Cooking with Ground Turkey - The Clean Protein Alternative

Ground turkey breast is a wonderful alternative to ground beef. According to calorieking.com, (a wonderful resource for calorie information) the stats are as follows:

Ground turkey breast, 99% fat-free, 4 ozs., raw: 120 calories, 1 gram of fat and no saturated fat, and 28 grams of protein

Ground lean beef, 95% fat-free, 4ozs., raw: 155 calories, 5.6 grams of fat and 2.5 saturated grams of fat, 24.2 grams of protein

I shop at Publix and the leanest ground beef I have seen is 95% fat free. Ground turkey breast has less calories, less fat, no saturated fat, and more protein! Note that there is a difference between ground turkey, and ground turkey breast. Ground turkey includes dark meat and while is thus more flavorful, it will also have more calories and fat.

Ground turkey breast is a great way to get in a good clean protein source without having to rely on the old standby's of chicken breast and fish. You can substitute ground turkey breast in any recipe that calls for ground beef and immediately save calories and fat. I like it in meatballs, meatloaf, tacos, Sheppard's Pie, and enchiladas.

I am including my recipe for Turkey meatballs with tomato sauce, my all-time favorite turkey recipe! I make mine extremely spicy, so just reduce the crushed red pepper and pepper if you like less of a kick. I also love the flavor of onion so it is pretty prevalent in my recipe. If you aren't that into onion, just reduce the amount. I recommend you keep at least ¼ of an onion in, however, as it is the key to the moistness of the meatballs. I like to double this recipe and freeze half for later. Enjoy!

Turkey Meatballs

1 lb of ground turkey breast

1 vidalia onion, cut into 6 sections and pureed in a food processor

1 cup of Italian flavored bread crumbs

1 egg, lightly beaten

Pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Puree the onion, and combine turkey, onion, bread crumbs and egg in large bowl. Mix well. Form into 16 meatballs and place on cookie sheet. (Note: I place on non-stick aluminum foil. Another way is to place a cookie drying rack on a cookie sheet and place the meatballs on the rack. This isn't really necessary with ground turkey breast as there are no fat drippings) Cook for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and place into crock pot or dutch oven of tomato sauce. Again, you can simply store the meatballs, but letting them simmer in tomato sauce really adds to their moistness and flavor.

Tomato Sauce

1 16 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 16 oz can diced tomatoes with oregano and basil

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

Pepper to taste

2 TBS crushed red pepper

1 TBS diced garlic (cloves can be used, or even garlic powder)

1 tsp olive oil

Oregano to taste

Basil to taste

In a crock pot or dutch oven heat olive oil and saute garlic for two minutes. Add all remaining ingredients. Allow to simmer as long as you like, though I recommend a good simmer for at least 2 hours. Stir occasionally.