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white dish with slow cooker turkey meatballs and crusty bread

Saucy Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs

To make this truly a one-dish-meal, you can add two to three cups of roughly chopped raw vegetables to the pot when the meatballs are nearly done and cook until tender. Broccoli or any dark leafy greens work well. Any leftover meatballs can be sliced into coins and piled onto a baguette with cheese, greens, and a spoonful of sauce.
Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Servings 5 to 6 servings
Calories 322 kcal
Author Katie Morford

Ingredients

For the Sauce

  • One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
  • One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons teaspoons dried garlic (or 2 large garlic cloves, minced)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (adjust amount up or down for spiciness)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Meatballs

  • 1 link uncooked spicy Italian turkey sausage, about 1/4 to 1/3 pound (or pork if you can't find turkey)
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1/3 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to add at the table
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. For the sauce, pour the whole tomatoes in the slow cooker. Squeeze with your hands to break them into smaller pieces. Add the diced tomatoes, garlic, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt, to the slow cooker. Stir well.

  2. For the meatballs, split the sausage casing down the center using a sharp knife. Turn the sausage meat out of the casing into a medium bowl. Add the ground turkey, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, egg, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper. Use your hands to mix the ingredients just until evenly combined, being sure the sausage meat is distributed throughout (try not to overmix).

  3. Scoop up about 1 1/2 tablespoons of meat and roll it between your hands to form little globes that are the size of a small golf ball. Add it to the slow cooker and continue with the remaining meat until you have about 20 meatballs. Nestle the meatballs down into the sauce so they are almost completely submerged. 

  4. Set the slow cooker to high and cook until firm and cooked through, 4 hours on high, 7 to 8 hours on low.

  5. Serve in shallow bowls with Parmesan cheese to garnish and crusty bread for dipping.