Looking to make tasty and easy meatballs that are gluten and egg free? Try our quick recipe for Egg Free Turkey Meatballs that make a great meal. Find out how to bind meatballs without eggs and dairy.
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- Ingredients You’ll Need To Make the Meatballs Without Eggs Recipe:
- The Method for Cooking Dairy free Turkey Meatballs
- What if I Want to Make This Recipe Vegan or With Different Meat?
- Adaptations on the Meatball Flavours
- How To Serve Egg Free Turkey Meatballs?
- Storage of the Gluten Free Egg Free Turkey Meatballs
- Other Recipes You May Enjoy
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Turkey Meatballs are one of our favourite meals to make for the family. We make huge batches of them and freeze them for up to 3 months in a deep freeze. They are so versatile and we do them up so the kids feel like they are eating different things every night but it is really the same base food we had to work to make only once.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make the Meatballs Without Eggs Recipe:
Ground Turkey and an onion- you can also double or triple the recipe. We do this all the time when turkey goes on sale.
Aquafaba- the chickpea water juice from tinned chickpeas. We make a lot of other dishes like our marinated chickpeas or this hummus from The Mediterranean Dish and save the aquafaba for 48/72 hours in a covered container in the fridge. This is the secret on how to bind meatballs without eggs.
Gluten free bread crumbs- these are our favourites. They are rice based and work really well in this recipe.
Herbs- we have a mini garden in our kitchen where we grow fresh herbs year round. You can use dried too, if that is what you have. You may need to reduce the herbs if they are dried.
The Method for Cooking Dairy free Turkey Meatballs
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I prefer to use non latex, allergen safe gloves for this part of making gluten free egg free turkey meatballs. Take a gold ball sized bit of meat and roll in between your palms, put them on a plate until all the meat is made into balls. Heat a skillet with a bit of neutral oil in it over medium heat. once hot all the turkey meatballs and cook browning all sides. Once browned put the meatballs in an oven safe casserole dish and cook at 400F until the egg free turkey meatballs are cooked through to 165F.
What if I Want to Make This Recipe Vegan or With Different Meat?
Beef/Pork/Lamb
Yes, you can but the way you fry them up will vary and how you make gravy will too. For fattier meats like beef, lamb or pork you will need to drain the meatballs off on paper towels to get the extra fat off or they will make the meals greasy. The gravy will also need to skimmed of some fat.
Chicken
Will be pretty much the same as turkey. You don’t need to change anything or drain it more. It will need about the same amount of oil.
Vegan
You can absolutely make these vegan by using beyond meat or another plant based meat substitute. You may need a bit more oil to fry them up and binders. Try one or two balls with the recipe and see if you need to add more aquafaba and/or bread crumbs. . Mushrooms can be used but should be well drained the same as you would if using beans or chickpeas as a vegan version of meatballs. If using mushrooms add ground sunflower or pumpkin seeds since nuts aren't an option for anyone on a top 8 allergen free diet. Don’t forget to use vegetable broth (I like a good mushroom broth) with the gravy.
Adaptations on the Meatball Flavours
Try adding Herbs and spices to change the pairings of the meatballs. Instead of adding a glaze or a sauce, which can be non allergen friendly a lot of flavour can be added with a few herb and spice combos.
- Oregano and basil - For a more pasta friendly meatball.
- Cumin, chili powder, cilantro leaves, garlic and onion powder.
- Curry and or garam masala
- Peri peri
- Zataar
- Smoked paprika
- Orange Zest, Five spice, and coconut aminos
How To Serve Egg Free Turkey Meatballs?
First meal
Three different ways come to mind for us. Our first one we make, usually the night we made the meatballs initially, is to make meatballs, potato mash, and gravy with a steamed veggie. Kind of like what you’d get at the IKEA restaurant! The gravy does freeze well, too. Any extra gravy made the first night we save in safe containers in the freezer for up to 2 months. It is great with homemade fries or a safe for us poutine (fries, gravy, and plant based top 8 cheese).
Second meal
The second meal is to cook the egg free turkey meatballs to temp and put them in marinara sauce. You can use a recipe from scratch or we have found safe ones, for us, in the tomato sauce aisle that are free from our allergens. Plop the hot meatballs into the marinara and bring it to temperature to get that great taste infused into both the meatballs and the sauce. We serve it on gluten free rice pasta topped with a bit of free from parmesean cheese for spaghetti and meatballs.
Third meal
The last meal is pretty close to the second only instead of serving the dairy free meatballs with pasta we make our own meatball subs with gluten free, top 8 hot dog buns, like these ones from Little Northern Bakehouse. Top them off with a bit of dairy-free cheese that you can either broil to melt or leave it as it is. This one is the kids’ favourite as they LOVE messy meals.
Storage of the Gluten Free Egg Free Turkey Meatballs
Storage Instructions
-Fridge
These Top 8 allergen free turkey meatballs store well in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
-Freezer
They also freeze well in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
Reheating Tips
-Oven
When reheating from thawed they can be reheated in the oven in a slightly oiled casserole dish for 15-20 mins at 400F, or until their internal temperature is 165F. If frozen, the oven method can be used but the dairy free turkey meatballs will need longer to reach the correct safe internal temperature.
-Stove Top
in a skillet add a couple of tablespoons of water and using a well fitting lid cover the skillet. cook on medium heat for 5 mins or until thawed, then drain off the excess water and remove the lid, and add a tablespoon of neutral oil. Continue frying until crisped and the internal temperature is 165F.
- Microwave
Reheating in a microwave can be done but they will not crips up or keep their crispy edge. On a microwave safe plate place 5-6 egg free meatballs and cook for 1 minute 20 second, if thawed prior to cooking. Check that the middles are safely warmed thorugh, if not add another 25 seconds of cooking time and re-check. Repeat as many times as needed until they are of a safe internal temperature.
Defrosting frozen gluten free egg free turkey meatballs in the microwave can be done on the defrost feature but we don't use our microwave to defrost meat. If you do, we would love to hear how you would use a microwave to defrost frozen meatballs before cooking. Please leave a comment below.
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Ingredients
- Meatball Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey at room temp not straight out of the fridge
- 3 sprigs thyme leaves picked from stems
- One small onion finely diced
- 3 tbsps Aquafaba/chickpea water
- ½ c gluten free bread crumbs preferably a rice crumb blend
- ¼ teaspoon each Salt and pepper
- 2-3 tbsps canola oil to cook
- For the Gravy
- Pan drippings from meatballs
- 2 tbsps vegan butter
- 2 tablespoon gf rice flour
- 1 c chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ c coconut cream tinned
Instructions
- Turn the oven on to bake at 400°F and prepare a medium oven safe casserole dish.
- Combine all the meatball ingredients in a bowl. It is easiest to use your hands to mix and shape the balls in golf ball sized meatballs
- In a frying pan on medium heat, heat oil and add one third to half the balls.
- You will need to cook them in 2-3 batches turning them to brown on all sides as they cook. About 5-10 mins.
- Move the mostly cooked balls to the prepped casserole dish.
- When all the meatballs are browned put the casserole dish in the oven for 15 mins or until fully cooked. The meatballs should reach the internal temperature of 165°F.
- While the meat balls are in the oven drain or wipe all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the frying pan. Using that same pan over medium heat melt the dairy free butter.
- Add the rice flour while whisking and cook for 1-2 mins.
- Pour in chicken stock slowly, whisking the mix well until it is thickened and boiling.
- Whisk in coconut cream slowly and bring back up to a boil.
- Add any salt and pepper needed to taste.
- Remove turkey meatballs from the oven when done and top with gravy.
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