Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs

The January issue of Everyday Food was the Light Issue. There are lots of great lightened versions of comfort foods. This recipe in particular caught my eye. I'm a fan of using ground turkey in place of ground beef. I generally always use turkey unless I'm making meatloaf. I also love spicy things, so I knew I wanted to try this. You should as well.  Here's the printable recipe.

You'll need:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced small
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together turkey, onions, garlic, salt and pepper until combined. Martha warns to not overmix it. I like using my herb knife for these small chopping jobs. I find it quicker than using a chef's knife and I get a finer dice.

Form mixture into 16 meatballs.

In a small bowl, combine honey, chiles and vinegar. I bought the tiny can of whole chipotles in adobo because it was cheaper. The small can is probably enough for 3 recipes.

I also used the herb knife to chop these up and it worked great.

In a large, ovenproof skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add meatballs and cook until browned on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven and bake 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, pour honey mixture over meatballs, and swirl skillet to coat; bake until liquid is reduced and meatballs are glazed, 5 minutes, swirling halfway through.

These are pretty simple and really delicious. They were a hit at the Super Bowl party and a few nights later when I made them for out of town guests. I will probably add them to my regular rotation. They would make a mean meatball sandwich.

The first time I made them I let most of the turkey juice cook off before I put them in the oven. I would recommend that. It made the sauce more like a glaze and it was more flavorful. I left more juice in the pan the second time (pictured here) and sauce didn't reduce right. You can see in the pictures that it's a little oily looking. Definitely give these a try and see how you like them. Enjoy!