Festive Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry-Orange BBQ Sauce

By EdieK

Lip-smacking good: Festive Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry-Orange BBQ Sauce...a scrumptious party recipe for your upcoming holiday gatherings! Just in case you don't own a copy of The Looneyspoons Collection, we're posting the recipe for yo
u to enjoy and to share with your friends. We've made these (somewhat addictive) mini meatballs on TV lately and we've had so many requests for the recipe, so...here it is! Gobble away!

Ingredients

• Meatballs
• 1-1/2 lbs (680 g) ground turkey or chicken
• 1/2 cup unseasoned dry bread crumbs* (see tip below for GF version)
• 1/3 cup finely minced or grated onions
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp each garlic powder and dried marjoram
• 1/4 tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Sauce
• 1 can (19 oz/540 mL) jellied cranberry sauce
• 1/4 cup hickory or chipotle barbecue sauce (smoky)
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp grated orange zest

Preparation

Step 1

In a large bowl, mix together ground turkey, bread crumbs, onions, parsley, egg, garlic powder, marjoram, salt and pepper (using your hands works best). Form mixture into bite-sized meatballs, about 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter. You should end up with about 45 meatballs.

Place meatballs on a baking sheet that has been lightly coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400°F for 12 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. Stir meatballs once, halfway through cooking time, to brown sides. Remove from oven and transfer to a large pot.

In a small saucepan, combine cranberry sauce, barbecue sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce and orange zest. Cook over medium heat until cranberry sauce is melted and mixture is bubbly, about 5 minutes. Pour sauce over meatballs and stir gently until all meatballs are coated with sauce. Cover and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.

Makes 45 meatballs

Per meatball: 44 calories, 1 g total fat (0.3 g saturated fat), 3 g protein, 6 g carbohydrate, 0.3 g fiber, 17 mg cholesterol, 64 mg sodium

Tip: For gluten-free meatballs, substitute finely ground brown rice crackers for the bread crumbs and make sure your soy sauce is gluten-free and does not contain wheat. Also, SOME bbq sauces contain malt vinegar, which is not GF. Best to read the labels :)