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1 1/4-to-1 1/2-inch meatballs, forming about 18-20 meatballs.
- Place meatballs onto the prepared baking dish and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until all sides are browned and meatballs are cooked through.
- To make the sauce, whisk together soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, sugar, sesame oil, Sriracha and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over medium high heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Stir into soy sauce mixture until thickened, about 2 minutes.
- Serve meatballs immediately with sauce, garnished with green onion and sesame seeds.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Made your delightful meatballs tonight using beef instead of the turkey. They turned out wonderful – just needed an extra 10mins cooking time. The sauce was so yummy I doubled it & served it all with noodles. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi, I made these meatballs last night and omg were they delicious!!! However, I noticed that meatball mixture was very gooey when I went to form them into balls, and had to end up cooking for around 30+ mins. Is that normal or just me? I did noticed the lean ground turkey I used was a tab bit watery, perhaps I should have patted it dry before combine everything together? has this happened to anyone else?
But all in all, I LOVED the whole recipe! So damn delicious!
I’m not sure what could have gone wrong but I worry that as you mentioned, the ground turkey retained quite a bit of water.
These look awesome & I’d love to give them a try, but we have a toddler with an egg allergy at home. Would the balls completely fall apart if I left it out?
Thank you!
Yes, the meatballs need some sort of binding to hold them together and that’s exactly the role of the egg.
maybe try using a flax egg…..its suppose to be a good sub for eggs….we tried it once in some baking it worked really well =)
http://detoxinista.com/how-to-make-flax-eggs-or-chia-eggs/
If I have a smaller baking dish, do I have to adjust the cooking time?
No, I don’t think it’s necessary to adjust cooking time.
YUM! I’m always trying to find new ways to use quinoa, so I’m pretty excited for these Asian quinoa meatballs!!
I’ll try these served on a bed of noodles. And if I’m feeling really creative, you could make these meatballs slightly smaller and wrap them inside a dumpling for a doubly Asian appetizer!
I substituted ground chicken for ground turkey – bad idea! Came out very watery and I had to use a ton of breadcrumbs to soak it up. Otherwise, this was delicious, would definitely make again! I doubled the sauce recipe as well and found that it was the perfect amount.
I made these tonight for dinner, they were fantastic, loved the sauce. This will be getting added to my faves! Think it would be a great to make them bite sized for a party app. Thanks for a perfect recipe.
I love Quinoa and love finding different recipes and ways to use it. These look amazing!
These look like sticky goodness! I have some pork mince in the fridge so will definitely have to adapt this recipe!
This turned out really good! Plan to make it again. Yummy Over rice!
Should the quinoa be cooked for this recipe?
Yes, Laurie, as indicated in the recipe, the quinoa should be cooked prior to using.
I made these this afternoon and boy are they delish! Hubby does not like spicy at all 🙁 so I cut back on the Sriracha to half in both the meatballs and sauce. Meatballs were great and I might have gotten away with a bit more of the Sriracha there, but the sauce was still a bit too spicy for his tastes. (not for me though – all the more for me to enjoy) I’m going to try freezing some of them – any tips on that? Also got tired of grating the ginger on my microplane – takes a lot of work to get a tablespoon! So I think I stopped at about 2/3 to 3/4 tablespoon. Chungah, do you grate yours on a microplane grater? Thanks for a great recipe and I’ll be making this one again!!
I’m so glad you gave this a try! But unfortunately, I do not have any tips on freezing as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! I recommend using your best judgment for freezing and reheating. And yes, I always grate my ginger on a microplane grater. It’s the best (and easiest) way to grate in my opinion.
I use the box grater that has 4 different sides and it grates quicker than the micro plane also I take a tsp. of the ginger and put it in each ice cube tray when frozen i put in baggies get as much air out as possible and use as needed .No water
Hi Chungah,
I have minced garlic in the fridge. How many tablespoons do you think would equate to 3 cloves?
Thanks!
The decision is really yours on how much garlic to add as cloves of garlic can range in size from half a teaspoon, to half a tablespoon, and even up to a tablespoon.
Thanks. I’ll use 1 tablespoon.
What do you recommend as a good substitute for rice vinegar? I have Aji-Mirin… 🙂
You can certainly substitute Mirin but without further recipe testing, I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish. It is always best to use the ingredients listed in the recipe to obtain the best results possible.
Thank you Chungah for your reply! I’ll be making them soon 🙂
Wow these look so delicious!! Tasty and healthy!
I love the idea of using quinoa in meatballs. I can’t remember the last time that I made turkey meatballs so this recipe is definitely one that I am inspired to recreate!
These look perfect! I love all of that tangy sauce. Must try this one.
Can I substitute ground ginger for the fresh ginger?
PS: I made your Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce last night with a side of Baked Parmesan Zucchini.
It was a huge hit that even our young kids loved.
Can’t wait to try these!! Thanks.
Yes, absolutely. It is recommended to use a 3:1 ratio of fresh to dried/ground.
And I’m so glad you made the teriyaki salmon and the baked parmesan zucchini – both are favorites here!
Chung Ah, I’m convinced this will go to my favorite food list. The recipe is so simple, flavorful…and healthy! Nom nom.