Get my Cookbooks! Turkey and Stuffing Meatballs
These Turkey and Stuffing meatballs are easy to make with stuffing mix, ground turkey, sausage, and minced onions and celery! They taste just like Thanksgiving dinner in meatball form! Be sure to serve them with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and cranberry sauce!
Turkey and Stuffing Meatballs
If you’re looking to sneak the delicious flavors of Thanksgiving into an every day meal, these Turkey and Stuffing Meatballs are just the way to do it! They’ve got juicy ground turkey, savory sausage, seasoned stuffing, and sauteed onions and celery! Your family will truly gobble these up, no need to wait for a special holiday!
Aside from serving these with the works, (mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and cranberry sauce), they can also be served with toothpicks for a festive appetizer! Drizzle them with some gravy and serve with a side of cranberry sauce for dipping!
BONUS: They’re make-ahead and crock pot friendly!
How to Make It
Note: This is an overview. See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Dice the onions and celery very finely so that they roll smoothly into the meatballs. Soften in butter for 5-6 minutes.
Add chicken broth, water, and more butter. Bring to a boil, add the stuffing, stir to combine, and remove from heat. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool. Season the turkey with salt/pepper and add it to the bowl along with the sausage and egg. Stir until evenly combined.
Roll into 1 ¾ inch meatballs. Transfer to a light colored, lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 16 minutes. Broil at 450° for up to 2 minutes to brown the tops more. Serve with mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and my chicken gravy or brown gravy and cranberry sauce!
Pro Tips
- Make sure the onions are minced and the celery is very finely diced to ensure they roll smoothly into the meatballs.
- Sausage: I recommend Jimmy Dean’s Regular Sausage for this recipe. It tastes like breakfast sausage and is really good in stuffing. Mild Italian would be another great option.
- Ground chicken can be used to make this recipe instead of ground turkey as well!
- Crock Pot Method: To cook in the crock pot instead of the oven, add an additional 1/2 cup chicken broth to the bottom of the slow cooker to keep them moist. Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3. Consider broiling in the oven at 450° for up to 2 minutes to give them more color at the end.
- Make Ahead: These are easy to roll ahead of time and bake when ready to serve. After rolling, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 24 hours prior to baking.
- Serve this with mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and my chicken gravy or brown gravy along with cranberry sauce! Green bean casserole and dinner rolls are another delicious additions!
- Serve as an appetizer: These make a festive and delicious Fall/Winter appetizer with toothpicks! Drizzle them with gravy and serve with a side of cranberry sauce for dipping!
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Leftover meatballs freeze/reheat very well!
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links*)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- Baking Sheet– This is the one I use for this recipe.
- Ice Cream Scoop– Handy for scooping meatballs!
- Better Than Bouillon– This is what I always use for broth in my recipes. It takes very little space and makes it easy to measure out customized amounts.
- Mixing Bowls– These assorted sizes are handy.
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Try These Next
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- Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie
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- Chili Cornbread Casserole
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- Chicken and Dumplings
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- Sausage Tortellini Soup
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- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
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- Clam Chowder
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Tried This Recipe?
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Turkey and Stuffing Meatballs
Ingredients
- ½ cup yellow onion, minced
- 1 rib celery, very finely diced
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup water
- 4 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 (6 oz.) box turkey Stovetop stuffing
- 1 lb. ground turkey, 85% lean
- Salt/pepper, to taste
- ½ lb. ground sausage, see notes
- 1 large egg, whisked
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Melt half of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced onions and finely diced celery. Soften, stirring frequently, for 5-6 minutes.
- Add the remaining butter, chicken broth, and water. Bring to a boil and add the stuffing. Reduce heat to low and stir the stuffing until combined. Remove from heat. Transfer to a large bowl and let it cool for 2-3 minutes.
- Season the ground turkey with salt and pepper and add it to the bowl with the stuffing. Add the sausage and egg. Stir until evenly combined.
- Roll into 1 ¾ inch meatballs and transfer to a light colored, lightly greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then broil at 450° F for 2 minutes, watch it carefully during this time to ensure they don’t brown too much.
- Remove from heat. Serve with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and cranberry sauce.
Notes
- Make sure the onions are minced and the celery is very finely diced to ensure they roll smoothly into the meatballs.
- Sausage: I recommend Jimmy Dean's Regular Sausage for this recipe. It tastes like breakfast sausage and is really good in stuffing. Mild Italian would be another great option.
- Make Ahead: These are easy to roll ahead of time and bake when ready to serve. After rolling, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 24 hours prior to baking.
- Serve this with mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and my chicken gravy or brown gravy along with cranberry sauce! Green bean casserole and dinner rolls are another delicious additions!
- Serve as an appetizer: These make a festive and delicious Fall/Winter appetizer with toothpicks! Drizzle them with gravy and serve with a side of cranberry sauce for dipping!
- To cook in the crock pot instead of the oven, add an additional 1/2 cup chicken broth to the bottom of the slow cooker to keep them moist. Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3. Consider broiling in the oven at 450° for up to 2 minutes to give them more color at the end.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Leftover meatballs freeze/reheat very well!
Nutritional information is an estimate and is per meatball. This makes approximately 35 meatballs.
What can I substitute for the sausage?
The sausage really ties in the “stuffing” and Thanksgiving theme, is turkey or chicken sausage an option? If not, I would substitute it with ground pork!
I don’t care for ground turkey, could I could a turkey breast and chop it up and mix into mixture? Would that work?
I would say ground chicken would be a good way to go if that’s an option. I worry that finely chopped turkey breast will be crumbly and won’t hold up, it’s a lot drier than the ground meat.
This recipe is so good. I made it as written and paired it with her Brown Gravy recipe. Amazing! Will definitely make this on repeat.
I’m soooo happy that you loved it Angela!!! You’re the best, thank you so much!! ❤️❤️❤️
Cute idea and they turned out great, thank you!
I’m so glad that you loved them! SOOOO funny- I JUST finished eating these about 3 minutes ago, lol. I took some out of the freezer for lunch! 🙂 Thank you so much for the review Rk! -Stephanie 🙂
I made these over the weekend and they were SO good! I made the mixture and rolled them into meatballs on Friday, refrigerated them for about an hour because the mixture was a little sticky, then once they were nice and cold, transferred them into a large Tupperware container and baked them Saturday night. I’ve already shared the recipe with several people. I’ll definitely be making these again. Thanks for the great recipe!
I am SOOOO beyond thrilled to hear that Andrea!! I have some of these in the freezer and you’ve tempted me into pulling them out for tonight! I’m so glad that you shared the recipe with others, thank you so much for your support!! 🙂 -Stephanie
Followed the recipe to a T and these came out absolutely great. They look good and they taste terrific.
I am soooo thrilled to hear that Katie!!!! Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to leave a review! You’re the BEST! 🙂 -Stephanie
My family loved this! The stuffing adds a really nice flavor and texture to the meatballs. I served the meatballs with mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas. This is going into the regular rotation for sure!
I’m so happy your family loved it Tori!! This is my husbands new favorite and he’s pretty picky. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!!💖
Will a regular stuffing work instead of Stove Top?
Hi Terri! Can you clarify what you mean by regular stuffing? If the consistency is firm like Stove Top, it’ll work just fine 🙂
These were delicious. I grated the onion and celery and added some grated carrot and dried cranberries chopped finely. We loved it.
I am sooooooooooo happy that you loved them!!! You are amazing for adding dried cranberries, LOVE IT! Thank you so much for the review Joanne, you made my DAY! 🌞
Can you make these up and freeze them before cooking them?
Hi Susie! Absolutely! That’s a great idea! 🙂
Thanks for the quick reply! Having surgery right before Thanksgiving and I think these would be so fun to make ahead of time for dinner with all the sides! Love your recipes. ❤️
That’s a fantastic idea! Best of luck with a quick recovery my friend!!