Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs make an amazing main entrée or appetizer! This paleo meatball recipe is soy-free, refined sugar-free, and grain-free.

Paleo Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs made grain-free, soy-free and refined sugar-free

Welcome to the best ball you will ever lay mouth on.

All kidding aside, these Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs are my favorite meatballs to date.

And for good reasons!

They are MEGA flavorful, have the most excellent crispy outside and spongy interior and an incredibly sultry sweet and sour teriyaki glaze that will make you drool!

In addition…

Recipe Highlights:

Only require a handful of basic ingredients
Are gluten-free, grain-free, and paleo-friendly
Can be made in bulk for meal prep purposes
Are amazing to serve to friends and family (make an appetizer out of them, why don’tcha!)

These teriyaki meatballs come together relatively quickly and make a marvelous main dish (just serve with your choice of side dishes) and also a crowd-pleasing appetizer (just hand out toothpicks 😉

I love eating the turkey meatballs with steamed brown rice and sauteed vegetables. When it comes to enjoying a big dinner bowl o’ meatball, you just listen to your heart!

Easy Paleo Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs - soy-free, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, and healthy

Ingredients for Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs:

Ground Turkey: The star of the show! Use a quality ground turkey (my favorite is Diestel Ground Turkey, which you can buy at Whole Foods, select natural food stores, or online).

Note that not all ground turkey is created equally! The moisture and fat content varies, so you may need to use your own discretion of how much tapioca flour to add based on the type of turkey you use.

You may need less tapioca flour for drier ground meat or more tapioca flour for wetter/fattier ground meat. Start with what the recipe says and adjust from there 😉

Tapioca Flour: In order to bind the meatballs together without breadcrumbs or a grain flour, we use tapioca flour! Tapioca flour also gives that iconic spongy texture to the meatballs. Do note, the meatballs will still be very sticky and not form perfect balls, but this is normal. If it bugs you endlessly, you can add gluten-free breadcrumbs, gluten-free flour, and/or more tapioca flour.

Teriyaki Sauce: I use homemade Paleo Teriyaki Sauce or store-bought soy-free, paleo-friendly Teriyaki Sauce. You can use your favorite sauce! Pick your passion!

Fresh Ginger: A star ingredient to this recipe, fresh ginger provides a little zing, a tiny amount of heat, and allll the deliciousness! Do not, I repeat: do not skip this ingredient!

Green Onion: Adding fresh flavor, finely chopped green onion goes a LONG way here! Pro Tip: for maximum flavor distribution, don’t just chop the green onion into little green onion rounds…finely chop it like you would fresh herbs until you have teeny tiny pieces. This extra step maximizes what you get out of the green onion!

Garlic: because meatballs are always better with garlic! If you don’t have any on hand, or if you follow a low-FODMAP diet, you can skip this ingredient. It won’t break your balls, I promise.

Optional Add ins: Fresh basil and sesame oil! Add 3 to 6 leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped, and/or 1 to 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. Either and both will give more flavor!

Paleo Teriyaki Turkey Meatballs made grain-free, soy-free and refined sugar-free - serve with brown rice and sauteed vegetables for a real great time

How to Make Teriyaki Meatballs:

Add all ingredients for the meatballs to a mixing bowl. Use your hands to combine everything together until the ingredients are well-integrated.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add enough coconut oil (or high temperature cooking oil of choice) to generously coat the surface, about 2 to 3 tablespoons.

Coat your fingers in tapioca flour and form meatballs out of the mixture one at a time. Carefully place each meatball on the hot skillet. Note that the meat mixture may be sticky and appear as though it won’t hold together – this is normal.

Allow meatballs to cook, untouched, for 3 minutes. Carefully flip and cook another 3 minutes. Again, carefully flip to another side and cook 3 minutes longer.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the skillet. Cook 5 minutes.

Remove the lid, flip the balls to another side, and add ¼ cup of teriyaki sauce (or more to taste). Cover, and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Continue cooking and rolling the meatballs until they have completely cooked through, are crispy, and have a nice teriyaki glaze.

Serve meatballs with choice of side dishes with a garnish of sesame seeds and green onion.

Paleo Teriyaki Meatballs with steamed brown rice and sauteed vegetables

I like eating the meatballs with steamed brown rice and stir fry vegetables. You can go with your choice of rice, noodle, veggies, etc.

Also check out my Sweet and Sour Meatballs and my Turkey Meatball Curry.

Suggested Side Dishes:

Get your sweet and sour teriyaki turkey meatball right here!

My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!

If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!