By popular request, here’s my red curry meatball recipe! These meatballs are packed with flavor and made even more delicious with the red coconut curry sauce! (Sauce courtesy of wholesomelicious.com)

You need a pantry of spices for this recipe, so if you’re not there yet, wait til you have them all. It can take awhile, and some expense, to build a pantry of items so be patient. I would recommend fresh onion, garlic and ginger but use what you have.

plate of all the spices that go into this recipe

This recipe isn’t the quickest- it takes time to measure out all the spices, to chop the veggies and form the meatballs! But this recipe is sooo worth it! I cook it for special occasions. This time was for my birthday!

Mix all of the seasonings into your ground turkey, roll em up and throw em in the oven to bake!

raw turkey meatballs over parchment paper on a baking sheet

Meanwhile, chop veggies and sauté before adding the red curry paste and coconut milk.

diced onion, garlic and red pepper in a bowl sitting on top of a cutting board with the knife used to chop the veggies

 

 

onions, ginger and red pepper sautéing on a stovetop pan

 

Put it all together…Curry meatballs over rice with thin strips of fresh basil over the top

Red Coconut Curry Meatballs
 
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • Meatballs:
  • 2 lb ground turkey
  • ¾ C almond flour
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3 small cloves minced garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 
2 Tbsp fresh minced onion or 1⁄2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
  • 2 tsp ground basil
  • 1 tsp dried sage
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1⁄2 tsp toasted fennel seeds
  • 1⁄4 tsp black pepper
  • 
1⁄2 tsp sea salt
  • 1⁄4 tsp dried thyme or oregano
  • 1⁄4 tsp crushed aleppo chiles or crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1⁄4 tsp paprika
  • small pinch of nutmeg
  • Red Coconut Curry Sauce:
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
  • 3 Tbsp red curry paste (or 1 Tbsp red curry powder + 2 Tbsp water)
  • 1 14 oz can +3/4 C full fat coconut milk
  • ⅓ C fresh basil, chiffonade (thin strips)
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • *Serve over spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, brown rice, or cauliflower rice
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
  2. Do your prep: mince 5 cloves garlic (3 for meatballs, 2 for sauce). Mince onion (2 Tbsp for meatballs the rest of the onion for sauce). Peel and chop ginger (1 Tbsp for meatballs, 2 Tbsp for sauce). Toast your fennel seeds in a dry pan over medium-high heat about 2-3 minutes. Whisk one egg together. Chop 1 red bell pepper. Mix curry paste. Chop fresh basil.
  3. In a small bowl, mix seasonings together: minced garlic, onion, ginger, basil, sage, curry powder, toasted fennel seeds, pepper, sea salt, dried thyme, aleppo chilies, paprika and nutmeg.
  4. Add the seasoning into a large bowl with the ground turkey. Add the almond flour. Incorporate well. Add the egg and mix.
  5. Begin your brown rice. Measure and rinse 2 C brown rice. Add 3.5 C water to a pan. Once it’s boiling, add rice and cover. Cook about 45 minutes or until tender.
  6. Form the meatballs into 1-1.5’’ diameter balls (for me it made 32 meatballs), and place onto 2 large parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF.
  7. While meatballs are cooking, make the sauce. Heat a large skillet to medium heat, add coconut oil. Add the diced onion, red pepper, garlic, and ginger. Add ½ tsp of sea salt. Cook for 5-7 minutes until onion is translucent. Add curry paste and coconut milk. Add remaining ½ tsp of sea salt and stir. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  8. Add fully cooked meatballs to the sauce, and cook for another 5 minutes.
  9. Serve hot over spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, brown rice, or cauliflower rice and top with fresh basil.

 

This is 21DSD friendly! For levels 2 and 3 it’s compliant if you use cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles.