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5 Ingredient Healthy Turkey Meatball Recipe In A Slow Cooker

Aug 21, 2020 · 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my privacy policy for details.

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I’m sharing how to make a 5 ingredient healthy turkey meatball recipe in a slow cooker…and there is a secret ingredient – zucchini! Plus, because the recipe is made in a slow cooker, it makes for a super easy, no fussing while it cooks weeknight meal.

Easy and delicious 5 ingredient slow cooker turkey meatballs

It may sound silly, but I love meatballs.  They are a great way to add protein to a meal and easy to cut up for the kids to enjoy. Meatballs are a very kid friendly meal, and are just all around comforting! With a few teaks and swaps (ground turkey vs. ground beef for the meat and using zucchini) they become healthy meatballs!

How to make the best 5 ingredient slow cooker turkey meatballs

I especially love this recipe because it’s basically a whole meal in one bite – veggies, protein and even a few carbs. These ground turkey meatballs are actually a take on a ‘porcupine’ meatball, have you ever heard of them? A porcupine meatball is a meatball made with rice, which cooks when the meatball is being cooked. I’ve tried making them the traditional way (stovetop), but I honestly found it very time consuming and didn’t like that the rice wasn’t cooked all the way. After recipe testing this, I’ve made these into an easy recipe using ground turkey and made in a slow cooker, which cooks the meatballs perfectly!

THe best recipe for turkey meatballs in a slow cooker

If you don’t love meatballs as a main meal, these make a great appetizer as well!  Typically, when we host a party, I always love to have some sort of meatball recipe on hand since they are filling and easy to eat while mingling (as long as you make them small enough!)

How to make the most delicious 5 ingredient slow cooker turkey meatballs

So many of my friends have thriving gardens at their houses and they are always ending up with excess vegetables to share.  One of the most shared veggies is always zucchini.  They are relatively easy to grow and often abundant. Don’t look at me for gardening advice, I seem to neglect gardens sadly.

The easiest slow cooker turkey meatballs

So, the question is, what do you make with all of that zucchini? I’d start with these 5 Ingredient healthy turkey meatball recipe!  And after that, you can take a peak at this roundup which has plenty of ways to make delicious food using zucchini.

The best ever slow cooker turkey meatballs with 5 ingredients

This recipe is seriously the perfect ‘set it and forget it’ meal.  Great for busy nights and even crazier nights.

The most amazing turkey meatballs in a slow cooker

As I mentioned above, I love giving these to the kids.  For their dinner, I just cut these up into small pieces for them to enjoy.

The best ever slow cooker turkey meatballs

For Nick and I, we usually eat these over cauliflower rice with a side of broccoli.  You can, of course, substitute traditional white rice, but the cauliflower rice helps to keep the meal even that much more healthy!

The most delicious 5 ingredient slow cooker turkey meatballsI am all about easy meals (love that these meatballs only have 5 ingredients – making it a perfect addition for Five Ingredient Fridays) and love it even more when they are healthy and kid-friendly.  This one checks all the boxes!

5 ingredient slow cooker turkey meatballs

5 Ingredient Healthy Turkey Meatball Recipe

This recipe for turkey meatballs is made healthy by using up all of those extra zucchinis you have from your garden!
4.67 from 3 votes
Print Rate
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Servings: 6 people

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker
  • Cookie scoop
  • Grater

Ingredients

  • 1 jar marinara sauce (24 oz.) I like to use tomato and basil or garlic
  • 1 cup zucchini grated and patted dry with a paper towel to remove excess liquid. 1 small or 1/2 medium-large zucchini
  • 1 lb. ground turkey 93% lean
  • 3/4 cup white rice uncooked
  • 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Instructions

  • Pour 1/2 jar marinara sauce in a slow cooker
  • Add grated zucchini, ground turkey, dry white rice and bread crumbs in a bowl. Mix well.
    5 ingredient slow cooker turkey meatballs
  • Add a generous pinch of salt (if you like your food a little saltier).
  • Use a cookie scoop to form even 1.5 tablespoon sized meatballs (or form with your hands) and place balls in the slow cooker.
    5 ingredient slow cooker turkey meatballs
  • Pour remaining 1/2 jar of marinara sauce over meatballs.
  • Cook on high for 4 hours

Notes

This recipe works with ground beef or ground chicken too.
Recipe makes 24 meatballs.
The nutrition information presented on this site should be considered an estimate as the calculations will change based on the exact products you use in your own kitchen.    

Nutrition

Serving: 4meatballs | Calories: 238kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 769mg | Potassium: 702mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 570IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 2mg

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Appetizers/Sides, Blog Posts, Five Ingredient Fridays, Healthy, Main Meals, Recipes 5 ingredient friday, 5 ingredient healthy slow cooker turkey meatball, 5 Ingredient Healthy Turkey Meatball Recipe, 5 ingredient recipe, slow cooker recipe, turkey

Did you make this recipe? Hashtag with us! Be sure to follow/tag @PhiliaKelnhofer and hashtag #sweetphiblog – we love to see what you’re cooking up!”

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joanne says

    September 17, 2020 at 5:14 am

    5 stars
    Delicious! I didn’t have zucchini on hand so I used a Japanese eggplant. So simple to make!

    Reply
    • Sweetphi says

      October 13, 2020 at 6:15 pm

      Oh my goodness, I LOVE that substitution, thank you so much for sharing!!

      Reply
  2. Dimitri Komarov says

    August 27, 2020 at 8:41 am

    5 stars
    Equal Parts healthy and tasty. I absolutely loved the delicious spin that you gave to this classic. Looking forward to more amazing recipes.

    Reply
    • Sweetphi says

      August 28, 2020 at 8:38 pm

      Thank you – I hope you love the recipe!!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Catching up with the Kelnhofers-60 - Sweetphi says:
    October 8, 2020 at 8:47 pm

    […] visited blog post: this easy slow cooker recipe for 5 ingredient healthy turkey […]

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  2. Catching Up With The Kelnhofers-56 - Sweetphi says:
    September 24, 2020 at 10:13 am

    […] must first apologize that we mixed up links last week!  This is the correct link for the turkey meatballs in a slow cooker.  And remember, you can always head to sweetphi.com to see any of the latest blog […]

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Welcome to the SweetPhi blog, I’m Phi! I live in Milwaukee, WI. I’m a busy working mom (and cookbook author x2) to boy-girl twins and a toddler.

I am all about helping make mealtime a little easier and sharing inspiration for those with a busy lifestyle!

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