Baked buffalo turkey meatballs with hot sauce and blue cheese are are perfect as a main meal or appetizer. Made with only five ingredients and baked in less than 30 minutes, these spicy meatballs are a healthier alternative to wings and just as good.
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These baked buffalo turkey meatballs are perfect as a meal, snack or appetizer.
They are flavoured with hot sauce and blue cheese and have just the right amount of heat.
They are delicious drizzled with additional hot sauce, and served blue cheese dressing or blue cheese dip.
As an appetizer I like to serve them on toothpicks and top them with sliced green onion and crumbled blue cheese.
They freeze well, and are great on top of a salad for a light meal.
Ingredients
Lean ground turkey – The lean ground turkey (not ground turkey breast) works best for this recipe as it has a bit more fat and flavour. You can also use ground chicken if you prefer.
Hot sauce – We always choose Frank’s Red Hot, but if you have a favourite you can use that instead.
Egg – Acts as a binder.
Fine breadcrumbs – Helps absorb some of the moisture and hold the meatballs together. If you are gluten free you can use alternatives such as gluten free breadcrumbs, or gluten free ground oats.
Blue cheese – Adds a great punch of flavour. If you don’t like blue cheese, feta cheese or goat’s cheese works great.
Green onion – For a bit of colour and adds some fresh flavour.
Pro Tip – You shouldn’t need to add salt to this recipe as both the hot sauce and cheese should add enough. But if you are using a lower sodium sauce or cheese you can use a pinch of salt.
Step by Step Instructions
Mix the Ingredients
Add all of the ingredients to a medium size bowl and mix to combine.
Form the Meatballs
Form the mixture into 24 meatballs.
Place the meatballs on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with parchment paper.
Bake a 375°F for 22-25 minutes until golden brown.
Pro Tip – I like to use a 1.5 inch cookie scoop when forming my meatballs. It helps ensure they are a uniform size so they cook evenly and it does most of the rolling for me.
Air Fryer Directions
These turkey meatballs cook up perfectly in the air fryer.
If you have one, and would prefer to use it, follow the directions above for forming the meatballs and then place them in the air fryer basket or on the tray.
Cook at 350°F for approximately 12 minutes until the meatballs are lightly browned and feel firm when you touch them.
Serve as desired.
Serving Suggestions
I usually like to serve these spicy buffalo turkey meatballs drizzled with extra hot sauce and sprinkled with green onion and crumbled blue cheese. And I always like a dish of blue cheese dip on the side.
They are great on top of a salad, in a wrap or on a submarine sandwich.
When served as an appetizer I like to dress them up with all the toppings and serve them on toothpicks.
If you want to serve these as a main meal they go great with some mac & cheese or pasta salad.
Top Tips & FAQS
These meatballs freeze very well. You can freeze them before or after cooking. To freeze before cooking freeze them on the baking sheet and once frozen place them in a container or ziplock bag.
To freeze cooked meatballs, allow them to cool then place in container or ziplock bag. They will keep several months.
If you would prefer to use chicken to make these buffalo chicken meatballs that will work fine. Just be sure you are selecting lean ground chicken and not mechanically separated chicken from the meat counter.
More Buffalo Chicken Recipes
Recipe
Baked Buffalo Turkey (or Chicken) Meatballs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Pound lean ground turkey or chicken
- 1 Large egg
- ¼ Cup hot sauce like Frank's Red Hot
- ¼ Cup crumbled blue cheese
- ½ Cup fine breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375°F
- In a medium size bowl, mix the ground turkey, hot sauce, egg, crumbled blue cheese, breadcrumbs and green onion.
- Form the mixture into 24 meatballs, about one and half tablespoons each. I like to use a medium size cookie scoop for this as it's easy to get a uniform size.
- Place the meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with non-stick spray.
- Place the tray on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes until meatballs are lightly browned and feel firm when you touch them.
- Serve with extra hot sauce, blue cheese, blue cheese dip or sliced green onion.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.