Sheet Pan Turkey Meatballs with Vegetables

Ingredients

• 1¼ lb / 567 g Ground turkey
• 1 Large egg
• ½ cup Plain dry breadcrumbs
• ½ medium (about 55 g) Yellow onion, finely grated
• 2 Garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp Kosher salt, divided
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 12 oz / 340 g Broccoli crowns, cut into florets
• 2 medium (about 238 g) Red bell peppers, seeded and cut into chunks

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425°F / 220°C. Line a sheet pan with parchment, or leave it bare if you prefer to wash the pan. The parchment is extra. It is not in the measured ingredients.
2. Grate the onion on the large holes of a box grater, or mince it very fine. Mince the garlic. In a bowl, mix the turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, ½ tsp of the salt, and the black pepper. The mix will feel soft. Do not add more breadcrumbs.
3. Roll the mix into 16 meatballs, about the size of a golf ball. Set them on one half of the pan with a little space between them.
4. Cut the broccoli into florets and the peppers into chunks. Toss them with the olive oil and the rest of the salt. Spread them on the other half of the pan. If the pan is crowded, the vegetables can tuck against the meatballs.
5. Roast 20–25 minutes, turning the meatballs once halfway through, until the vegetables are browned at the edges and the center of a meatball reads 165°F / 74°C. A pale center is not done. Give the pan another few minutes if the thermometer is short of 165°F.
6. Rest the pan 5 minutes. Serve 4 meatballs with a share of the vegetables. It keeps covered in the fridge for a few days. Reheat until the meatballs are hot in the center again.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. Counted as 1 of 4 plates from this pan: four meatballs plus a share of the broccoli and peppers. The turkey weight is the raw weight you mix. Parchment and any sauce at the table are not in the count. A leaner or fattier package of ground turkey moves the fat.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Dairy-free

  The pan is turkey, egg, plain breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, olive oil, broccoli, and red pepper. There is no milk, butter, or cheese. Read the breadcrumb bag. Some brands add milk powder. This is a kitchen note, not a dairy-free certification.

• Gluten-free style

  The wheat is in the breadcrumbs. Use ½ cup breadcrumbs whose bag says gluten-free. Turkey, egg, vegetables, olive oil, and a plain Italian seasoning blend do not call for wheat. Read the seasoning jar. This is a kitchen note, not a gluten-free certification.

• No egg

  The egg helps the meatballs hold. Leave it out and add 1 Tbsp olive oil to the mix. The meatballs will be more tender and may crack on the pan. This is a texture note, not a claim about the bake.

• No turkey

  This pan is built on ground turkey. Use 1¼ lb / 567 g of ground chicken and cook the meatballs to 165°F / 74°C. The plate is no longer turkey.