PYRC #45: Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella

Look, I'm a meatball diva, and I cook a heck ton of recipes, specifically recipes from Pinterest. Well bend me over backwards Sunny, I have hearts coming out of my eyes. I always wonder how people write such enthusiastic recipe blog posts, and now I know why. Taste this - Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella.

(Ok, I wrote the intro while cooking, after only tasting the sauce and not the meatballs, and I'm totally sticking with my gut. I wrote the rest immediately after dinner, clearly.)


Turkey meatballs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've made these many times. With a recipe, without a recipe, on a sandwich, in a pasta, Italian, Asian, you name it. These ranked right up with the rest - flavorful, tasty and with a bit of spice.

Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce. Two words: Not. Enough. This stuff was so freaking good I had to restrain myself from "taste testing" it all gone before the meatballs even landed. Seriously, I can doctor a mean spaghetti sauce from a jar, but I never thought I could make it from scratch (plain tomato sauce base). Done and done. Welcome new spaghetti sauce to my list. I'm in love, and the red pepper flake kick beyond topped it off. Plus, basil fresh from the garden? Yes, please

Fresh Mozzarella. Ah, you got me. I didn't use fresh mozzarella. I used the shredded kind that was already in my fridge. But really, who cares? The meatballs and pasta could have been cheese-less, and I wouldn't have cared one bit.

Wanna see the mouth-watering progression? Ok, you got it!


Ingredients snapshot one... and those are just the seasonings!

Ingredients snapshot two.... and there was even more!

Make the meatballs



Make your sauce while the meatballs are cooking (What? That's all the sauce?)




Meatballs now cooked with unknown weird, baked gooey stuff oozing out... removed that, eww



Toss your meatballs into the sauce

Now drown your meatballs in the sauce

Accessorize with mozzarella (Don't forget, I cheated and used shredded instead of fresh)

Make it all pretty with fresh basil from the garden



Try and make a pretty plate for Instagram (terrible lighting and iPhone quality not helping my cause)

Then devour to your healthy heart's desire

Now, how'd you like that? Hungry yet?

Dear turkey meatballs in spicy tomato basil sauce, we will meet again. You will find your way into my heart, soul, kitchen, spaghetti.... Ok, getting a little weird. I think my healthy-eating kick/recipe hiatus lasted a bit too long and eating Italian food alone spiraled me out of control.

"Disregarding my recent yearning to eat as badly as possible, this recipe was winner winner chicken dinner," says the girl who makes a pretty mean spaghetti on the regular (that's me)!

Have I convinced you yet... That I'm not crazy?

Make. This. Recipe. Now. Find it here at Alaska From Scratch.