The Best Turkey Meatballs I’ve Ever Made

I finally met a turkey meatball I love, after years of trying. Ground turkey is bland compared with beef and pork, which sets me up for a lackluster meatball. The texture is often problematic, too: dry, dense or both. But Ali Slagle, borrowing a trick from the cookbook author Julia Turshen, adds a good amount of ricotta cheese to the turkey mixture. The result is a pan of meatballs so tender that you can easily slice into them with a spoon as you scoop up saucy bites from your bowl.

When I made these meatballs for dinner last week, it was far too hot outside for a buttery sauce and mashed potatoes on the side, as the recipe suggests — delicious, but wintry. So I tossed about a pint of halved cherry tomatoes into the pan and let them cook down along with the meatballs, and then served it all with toast. Light, bright: This is my summer 2025 meatball dinner.

I will not be making meatballs this week, however — I’m heading to Chicago! Melissa Clark and I will be chatting about home cooking at the Chicago Humanities festival this Saturday, May 10, at the Ramova Theater at 11 a.m. Tickets are here. Chicagoans, I would love to meet you in person.

1. Turkey-Ricotta Meatballs

Ground turkey can be tricky to work with — it’s relatively wet and sticks to your hands, making it difficult to roll a nice meatball. Ali’s solution is to lightly oil her hands before she starts shaping.

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2. Sheet-Pan Salmon and Broccoli With Sesame and Ginger

I made this Lidey Heuck recipe last week, too, and my kids ate it with a side of rice. Victory! This is delicious and very doable on a busy evening — start the rice first, and then make the glaze for the salmon as the oven heats up.

3. Butter Paneer

I have paneer in the fridge all ready to go for this recipe from Zainab Shah, a streamlined take on the classic that’s still richly flavored and infused with heat. Use firm tofu instead of paneer if you’d like (a swap that makes the dish vegan).

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5. Chickpea Picadillo

Ooh, a new recipe from Rick Martínez — you know it’ll be delicious. It’s a plant-based version of a Mexican picadillo, rife with chickpeas, mushrooms, grated tofu (which crisps up pleasingly in the pan), tomatillos, scallions and hot peppers. Serve with rice and beans, and I’d add tortillas, too.

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