I came up with this recipe for a recipe contest, and it's been a family favorite ever since. For a lighter version, omit stuffing the meatballs with mozzarella cheese. Serve with your choice of pasta.
Ingredients
- ground turkey: 3 pound
- onion: 1 cup (finely chopped)
- garlic cloves: 4 piece (minced)
- egg: 1 piece
- Italian-style bread crumbs: 1 cup
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese: 0.5 cup (grated)
- fresh flat-leaf parsley: 0.5 cup (chopped)
- prepared pesto: 0.25 cup
- milk: 0.25 cup
- salt: 1 Tbsp
- ground black pepper: 2 tsp (fresh)
- mozzarella, cut into small cubes: 1 pound (fresh)
- extra-virgin olive oil: 3 Tbsp
- jars marinara sauce: 2 piece (24 ounce)
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
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Place the ground turkey, onion, garlic, egg, bread crumbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, parsley, pesto, milk, salt, and black pepper in a bowl. Mix until evenly blended, then form into 1 3/4-inch meatballs. Make a hole in the meatball with your finger and place a cheese cube in the hole. Seal the meatball around the cheese and place on a nonstick baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the meatballs.
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Bake in the preheated oven until the meatballs are no longer pink in the center, about 30 minutes. Heat the marinara sauce in a saucepan over low heat. Bring to a simmer, and place the baked meatballs in the marinara sauce for about 2 minutes. Allrecipes Magazine
