Easy meatballs whipped up in the slow cooker and smothered in zesty BBQ. Dinner or appetizer worthy!
I made these slow cooker BBQ turkey meatballs when I had my whole family over around Thanksgiving. They loved it. And we did too! When it’s just us 2, the recipe makes tons of leftovers which are perfect for lunch during the week. Think: meatball sandwiches on whole wheat rolls or just alongside of a salad. They’re fantastically versatile.
First thing on your list is to brown those turkey meatballs. Beef lovers: you can use ground beef instead. I always choose a lean ground turkey. Mix up all the meatball fixings like ground turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, and seasonings. For the seasonings, I vary them depending on what I have but I’ll suggest my favorites. Definitely garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, and a touch of smoked paprika. Smoked paprika is my secret spice weapon. You need to try it in these BBQ meatballs!
I don’t use too much binder for my meatballs because I feel it takes away from their melt-in-your-mouth texture and flavor. Just enough stuff to bind.
Searing the Turkey Meatballs
We can skip this step when making chicken meatballs which bake in the oven, but take them time to complete this imperative step here. Gently searing the turkey meatballs before placing in the slow cooker browns the exteriors and seals in all the juicy moisture. (Flavor, flavor, flavor.) If you skip this step, the meatballs will just crumble in the crockpot. I recommend the same step in these crock pot turkey meatballs, too.
I don’t have a massive skillet to hold 25 or so meatballs, so I brown them in batches and add them to the slow cooker each batch at a time. Takes about 15 minutes total to brown them all. Not too bad. Completely worth the effort!
Slow cooker ingredients: BBQ sauce, Italian dressing, onions. That’s it!! The onions are imperative for flavor, plus they get all soft and soak up all the BBQ goodness. Use your favorite BBQ sauce*, use your favorite Italian dressing.
You can serve these turkey meatballs with mashed potatoes and veggies, baked sweet potato fries and a salad, with dinner rolls and melted mozzarella for sandwiches, zucchini casserole on the side, or even with toothpicks as a party appetizer for football games, New Years Eve, entertaining, whatever. The options are endless.
No matter what you do, make sure you serve with all that extra mouthwatering and zesty BBQ sauce. And the onions! Those might just be my favorite part.
For another BBQ favorite, try my BBQ chicken pizza next! And if slow cooker meals are your jam, be sure to try this sweet potato turkey chili, too.
Slow Cooker BBQ Turkey Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Beat the egg in a large mixing bowl. Add the ground turkey, Panko, garlic, oregano, salt, paprika, and pepper. Mix everything up just so the ingredients are combined—avoid over-mixing. Roll into balls, about 1.5 heaping Tablespoons or 40g each. Place all rolled meatballs on a large baking sheet.
- Place onion slices in the bottom of the slow cooker, then top with half of the BBQ sauce and half of the Italian dressing (the rest will go on top).
- Coat a large skillet with the olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Lightly brown the meatballs in batches for about 1 minute on each side. (Do not skip this step! So much flavor and it helps set the meatballs so they do not fall apart.) Layer the meatballs into the slow cooker as you’re browning each batch. Once all browned meatballs have been added to the slow cooker, pour remaining BBQ sauce and Italian dressing on top.
- Cover and cook on low for 5 hours or on high for 3 hours. Serve warm with sauce and onions. You can enjoy alone or with mashed potatoes and veggies, salad, sweet potato fries, onion rings, with rolls and melted mozzarella for sandwiches, or even with toothpicks as a party appetizer. Store leftovers covered tightly in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
