Easy Pasta and Meatballs

The other day I was trying to figure out what kind of food I was in the mood for…I took out a pound of ground turkey that morning with no real plan in mind.  Quite honestly, I wasn’t excited about anything I could think of to make with it.  Then it hit me that pasta and meatballs was EXACTLY what I wanted.  The only problem was I was feeling much too lazy to go through all my usual steps in making meatballs.  Typically I make them and brown them on all sides in a pan and then cook them the rest of the way in the sauce. That just seemed like way too much work.  So I figured, why couldn’t I just make them in a muffin tin? They probably would’t get as brown and crispy on the outside…but that was a risk my lazy self was willing to take!

I preheated my oven to 350 degrees and then I mixed my pound of ground turkey with oatmeal, an egg,frozen pre-chopped onions (great hack! keep these in your freezer and add to dishes when you don’t feel like cutting up a whole onion),  Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and italian seasonings.  Then I rolled them into balls and plopped them into a muffin tin, sprayed with coconut oil.

I cooked these for 15 minutes.  Then I turned the oven up to 425 degrees and cooked them for 10 more minutes…I was hoping that this would help crisp up the outsides (like I took the time to brown them in a pan) and it kind of worked!

While those cooked, I made some gluten free pasta (I used brown rice/quinoa pasta) according to package directions.  Once that was done, I drained the pasta and left it in the drainer.  In that same pasta pot, I dumped in a big can of crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, some chopped garlic, and a few basil leaves.  I let it simmer on low until my meatballs were done.

Once the meatballs were done, I mixed the pasta, meatballs, and sauce together.  I plated it up, added some GoVeggie Parmesan cheese and fresh basil on top, and that was it! It was delicious and legit took 30 minutes.

 

Recipe

Meatballs:
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1/3 cup certified gluten free oatmeal
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 frozen chopped onions
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon italian seasoning
Pasta
  • 1 package of gluten free pasta (whatever kind you like!)
Sauce
  • You could TOTALLY just use jarred sauce.  I do that a lot.  I just happened to have crushed tomatoes on hand.
  • 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 basil leaves (a few sprinkles of dry basil is fine too!
  • 1 clove of garlic chopped (garlic powder is fine too!)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the ground turkey, oatmeal, egg, onions, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and italian seasoning together in a bowl.  Stir until JUST combined.  Spray your muffin tin with whatever spray oil you use.  Roll your meat into (roughly) equal balls and place in your tin.  This recipe makes enough for about 10 meatballs, depending on how big you roll them.  Place in oven and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn oven up to 425 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes.

Cook your pasta according to package directions then drain.

Simmer crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, and garlic in a pot on low while your meatballs cook (ends up being about 20 minutes, but the longer the better!)

Once the meatballs are done, combine pasta, sauce, and meatballs.  Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil!

Serves 3-4 or 2 with leftovers 🙂