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Healthy Baked Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce (Paleo)

These healthy Baked Turkey meatballs feature all of the flavors of Thanksgiving dinner, combined into one bite-sized mouthful of deliciousness.

Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Canadian
Keyword baked turkey meatballs, healthy cranberry meatballs, healthy turkey meatballs
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 3
Calories 300 kcal
Author Kiki Johnson

Ingredients

or the meatballs

  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries 40 g
  • 1/2 cup red wine or orange juice
  • 1 pound lean turkey mince or lean beef or bison 500 g
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp chili powder optional
  • 1 tbsp black pepper

For the sauce

  • 1/4 cup organic red wine 60 ml
  • 1/4 cup healthy bbq sauce no or low sugar, 60 ml
  • 1 cup sugar-free cranberry sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce low sodium or coconut aminos

Instructions

  1.  Let the cranberries soak in the red wine overnight in the fridge or for at least 6 h at room temperature. The next day, take them out of the liquid and let drain in a sieve but do not discard the liquid.

  2. In a bowl, mix cranberries, minced turkey, salt and ground spices. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

  3. Form meatballs using 1 tbsp meat for each meatball. Add to a casserole and bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until they reach an inside temperature of 70 C or 158 F. 

  4. In a medium-sized pot mix all ingredients for the cranberry sauce and also add the soaking liquid from the cranberries. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a slow simmer. Let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes until it reaches a thick consistency.
  5. Add the baked meatballs to the cranberry sauce and stir to cover them with the glaze. Put the lid on and let quickly come to a simmer. Serve over cauliflower rice.

Recipe Notes

  • Make sure to not overbake the meatballs. I always start taking the internal temperature after about 18 to 20 minutes. 
  • You can make Paleo Cranberry Sauce yourself (see recipe above) or use store-bought. It will most likely have some sugar added. 
  • As with the cranberry sauce, I make my own paleo bbq sauce using this recipe but you can use store-bought sugar-free bbq sauce instead. 
  • Unfortunately, unsweetened dried cranberries are sometimes a bit hard to find. But you can go ahead and quickly bake fresh ones in the oven to dry them out.  Toss fresh cranberries in some olive oil and bake them in a 350 F hot oven until they are soft and slightly dried. This should take about 20 minutes.