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Sweet & Sour Turkey Meatballs

I used ground turkey in this dish to make the meatballs, and then I snuck in other nutritious ingredients like beans, onion, and carrot. I won’t say no one will know that these things are there, but hopefully no one will mind. This is a delicious and satisfying meal, especially coated in sweet and sour sauce, which also contains a fair amount of healthy goodies, like red bell pepper and pineapple.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 25 ingredients
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Sweet & Sour Turkey Meatballs

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sweet & Sour Turkey Meatballs

Serves 6
Prep35 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1216Calories
63 gProtein
25 gFat
185 gCarbs

Counts 17 of 19 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 17 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Pinto Bean1/2 cup (86g) canned122
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Pineapple1 cup chunks (165g)82
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Red Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatballnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Carrot + gingertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (canola oil, turkey, onion, clove, carrot, garlic, ginger):

  1. Sesamefits about as well
  2. Chickpeafits about as well
  3. Beansthe original
  4. Cashew nutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against canola oil, turkey, onion, clove, carrot, garlic, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.