The Maple–Mustard Turkey Meatballs I Make on Repeat for Easy Weeknight Dinners

Why It Works

Powdered gelatin mimics the collagen found in fattier meats, helping the turkey retain moisture and giving the meatballs a tender, juicy texture.
Adding chicken stock to the glaze ensures it reduces at the right rate, creating a glossy, clingy coating instead of burning or turning sticky before the meatballs are cooked through.

Italian-American meatballs tend to hog the spotlight. Yes, they’re plump, porky, and luxuriating in their ruby-red sauce, and well deserving of a cinematic close-up. But weeknights aren’t always calling for that kind of drama. Sometimes you want meatballs that are a little faster, lighter, and less expected, like this turkey meatball recipe glazed in maple-mustard sauce, developed by Craig Ruff in our Birmingham, Alabama, test kitchen.

They’re also wonderfully versatile: Spoon them over a bed of creamy polenta or buttered noodles for an easy weeknight dinner, or serve them solo on a platter as a festive starter for a fall gathering.

Serious Eats / Robby Lozano, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Styling: Abby Armstrong

Turkey meatballs usually get a bad rap, and not entirely without reason. Ground turkey is lean, especially compared to fatty beef or pork, and that leanness often leads to dryness and disappointment once cooked. But don’t think of the turkey as the problem. Instead, think of it as a blank canvas. You just need to know how to build the right support system—flavor, fat, and structure—to turn the humble bird into juicy, savory meatballs.

To ensure moist meatballs, Craig starts his recipe with a panade—fresh bread soaked in broth—rather than the more common dry breadcrumbs. The bread holds onto moisture, keeping the interior of the meatballs plush and tender. Then he uses a secret ingredient straight from the Serious Eats school of “molecular grandma cooking” that we also used in our Italian-American meatball recipe: powdered gelatin. It might sound like a fussy ingredient, but it’s a clever way to replicate the luscious, collagen-rich texture you’d typically get from fattier meats or long braises.

To develop rich flavor, Craig leans hard into umami and aromatics. A bit of chopped bacon pulls double duty here: It renders fat to cook the onion, carrot, and celery until sweet and deeply aromatic, and then joins the mix for a dose of smoky flavor. The bacon can be swapped for turkey bacon or left out entirely, but it’s a supporting player that makes the turkey sing.

The maple-mustard glaze ties the dish all together. Maple syrup brings a hint of sweetness, while Dijon mustard and cider vinegar cut through that with punchy tang. The trickiest part is timing with the glaze: You want the meatballs to finish cooking through in the glaze without reducing it to sticky tar. The solution is to add a splash of broth to ensure the sauce thickens into a glossy, clingy coating as the meatballs cook through, instead of a burnt mess.

The final result is meatballs that are light but deeply savory, glazed but balanced, and most importantly, never dry. This recipe is proof that turkey meatballs don’t have to be the sad diet food of your nightmares. With the right technique, they can strut across your plate with just as much swagger as their Italian-American cousins—no red sauce required.

This recipe was developed by Craig Ruff; The headnote was written by Leah Colins.