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.
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Gimme a toothpick and some bread for mopping, this looks delicious 😀 I made meatloaf the other day, which is basically just a massive meatball ^ ^ yum! x
It looks so delicious, I love the ingredients on the sauce,can’t wait to try this recipe!
Oh boy – I can taste them now!!! I don’t see the 1/2 cup of water listed in the sauce ingredients that is mentioned in the text but am pretty sure it’s necessary. Will be making these soon. Thank you so much for all the great recipes and ideas. You Are Terrific!
Yes, the 1/2 cup water is necessary.
I just made the asian quinoa meatballs sans meat with 2 eggs. I loved the sauce but thought it did not make much so I added water to it. It was delicious. I printed your recipe and I do not see 1/2 cup of water in the list of ingredients? Excellent meal!
This looks delicious i will try it sometime
Hi Chungah,
I love your blog. Can I subsitute turkey to something vegetarian? Would greatly appreciate your input!
Thanks,
Vidya
Vidya, you can certainly substitute a vegetarian option here but I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish as further recipe testing is needed. I also worry that the meatballs may not be able to hold up!
I get tubes of a ground veggie product at Whole Foods and make really good meatballs with it.it is in the cooler by the veggie lunch meat and sausages. It works great.
I dried (but didn’t press) a block of firm tofu for a few hours (wrapped in a clean, dry kitchen towel) and crumbled it in lieu of the turkey. Instead of the egg, I just used some starch (potato or arrowroot, or Ener-G), and I also sprinkled in ~1tsp of powdered veggie broth (my favorite is the Rapunzel brand). I then doubled the bake time, flipping them over halfway through. The “meat”ball texture was airy, light, but they do fall apart easily so would NOT be toothpick-friendly (if serving as an appetizer). Next time I’ll add more quinoa, maybe 1.5 times, and some slivered almonds. Oh, actually, grinding up some nuts would be a great idea to add as they’ll help make them a bit denser …. I don’t think the veggie bouillon made a difference, so I’ll leave it out. I haven’t eaten meat in nearly twenty-five years so I don’t know how they compared to le vrai chose, but we all liked them! A bit too spicy for my eight year-old, so lots of rice to help dull it a bit. I also doubled the brown sugar in the sauce because it was a too acidic, but I think a healthy squirt of agave would also work.
I loved your simple lo mein recipe and will definitely be trying this one!
These look delicious! In the recipe, is the rice vinegar the same as seasoned rice vinegar? I just started using seasoned rice vinegar and love it, but am not very familiar with how it is typically used. thanks for your help
It is best to use unseasoned rice vinegar but if that is all you have on hand, it should be fine.
This recipe is next on my list to try.