These are true weeknight meatballs: You pan-sear them in a skillet to develop a golden-brown crust, then pop them in the oven to finish cooking for the final few minutes. Once they’re in the oven, blitz together a quick romesco sauce made from toasted almonds and roasted red peppers for dinner in half an hour. The versatile, nutty sauce adds rich flavor to other lean proteins like fish or pan-roasted chicken breasts and also makes a great dip for raw veg. (For a gluten-free dish, simply leave out the panko.)
Recipe information
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
1
1
⅓
1
1
1
¼
¾
2
½
1
2
1
¼
½
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 425°. Using your hands, mix ground turkey, egg, panko, cumin, onion powder, paprika, ¼ cup parsley, and ¾ tsp. salt in a large bowl. Working one at a time, scoop out small amounts of mixture and roll into 1½"-diameter balls (you should have 18–20 meatballs).
Step 2
Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium. Wo rking in batches, cook meatballs until golden brown all over, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer skillet with meatballs to oven and bake until cooked through, 5–7 minutes.
Step 3
While the meatballs are baking, pulse almonds in a food processor until coarsely ground. Transfer to a medium bowl. Pulse fire-roasted peppers, garlic, vinegar, and cayenne in food processor until almost smooth. Transfer to bowl with almonds and stir in remaining ½ cup oil; season romesco sauce with salt.
Step 4
Spoon romesco sauce into shallow bowls and arrange meatballs on top. Finely grate lemon zest over and scatter coarsely chopped parsley on top.
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Reviews (70)
Back to TopOne of my favorite BA recipes!! Once I accidentally threw the parsley into the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients and it was even better, and now I always make it that way. When I don't have whole almonds I just use almond flour. I've also made this with store-bought meatballs for an even easier weeknight meal. Always eat this with good bread to scoop up every last bit of that delicious sauce!
Anonymous
Marietta, GA
3/31/2022
These look wonderful but am allergic to nuts. What is a good substitution in this recipe or can you recommend another sauce that will work..thank you
Anonymous
Arkansas
2/2/2022
I have made this several times, and everyone likes it. It’s different enough to stand out and impress, but still looks familiar. When mixing the peppers and pulsed almonds, I took a little bit of both in a bowl and mixed, then added about half of the peppers so they would combine more easily - I had no problem with the texture of the almonds doing this. I also warmed the sauce in a saucepan before serving. 10/10
Anonymous
London, UK
5/6/2021
This has become one of my favorites. Very easy but really love the flavor. Some tweaks I've found that make it better: aim for a size that gives you 8-10 meatballs, go finer on the ground almonds, add lemon juice to sauce, and whisky in olive oil to sauce slowly until you get the consistency you want (as others have stated the called for amount is too much for me)
Anonymous
Atlanta, GA
5/2/2021
This was good at first, but even better on day 3. I agree with one of the reviewers below that there is too much olive oil in the Romanesco sauce - would cut it to 1/4 cup next time.. Also, I didn't really care for the texture of the coarsely ground almonds and would grind them finer next time. That being said, I would make this again.
Anonymous
Vienna, VA
4/27/2021
I’m disappointed that after reading the reviews my husband and I both said “It’s OK. Not bad but don’t need to make it again.” Nothing objectionable but not great. Tried to give it 3 ⭐️ but it insists on making me game give it 5.
Editorjane
Atlanta
4/11/2021
Loved this! It's so simple that it's easy to make modifications if you want/need to, and you pretty much can't mess it up. I followed the recipe (almost) exactly, and it only took 25 minutes start to finish and the cleanup was simple. I added a preserved lemon to the romesco and it was *chef's kiss*. If you have them use them!
iza
Portland, OR
3/26/2021