Whole30 Turkey Meatloaf
Gluten free and Whole 30 approved, this meatloaf is great for meal prepping your week, or for just having on hand when you don’t feel like cooking. I make it in muffin pans, too, so you can freeze and defrost them as needed. Resist ordering takeout; your checking account will thank you later.
I’ve been eating or making a version of this recipe since the 1980s. It originates from an ancient Weight Watcher’s recipe that I’ve adapted over time to taste less bland and more like something you actually want to eat. Anyone else’s mothers obsessed with Weight Watchers and Jane Fonda in the 80s? Just mine?
Anyways, I’m really big on meal-prepping every week. Before we started doing this, I realized that we were spending upwards of $80-$120/week on lunches out (that’s an insane amount of money, BTW), so we decided to be more mindful about planning ahead. On Saturday or Sunday mornings, I’ll look over our upcoming schedules and we’ll brainstorm recipes to make for lunches and dinners throughout the week. Then we spend Sunday meal-prepping, and I always make lunch, first. This recipe is great for lunch, because you can heat it up in the microwave. It goes great with salad, spaghetti squash, pasta, potatoes, vegetables - whatever you want to have with it - and you can make a ton of it ahead of time to keep in the freezer.
After doing a round of Whole30 last year, I adjusted the recipe to be compliant with that, too, and I added a ton of shredded vegetables since turkey basically has no taste. So you also get an entire serving of vegetables when you eat these. Feel free to make vegetable and spice adjustments depending on your personal taste, but this is the recipe that I use most often.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. ground turkey
- 2 zucchini
- 2 carrots
- 1 large shallot
- 1 1/2 cups mushrooms
- 1 red chili
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- Salt/pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 tablespoon ghee
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a couple of 12-cup muffin tins with cooking spray (I use coconut oil, because it doesn’t impart flavor as much, and the olive oil will burn). If you don’t have 2 muffin tins, you can use cookie sheets. (Line them with parchment for easier cleanup if you’ve got it.)
Shred the shallot, zucchini, and carrots. I used my food processor with the shredding attachment because it literally takes 2 minutes and there’s almost no chance I’ll shave off a knuckle.
Chop the mushrooms and dice the chili.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and the coconut milk, and set aside for later.
Melt the ghee on medium-high heat in a sauté pan (I’m using non-stick for easy cleanup). Add the shredded shallot, carrots, and zucchini with a good pinch of salt, and sauté until all the water evaporates the vegetables start to brown. This takes about 15 minutes - be patient!
When the vegetables are browning, you’ll notice a sweeter smell - remove them from the heat and scrape them into a large bowl to cool. Add the mushrooms directly to the pan to sauté. You don’t have to add extra oil, because the mushrooms are going to release all their water when they hit the hot pan. When the water from the mushrooms is just about gone, and they’ve cooked down, add the chili pepper and a pinch of salt. Cook for about a minute, or until you start to smell the chili pepper, and then add that to the large bowl with the other vegetables. Stir to combine everything and add a few pinches of black pepper.
Add the ground turkey to the bowl with the vegetables along with the paprika, nutmeg, Italian seasoning, parsley, and tomato paste. Add a good pinch of salt to the whole thing (remember, turkey has no taste), and fold together, finally adding the beaten eggs and coconut milk. I use my hands for this, because it’ll come together faster and you don’t want to over-mix it. It’s going to seem extremely wet, but no worries.
Finally, add the almond flour 1 cup at a time. We’re using almond flour instead of breadcrumbs here - it gives the meatloaves a higher density and a bit of extra protein.
Spray a 1/3 cup measuring cup with cooking spray, and then scoop even amount of the turkey into the muffin tins. The cooking spray is going to help the turkey slide out of the measuring cup easier. You should be able to get between 20 and 24 meatloaves from this recipe.
*If using a cookie sheet, place them about 2 inches apart, and using wet or oiled hands, shape them evenly.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F. Serve with whatever sides you’d like; my favorite is roasted or mashed potatoes or chopping it into a salad. Like I said before, you can also put these in freezer bags and keep them frozen for up to a few months. I've always got a bag of these in my freezer.
Enjoy!
