A tip to lighten it up even further: instead of frying the meatballs, bake them in mini-muffin tins for about 15 minutes, then dump them in the sauce. (I've never tried this with turkey meatballs, but it works with 95% lean ground beef.)

Can't remember where I saw this. Probably Alton Brown / "Good Eats".

Kim

We usually make our meatballs out of our own meat mix. There is no beef in it. We will form them and lightly saute them to brown them. Then we will bake them to get them closer to done. They they are either cooled and put on a cookie sheet to freeze and bag or they go into whatever we are cooking (soup, sauce, etc).

I love meatballs.

I now know that I was pronouncing her name wrong. I was pronouncing it Spies she says Spees.

I wonder if I could wilt down some kale and put that in. Hmmmm.

Looks like a great recipe!

I do meatballs in mini-cupcake tins, too, kaw. I think I saw it on Rachael Ray, but I love Good Eats too.

That's what I thought she was going to do at first, bake them in the oven, because she laid them out on a cookie sheet. Then she takes them over and fries them

I always bake mine as well, on a rack over a deep-dish sheet pan so the meatballs aren't sitting in their own oil.

Okay good ness, now here's my opinion on this....olive oil is healthy, and Dani did not pour in a ton of it. I think that is a wonderful touch to add healthy fats to a meal without making them, well, fattening. If my meals get too low in fat, I plateau. She also uses light and dark meat yes, whereas I use extra lean meat (the kind that has no skin). Letting the ball just gets it a little brown and no that is not frying like the typical way of frying, and yes tweak around and play with it and make it yours; that is the fun in cooking I think adding the olive oil balanced out the healthy fats in the meal, bringing it into the mid 20's, which is perfect cause it's not too low and not too high (over 30% yeesh!!!). I just let it get a little brown on both sides, then finish it in the oven on a baking sheet. My family loved it, especially with my own twist of adding pico de gallo I also added some ground flaxseed meal to mine.....before she did hahaha. I used brown rice whole grain instead of the other. You'll find that Dani Spies is healthy cooking, and also very fun to play with and make your own. I highly recommend her other recipes as well.

Well really, once you brown them and then pour the sauce over and let the meatballs simmer in the sauce for a while, there's no need to finish cooking them in the oven. Sometimes I brown them in the oven, sometimes I do it on the stovetop. And yes, with the olive oil, you're adding healthy fats. There's nothing wrong with that.

And I fully enjoy her videos, thanks for posting them