Recipe: Oatmeal Meatballs With Spinach

Oats can help you drop pounds by revving your calorie burn and curbing cravings.

Serves 4

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup instant oats
• 1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup packed baby spinach, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup packed basil, chopped, plus 1 sprig
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 egg white
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped, divided
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound all-white-meat ground turkey
• olive oil cooking spray
• 1 can (26 oz) diced tomatoes, plus juice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 4 oz whole-wheat pasta, cooked according to the package instructions

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 400˚. Mix oats and yogurt with 1/4 cup water in a bowl until oats begin to absorb liquid. Add spinach, basil, Parmesan, egg white, half the garlic, salt and pepper, and stir. Add turkey and mix until well combined. Form into 16 2-inch meatballs.
2. Coat a large, oven-safe stockpot with cooking spray. Add meatballs and bake until they begin to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Turn and bake 10 minutes more. Add remaining garlic, basil sprig, tomatoes and wine. Cover and cook until meatballs are cooked through and sauce begins to thicken, 20 minutes. Serve immediately with pasta.

The skinny

314 calories per serving, 3.3 g fat (1.3 g saturated), 40.4 g carbs, 3.7 g fiber, 22.9 g protein

Comments

 

Bridgetcarroll says:

I made these delicious meatballs last night and was surprised at how good they were. My husband loved them as well! I also used a pound of turkey meat, one egg white and one whole egg (oops!), greek non fat yogurt, and did not double the spinach or basil. I used Trader Joe's Traditional Marinara sauce which is 50 calories in half a cup. It's really good sauce for only $2 bucks. After the meatballs were done I placed them in the sauce and was happy with the flavor. Will make again!

 

Quoll1969 says:

Turkey Mince is great numbers vs other meat products if dieting. Go Turkey!

gville76 says:

I made this last night and it was very tasty! I did make a few adjustments, which probably alleviate the other users' issues with meatballs turning out watery or with a smaller than expected yield. I used old fashioned oats instead of instant, nonfat Greek yogurt instead of nonfat plain, an entire egg instead of an egg white, and 1 pound of extra lean ground turkey instead of 1/2 pound. With the extra meat, you can safely double the spinach. These meatballs turn out nicely if you use red wine instead of white, but make sure to spoon the tomato/wine mixture over the meatballs before continuing the baking process so they won't appear half pink. One other small change was the use of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano instead of plain diced tomatoes - these give the sauce more flavor without adding any calories or sodium.

 

schmaech says:

I made this last night, and while the recipe is a great base, made as is, it is pretty much terrible. I loved the oats and yogurt in it, as well as the spinach. However, there was too much liquid and the meatballs would barely form. They crumbled when I tried to turn them despite letting them cook for longer than the initial 10-15 minutes. Also, their flavor was blah. They didn't taste like anything. Next time, I will definitely decrease the amount of water and probably add more oats and spinach, and some more spices to get some flavor to them. Hopefully they will be better.

 

SaraWo24 says:

I just made these last night, and thought that they were fantastic! My boyfriend (who is against anything healthy) didn't even notice that they were made with oatmeal and yogurt. Later in the night, he opened up my laptop and saw the recipe: "Those meatballs were made with oatmeal?.....they were actually really good and moist." So, they definitely got a thumbs up from him. I added a bit more spinach (probably another 1/2 cup), and was able to get the 16 meatballs. Very delicious, and I think they might be good in a homemade Italian-style wedding soup too!

 

kjulien says:

I made 12 nice sized meatballs out of this and served it over spaghetti squash rather than the pasta. It was delish!

 

kgelleruo says:

do recipes like this include calories for the pasta?

 

MeganMay says:

It is impossible to make 16 two inch meatballs out of 1/2 pound of turkey. flavor is great.