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Turkey Meatball Grinders

A sandwich of turkey meatballs, tomato sauce, and hollowed bread pieces.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 32 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Turkey Meatball Grinders

Oven350°F
Time35-45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Heat olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium-low heat.

  2. Add onion, bell peppers, and garlic; cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  3. Add tomatoes, 1 cup reserved juice, tomato paste, oregano, sugar, salt, and black pepper; cook for 25 minutes.

  4. Mash the garlic in the pot and adjust seasonings.

  5. Stir in parsley and set sauce aside.

Form and cook the meatballs

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Mix all meatball ingredients except oil in a bowl.

  3. Form mixture into 24 meatballs, about 1½ inches in diameter.

  4. Bake the meatballs on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray for 35-45 minutes. Test for doneness.

  5. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat.

  6. Cook meatballs in batches, shaking pan occasionally, for 10-12 minutes until browned and cooked through. Add more oil if necessary.

  7. Remove meatballs to paper towels to drain.

Assemble and serve

  1. Cut each bread into 3 pieces, hollowing out the center; or use 8 French rolls.

  2. Warm tomato sauce over medium heat.

  3. Add meatballs to sauce and cook 10-12 minutes.

  4. Spoon about ¼ cup sauce into each bread piece, coating interior.

  5. Insert 3 meatballs into each and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

708Calories
51 gProtein
30 gFat
61 gCarbs

Counts 16 of 18 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 16 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Bread1 slice (30g) white79
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Egg Substitute1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Fennel1/2 bulb (87g)27
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatballnot in our table0
Seednot 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.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Tomato + oreganotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,767 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Garlic + oreganotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Ground turkey
Forms the meatball base, giving a mild, tender body to the meatballs.
Egg yolk
Binds the meatball mixture so it holds together while forming and cooking.
Plum tomatoes
Provide the body and bright acidity that form the sauce.
Bell peppers
Add sweetness and soft texture as they cook down into the sauce.
Tomato paste
Concentrates the tomato flavor and deepens the sauce's color and body.
Onion
Builds a sweet, savory base as it softens in the oil.

The step that matters

Browning the meatballs in batches. Crowding the skillet traps steam, so the meatballs steam instead of browning. Browning in batches with enough oil builds the flavorful crust that the sauce then carries.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sauce, olive, onion, garlic, oregano, sugar):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sauce, olive, onion, garlic, oregano, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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