Baked Spicy Turkey Meatballs with Roasted Cauliflower

Baked Spicy Turkey Meatballs on a bed of roasted cauliflower and arugula in a roasting tin with lemon garlic sauce and a spoon.

Baked Spicy Turkey Meatballs with Roasted Cauliflower

These baked spicy turkey meatballs are so simple to make and become the perfect one pan oven dinner with roasted cauliflower and a lemon garlic yoghurt sauce.

Course Dinner

Cuisine British, North African

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings

Calories 303kcal

Author Sasha Hooper

Equipment

Ingredients

For the baked turkey meatballs

1 pound turkey mince 500g
1 shallot finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 egg
2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons rose harissa paste
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the roasted cauliflower

1 medium head of cauliflower small florets and tender leaves
½ red onion chopped into chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the lemon garlic yoghurt sauce

½ cup full fat Greek yoghurt
2 tablespoons tahini
1 lemon juiced
1 preserved lemon flesh and seeds removed and skin finely chopped, about 1-2 tablespoon (leave some for garnish)
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons warm water
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Garnish (optional)

100 g arugula (rocket) or spinach leaves
½ cup pomegranate arils
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
2 tablespoons chopped mint
Aleppo pepper flakes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Put all the meatball ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix with your hand or a spoon until just combined. Don’t overwork it. Scoop and roll out the turkey meatball mix into 18 golf sized balls and set aside whilst you prepare the other ingredients.
1 pound turkey mince, 1 shallot, 2 garlic cloves, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons rose harissa paste, ¾ teaspoon ground cumin, ¾ teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Toss the cauliflower florets, tender leaves and red onion in the olive oil. Sprinkle over the cumin, coriander, garlic powder, Aleppo pepper, salt and pepper and toss again to combine.
1 medium head of cauliflower, ½ red onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until golden and starting to crisp at the edges.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the meatballs in and around the roasted cauliflower, making sure to leave enough space between each of them. Bake for another 20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through, to an internal temperature of 74C/165F.

For the lemon garlic yoghurt sauce

Add the yoghurt, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, preserved lemon, maple syrup, salt and water into a blender jug. Blitz until creamy and smooth, about 60-90 seconds.
½ cup full fat Greek yoghurt, 2 tablespoons tahini, 1 lemon, 1 preserved lemon, 2 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, 1-2 tablespoons warm water, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Serve the meatballs and cauliflower over arugula (rocket) leaves. Garnish with pomegranate arils, chopped cilantro (coriander) and mint and an extra sprinkling of Aleppo pepper if desired. Also delicious served over couscous!
100 g arugula (rocket) or spinach leaves, ½ cup pomegranate arils, 2 tablespoons chopped coriander, 2 tablespoons chopped mint, Aleppo pepper flakes

Notes

Here are some tips that will make this recipe the most successful. It looks like there are a lot of ingredients but it's mostly just spices in each part of the recipe. It really is so simple.

Making turkey meatballs - I find using a medium cookie scoop the most efficient and effective way to measure out the meatball mix, it measures about 2 tablespoons of mix which you can just roll into a ball. To avoid the mix sticking to your hands you can rub your hands together with a little oil to help them roll easier.

Florets - make sure you cut your cauliflower into medium to small chunks to ensure it gets cooked through during the roasting time. It also allows more surface area for the spices to adhere to.

Preserved lemon - Preserved lemons add a delicious bright salty lemon flavour to this dish. I find the centre of the preserved lemons to be really bitter. I recommend scooping out and discarding the flesh and pips and using only the outer skin, chop roughly and add to the blender. If you aren’t a fan of preserved lemons or don't want to use them just omit and replace with a little bit of lemon zest.

Nutrition