Trader Joe’s Turkey Meatballs

A favorite comfort food in my household is spaghetti and meatballs. Everyone likes it, and it’s easy to prepare. I look for ways to make it healthier, like preparing it with chickpea spaghetti noodles, marinara sauce with no added sugars, or meatballs made with turkey rather than beef.

During a recent visit to Trader Joe’s, which is a cousin to Aldi, I spotted some fully cooked frozen turkey meatballs. The label describes them as flame broiled. I picked up a bag.

We paid $5.99 for a 16-ounce package of Trader Joe’s Turkey Meatballs in 2026. That comes out to about 37 cents per ounce. We buy products for review using our own money.

Nutrition Facts and Ingredients:

If you’re looking out for allergens, these contain soy and wheat.

The full ingredients list is turkey meat, water, seasonings (textured soy flour, bread crumbs [wheat flour, sugar, salt, yeast], soy protein concentrate, corn syrup solids, salt, dehydrated onion, spices, garlic powder, parsley), mechanically separated turkey, and onion.

One serving is two meatballs. A serving has 100 calories (45 calories from fat), 5 grams of total fat (7% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), 400 mg of sodium (16% DV), 5 grams of total carbohydrates (2% DV), 2 grams of dietary fiber (8% DV), 1 gram of sugars, and 12 grams of protein.

Heating Instructions:

These are fully cooked, so they just need to be heated and served. The bag has directions for heating these from frozen or thawed in a microwave, conventional oven, or on the stove top.

To microwave, remove the meatballs from the bag and place them in a microwave-safe container with a lid. From thawed, microwave on high for 2 1/2 minutes and let stand for 1 minute before serving. From frozen, heat on high for 4 minutes and let stand for 1 minute.

To heat in a conventional oven, remove the meatballs from the bag and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. From thawed, bake for 12-20 minutes. From frozen, bake for 30-35 minutes.

To heat on the stove top, combine the meatballs with your favorite sauce and heat for 20 minutes.

Our Thoughts:

I microwaved these (without a lid, for various reasons). To heat the whole package at once, it took 5 minutes and 30 seconds to get them hot enough. Maybe they would have heated faster in a shallower bowl, but I don’t know.

These are very mild-tasting, especially if you’re used to eating frozen meatballs from Aldi. They’re not dry,  but they’re also not as moist as Aldi meatballs. In the future, I might heat them on the stovetop in whatever sauce I’m serving them with, to help infuse a little more flavor into them.

The package says there are about six 2-meatball servings per bag. There were 14 meatballs in the bag I bought. The meatballs are a bit on the larger side, so two meatballs felt like plenty when served atop a plate of spaghetti with marinara sauce.

My family thought these were okay, but some people made it clear these aren’t their favorite. Whether I buy these again remains to be seen.

The Verdict:

Trader Joe’s Turkey Meatballs can offer you your meatball fix in a slightly healthier way with lean poultry rather than beef or pork. These aren’t as flavorful as some other meatballs we’ve had, but they’re all right.