Need a super easy dinner recipe that calls for ground turkey? These Easy Sheet Pan BBQ Turkey Meatballs are simple, delicious, and are made on a sheet pan (hello super, easy cleanup).

Oh, and these meatballs are made using pantry staple ingredients that you probably have on hand. These are hands down the best turkey meatballs you’ll ever have! Save this recipe when you need a fantastic, budget-friendly meal.

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Somewhere in the depths of 2020, I started making meatballs. Like a lot of meatballs. And these easy sheet pan BBQ turkey meatballs were born. I don’t know where the obsession began, as before that point, I was not a big meatball fan. I still prefer spaghetti sans meatballs. But I found a recipe for juicy turkey meatballs that changed my life and my meal planning. My husband and I eat a variety of these meatballs at least once a month. This recipe has gone through significant changes, but here today, I present to you the ultimate juicy turkey meatball— so good that my mom calls me for the recipe.

How Do You Make Easy Sheet Pan BBQ Turkey Meatballs?

To make extra juice turkey meatballs you need to add in some fat. This recipe adds butter and mayo to the mix, and believe me, you need it to achieve the texture.

Start by mincing an onion. Make sure to make the onion especially small so that no one gets an onion-y big bite. I like to pulse mine in a food processor to ensure that it’s small enough. Mince the garlic as well.
Next, cut the butter into very small pieces.
Add the onion, garlic, butter, and along with the other meatball ingredients straight into a large bowl with the ground turkey.
Mix the meat mixture until just incorporated. If you mix too much the meatballs could become tough.
Form 16 equal-sized meatballs, and place the meatballs on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
Bake the meatballs at 375 for 12-15 minutes.
Take the meatballs out and brush on your favorite BBQ sauce on the top, then return the meatballs to the oven for 5 minutes.
Remove the meatballs from the oven and enjoy your new favorite recipe.

Frugal Tip— Use Ground Turkey to Save on Meat Costs

Ground turkey is a wonderful replacement for beef. It’s cheaper and much healthier than ground beef. I typically get my ground turkey from the freezer section, since it doesn’t affect the taste or outcome of these meatballs. Just make sure to defrost completely before making the meatballs, if you choose to use frozen ground turkey.

I find ground turkey to be much tastier and more versatile to use than ground chicken. Ground chicken doesn’t seem to take seasoning on as well as ground turkey does. Also, ground chicken can be very soft, but ground turkey has a much sturdier texture that makes it the best meat choice for these meatballs. Because ground turkey can be a bit on the drier side, it is important to add the mayo and butter into this recipe to keep these meatballs juicy.

What Should I Serve With Easy Sheet Pan BBQ Turkey Meatballs

We typically eat our meatballs as is with a few sides on the plate. Some of my favorite parings for these BBQ-glazed turkey meatballs include:

Cornbread
Savory Sweet Potatoes
Maple Applesauce
Steamed Broccoli
Corn on the Cob
Spanakopita Loaded Mashed Potatoes (Small Batch)
Easy Honey-Glazed Carrots

The Ingredients

Ground Turkey

In many of my recipes, I offer substitutions for the protein, but this meatball recipe is created for ground turkey only. The meatballs do not hold up well with ground chicken and are too greasy with ground beef. BBQ glazed meatballs are best off using ground turkey only.

Favorite BBQ Sauce

I mentioned that you can use your favorite BBQ sauce here, and you should use whichever sauce is your favorite, but note that you may need to adjust your seasonings to fit the sauce. I am a HUGE Sweet Baby Ray fan so I only use Sweet Baby Ray’s original sauce (or the ALDI copycat version) on these meatballs.

Mayo

This recipe uses mayo as a binder instead of egg. It makes the meatballs less meatloaf-y and adds in some additional fat to the turkey.

Butter

Adding in butter may seem a bit odd, but trust me, the cubed butter is CRUCIAL in getting juicy meatballs from ground turkey. Make sure to cut the room-temperature butter into tiny cubes to mix into your meatball mixture.

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs also play a big part in binding the meatballs together. If I have breadcrumbs on hand I will use those, but I also love to use crushed garlic croutons instead. Make sure to adjust your seasoning if you add seasoned bread crumbs to this recipe.

Smoked Paprika

Is it possible to marry a spice? If I could it would be smoked paprika. Yes, it is VERY different than regular paprika. Smoked paprika smells and adds the taste of BBQ chips to everything it goes in. It is the best spice around, and it blends in perfectly with these BBQ-glazed ground Turkey Meatballs. Make sure to measure, because a little bit of smoked paprika goes a long way.

Is this Recipe Meal-Prep Friendly?

Yes!

This is a great meal prep recipe/ I meal prep these for lunches ALL the time. I typically make 4 meals of 4 meatballs each. Inside the meal prep container add: the meatballs, a veggie (ex steamed broccoli or roasted carrots), and a starch (ex baked potato wedges or Mac and Cheese ). You can store the containers for 3 days in the fridge or freeze them for up to 6 months.

More Great Sheet Pan Recipes You’ll Love

I love a great sheet pan recipe! A sheet pan recipe means that dinner can be ready in record time with little stress and (even better) a quick cleanup! If you are looking for more simple sheet pan dinner recipes check out these DELICIOUS and easy meals listed below!