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.
Hi Olena,
Thanks so much for this recipe. It took me longer than suggested time but I know that was going to happen. Once I do it again it will be a lot faster and closer to your recommended time. For the meatballsI added in grated carrot, and finely chopped spinach leaves and coriander (cilantro) instead of basil. I was lazy and did not squeeze the grated zucchini and it was fine.
I served this with brown rice and steamed veg and lime.
Sounds amazing!!! Yes it will get faster. Thanks for letting me know.
Hi Olga
Thinking of making this tonight for dinner, I don’t have any zucchini at home, I can use an egg as binder right?
Yes but turkey is so dry. Zucchini adds moisture.
Great recipe for chafing dish app also. Curry sounds good although not sure it’s needed. Delicious.
Curry adds flavor and spice. Glad you enjoyed my Thai meatballs!
Great recipe! I preferred more curry and red pepper flakes to the sauce. I also added cumin into the sauce. The meatballs I made were from ground turkey 85/15 and they were fantastic. I used 1 lb of meat but kept rest of ingredients the same. I wonder if I were to use 2 lbs that they would have been under seasoned and dry. Excited to make again.
This dish is amazing! I had to swap Green for the Red curry paste, and cabbage for the zukes but that lent a nice crunch.
Great subs! I would say all curry pastes are interchangeable. Just the colour is different.
Very tasty!!! Even my 4 year old enjoyed them. I served them with brown rice and snap peas. The flavor of the meatball was excellent. I added a bit of shredded carrot and red bell pepper, just for extra vegetables, so I added a bit more of the spices as well. The sauce was a little bland in my opinion and didn’t have that big Thai flavor I was looking for. Definitely a good start!! Next time I think I’d double some things… definitely more curry paste, fish sauce, much less tomato paste as I feel the sauce is too tomato-y, maybe add some sriracha or just more red pepper flakes. Overall a very good starter recipe though!!! I just recommend some extra spices if you’re looking for a “bigger” flavor.
This is a recipe I keep in my constant rotation. It is a teensy bit of work involved, but the payoff is worth it! Great flavors. I like to double the sauce to put over the meatballs and rice. I also, instead of the lime element suggested here, squeeze a lime wedge over my meal before eating. Highly recommend.
Incredible recipe! I subbed the fish sauce for soy sauce because I couldn’t find it at my local grocery store. I also used dried ginger and basil versus fresh, already minced garlic (the kind that comes in a jar), and made everything the night before. I think that really enhanced the flavor, because the taste was even better the next day than right after they were done. The last thing I added was about four tablespoons of curry to the mix once it was done cooking and then gently stirred it all together for some extra spice. It came out really really good! I made this for a work potluck and had four people ask for the recipe.
Hi Victoria. Glad it was a success! I’m expecting an explosion in traffic.:) Thanks for making and sharing my recipes!
Here in my part of the States, it is unusually hot, so tasty meals without the use of the oven are a must. These Thai meatballs w/sauce were super easy, SUPER tasty, and I never broke a sweat over a hot stove!
Like you, Olena, we eat venison more often than beef, and the venison paired so well with the ginger, coconut milk, and red curry paste. Turkey would be good too, but in all honesty, I think the red meat adds another layer of richness to this dish that is so satisfying! Excellent with the nutty taste of brown rice.
Company-worthy and family pleasing meal!!
Tried this the other day and served over basmati rice. Felt like the sauce could have had a little more (we like thing s Spicey!) . I did not have the lime leaves. Not sure that would make a difference. Might add more red pepper next time. Still very good and I will make again. Healthy.
Absolutely unbelievable, best meal I ever made <3
Yay!