These Thai Meatballs are made with ground turkey and full of garlic, ginger and curry flavors. These sweet, savory, and spicy meatballs are ready in one skillet, in under 45 minutes.
These Thai meatballs is one of the oldest recipes on my website dating back to 2013. It’s very popular, so today I am bringing it to your attention once again!
Much like my slow cooker porcupine meatballs and sweet and sour meatballs, Thai turkey meatballs can be eaten as a main dish with a side of rice or quinoa. Or with a toothpick for an appetizer like cranberry turkey meatballs.
It’s amazing healthy dinner or healthy appetizer!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Signature Thai flavors: That everyone loves and rival any Thai restaurant dish!
- Easy recipe: Despite lengthy list of ingredients, meatballs are made in one skillet. Just combine, sear, and cook in the sauce.
- No eggs or breadcrumbs: And still moist meatballs. If you use certified gluten free fish sauce, these meatballs are gluten free! Dairy free too because we’re using coconut milk.
- Healthier than your typical meatballs: Added zucchini for moisture which means every bite has some veggie in it.
Ingredients for Thai Turkey Meatballs
- Ground turkey: On its own ground turkey is quite dry but it works with this recipe because of the creamy sauce. You can also use ground beef, pork or chicken.
- Zucchini: Grated and squeezed of excess moisture, this is a key player in keeping moisture locked in.
- Fish sauce: A lovely salty condiment that is a popular ingredient in many Asian dishes. Will be used in the meatballs, as well as the sauce.
- Green onion: Finely chopped, adds the fresh vibrant onion flavor without overpowering.
- Basil: Finely chopped basil adds a freshness like the green onions however without the pungence.
- Ginger: Grated. Add it to the complex flavor combination of these ingredients and they all work in harmony.
- Garlic: Grated fresh garlic goes hand in hand with the ginger.
- Red curry paste: A spicy, sour, and salty flavorful paste, delicious addition to both meatballs and the sauce.
- Coconut milk: Use full fat milk or even coconut cream for a thicker, richer sauce. I like Thai Kitchen coconut milk because it is creamy and doesn’t separate.
- Red pepper flakes: To kick up the heat a notch. The amount can be adjusted to your preference. You can also use chili paste or sriracha sauce.
- Cooking spray: I use Misto because it’s essentially olive oil which is a healthier option.
- Tomato paste: Helps to thicken up the sauce and add tomato flavor.
- Kaffir lime leaves: An optional ingredient you can buy in International foods aisle or on Amazon. They are sold dry and last forever, but they’re completely optional.
How to Make Thai Meatballs
- Make the meatballs: In a medium bowl, combine meatball ingredients, mix and shape 28 meatballs. Set aside.
- Make the sauce: In another medium bowl, whisk together ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
- Brown: Preheat large ceramic non-stick skillet on medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Cook meatballs until brown or for 2-3 minutes, turning a few times. No need to cook meatballs through as they will continue to cook in the sauce.
- Simmer: Add the sauce, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered.
Tips for Best Results
- Squeeze zucchini: Make sure to squeeze all of the excess water out of the zucchini. While it does help with adding moisture, too much liquid can cause problems in keeping the meatball intact, since there are no breadcrumbs to absorb it.
- Wet your hands: To avoid the meatball mixture sticking to your hands, wet them a little before rolling into balls.
- Use cold meat: The colder your meat, the easier it is to maintain its meatball structure.
- For same size balls: I like to use a trigger ice cream scoop.
Serving
There are 2 ways to serve these Thai meatballs. Serve meatballs warm with garnishes like fresh cilantro and green onion alongside these side dishes:
- Instant Pot brown rice
- Cooked quinoa
- Rice noodles
- Cauliflower rice
- Instant Pot steamed vegetables
- Zucchini noodles
- Spaghetti squash noodles
Or serve them as an appetizer on a platter with toothpicks, and some naan bread or pita bread for dipping into the sauce.
How to Store and Reheat
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Freeze: Fully cook, cool completely and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
Reheat: Simmer on a stovetop while covered on low heat until heated through. Or use good old microwave and reheat in 1 minute increments until warm.
FAQs
Use cold meat straight out of the fridge. Squeeze excess liquid out of the zucchini and don’t overpower the meatball ingredients with too many “bigger” ingredients. You want to leave the meat as the main portion of the meatball, so when it says “finely chop or grated” follow that direction!
Yes, you can. It does add a delicious taste, but you can omit it or replace it with soy sauce, tamari, Worcestershire sauce, or coconut aminos instead.
These Thai meatballs are mild. If you would like to make them less spicy, omit the red pepper flakes in both meatballs and the sauce.
Yes. Combine meatball ingredients, shape into balls and then, also combine sauce ingredients, store covered separately in the refrigerator up to 24 hours. On the day you plan to cook them, proceed with recipe instructions.
More Meatballs Recipes to Try
Thai Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
For Thai Meatballs:
- 2 pounds ground turkey pork or chicken
- 1 cup zucchini shredded & liquid squeezed out
- 1/4 cup green onion finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons basil finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ginger grated
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1 teaspoon red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons coconut milk light (canned)
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Cooking spray I use Misto
For the Sauce:
- 1 1/2 cups coconut milk light (canned)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon red curry paste
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes more to taste
- 5-6 dried kaffir lime leaves optional**
Instructions
- To make meatballs: In a medium bowl, combine ground turkey, zucchini, green onion, basil, ginger, garlic, red curry paste, fish sauce, coconut milk and red pepper flakes. Mix well.
- Make 28 meatballs by spooning heaping 1 tablespoon of mixture and rolling between your hands. Lay on a cutting board or plate. Set aside.
- To make sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together coconut milk, tomato paste, red curry paste, fish sauce, red pepper flakes and kaffir lime leaves. Set aside.
- Preheat large ceramic non-stick skillet on medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Add meatballs and cook until brown or for 2-3 minutes, turning a few times. No need to cook the meatballs through.
- Add the sauce, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, uncovered.
- Serve warm with brown rice or brown rice noodles. Add garnish like fresh cilantro and green onions.
Notes
- Make ahead: Make meatballs and sauce up to 24 hours in advance. Store covered separately in the fridge.
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: Fully cook, cool completely and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw on a stovetop covered on low.
- Kaffir lime leaves: You can buy kaffir lime leaves in any Asian store or online. They are sold dried and last forever in a sealed container. If you don’t have any, omit.
When you use venison, do you use straight venison, or venison mixed with pork? I have pure ground venison and would love to use it as is in this recipe but don’t want it to be too dry. Thanks!
I use pure venison because I simply do not have any other ground organic meat most times. They were great anyways because of the rich sauce. But I see how with pork they will be more moist. That extra fat. I wish I found organic pork…
can’t wait to try this recipe!!! I love Thai food & it’s rich & spicy flavors… fyi..most of my family & friends hunt!!! so it’s very normal….
I can’t wait to try this recipe!! love meatball’s & absolutely love Thai food, sounds amazing!! FYI… Hunting is very normal….Most of my family & friends hunt… just saying!!!
Cool. Haha. Good to know.:)
ะฏะบะธะน ะณะฐัะฝะธะน ัะตัะตะฟั!
found these on Pinterest and made them for dinner tonight. Served over Cauliflower Rice. They were fantastic! Very flavorful, and my sauce was quite spicy – I think it is really dependent on the Red Curry paste that you use. I added about a teaspoon of brown sugar to the sauce and lime zest, since I could not find Kaffir Lime leaves. Forget to put the cilantro on top at the end, but it was still wonderful!
Saw this recipe on Pinterest, made them today, so nice! Meatballs were nice and moist and flavoursome, served with brown and wild rice. Can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow.
Saw this recipe on Pinterest – just tried it for the first time tonight and it was delicious!! Served it over rice. Thank you very much for something different than I usually make and yet soo yummy. My husband loved it and said when he was finished he could definitely eat that a couple times a week. ๐
You are welcome!:)
Looks good and will like to try it, but on a sidenote: being that half my family hunts and I know many others that do so as well, I can assure you thet are just as normal as anyone else…
what if you dont have zuccinni
I suggest to get zucchini and make this dish then.
Olena, I have made these almost weekly since I first tried the recipe. They are amazing. I use turkey and even though turkey can be dry the zucchini keeps it moist. The last time I made them I added one piece of Lemon Grass I smashed up a bit to release the oils, to the sauce while it simmered. They are so good, I make a huge batch so I can take some to work for lunch the next day.
Awesome! Lemon gras is a great addition. In fact, all Thai food should be made with it. I omitted it because not all stores carry and and many people don’t have it on hand often. Like me.:) Glad everyone is enjoying these!:)
I prepared this dish for my family. I had to be careful of the spice because they are young but other than that this was amazing. My son wanted 2nds and 3rds I was shocked but we have to leave some for tomorrow. I will definitely pass this on in my cooking group. Amazing, Magnificent, and Delicious.
I’m amazed how much kids like these. Glad they made your dinner rock. I too control how much kids eat of meatballs vs side served with them lol