Blueberry-Balsamic BBQ Turkey Meatballs
March 28, 2009 by Meseidy
Filed under Appetizers, Main Course
Blueberry-Balsamic BBQ Turkey Meatballs
I know I have been MIA for a few days, mostly because I’ve been working on updating my site. Finally the weekend is here and to top it off it’s snowing, so I decided that today was a good day to get back into the kitchen. Last night I had taken out some ground turkey meat and I had to do something with it today, so I decided on some meatballs. I make BBQ meatballs every once in awhile, but I wanted to give them a twist and I remembered a blueberry-balsamic bbq sauce I saw in one of my cookbooks, so I went digging around for it.
The sauce has a great sweet & tangy taste and my husband said that the meatballs tasted like meatloaf….lol. It was super easy to make. However be sure not to repeat my mistake and make the effort to find the lid to your blender. After cooking the sauce in the pan you have to putting into the blender. Well, I couldn’t find my lid so I got a bowl and set it on top of the blender. (I am sure you can imagine what happened next.) When I turned the blender on it sprayed out. There was blueberry-balsamic bbq sauce everywhere, on the counter, wall and coffeemaker. Amazingly enough I didn’t get any on the ivory turtleneck I was wearing. Mental note, wear darker colors when making this sauce.
Anyways, these meatballs turned out great and the sauce will go great with any protein. I think I may try this sauce on some ribs….Mmmmmmm.
Blueberry-Balsamic BBQ Turkey Meatballs (14 meatballs)
Meatballs
- 1 lbs of ground turkey meat
- 1/4 cup of minced parsley
- 2 small onion, minced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Sauce (from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 04)
- 2 cups blueberries
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbs sugar
- 3 Tbs ketchup
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
1. To prepare meatballs, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs into a large bowl, mix together working with hands. Shape meat into about 14 1 inch balls. Set aside.
2. Place all ingredients for bbq in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 mins. Remove from heat and transfer into a blender, process until smooth.
3. Place meatballs into the same saucepan over a medium heat and brown. Pour sauce over the meatballs, cover and simmer for about 8 mins or until meatballs are done.
Enjoy!
Wow, what an amazingly creative sauce! I love the combo of sweet with savory. And hilarious story about the blender, too!
hmm, I think I will try this recipe this week. Sounds really yummy. I might use fresh garlic in the sauce. What do you think? My kids will really like that there are blueberries in the sauce!
I am sure you can use fresh garlic, just make sure it is really well minced. I used the powder because I didn’t want any garlic pieces. I know it’s a different sauce but trust me it was supper yummy, but be sure to cook it enought to cook out some of the vinegar. If it is too tangy you can always add a little more sugar.
I wouldn’t have thought of adding blueberries, but they look great!
I am so intrigued by this sauce! I can’t even imagine what it would taste like. I don’t know that I’ve ever used blueberries in a savory dish. I should give it a try!
I know I thought the same thing, but trust me it was yummy. My hubby had seconds.
I’m really not much of a blueberry fan, but this is a really creative and exciting idea. My husband would really, really like this.
recipe looks wonderful. i hope you don’t mind but i added this recipe to my site with working links to your page. can’t wait to try this one out!
I tried this sauce on turkey meatballs last night and served them to my very picky children and their even pickier cousins. What a HUGE hit! I cannot thank you enough – you’ve added a new staple to their diets …
And by the way – I loved it as well. Delicious!
I am so happy to hear that. You should use the sauce on a chiken bbq pizza it is delicious!
wow…these look awesome! thanks for the recipe!
This was really great! I’ve never been so afraid to stain my clothes while cooking, but the results were worth it. Thanks for the recipe!
Tell me about it! Did you read the part where I got blueberry puree everywhere.
Made these last night. These are, by far, the best meatballs I’ve ever eaten. Any time I make a new recipe I give it a ‘Star’ rating (out of 5 stars) and I very rarely find a recipe that has 5 stars. This one is a 6!! Thank you for this amazing recipe!!