These meatballs and homemade sauce are AMAZING…So flavorful!  They’ll be a hit with both the adults and the kids. Each serving includes 4 small meatballs, 1 cup of sauce and has 267 calories, 10 gram fat and 7 Weight Watchers SmartPoints. This recipe is so versatile you can serve over whole grain pasta (as pictured) spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, steamed veggies, baked potatoes or over whole wheat toasted bread. Enjoy your dinner!
Crock-Pot Time: LOW heat about 6 hours or HIGH heat about 3 hours
Ingredients for Meatballs:
- ½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs made from ¾ of a piece of whole wheat or whole grain bread, see step 1
- 1.25 pound package (20 ounces) ground turkey breast 93% lean
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
Ingredients for Sauce:
- 2 cups onions, diced
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1½ tablespoons garlic, minced
- 2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- ¾ teaspoon salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (add ⅛ teaspoon more if you like a bit of kick)
Instructions
- To make the bread crumbs: Toast bread. Place in blender and grind into crumbs.
- In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, bread crumbs, cheese, egg, garlic, salt and pepper. Using clean hands, mix all the ingredients and form 24 small meatballs, about ⅛ cup each (2 tablespoons)
- To cook onions: cook in microwave for 3 minutes to soften.
- In a small, nonstick pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté until light golden but not burned.
- Pour into crock-pot garlic and oil, crushed tomatoes, softened onions, sugar, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix well. Drop meatballs into sauce, press them down to cover completely with sauce. Set crock-pot to LOW heat about 6 hours or HIGH heat about 3 hours.
Makes 6 servings. Each serving, 4 meatballs and 1 cup sauce.
Weight Watchers SmartPoints 7
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 7
