Turkey Meatball Lettuce Cups with Honey Adobo Sauce with pear and celery slaw
We're giving one of our favorite classic recipes a makeover! We took these refreshing lettuce cups and added a crunchy, naturally sweet slaw and an even creamier sauce. The original version of this meal can be found here.
Smarts: This is a great meal to prep ahead so that all of the components are ready to serve whenever you are.
Ingredients
- Celery - 3 ribs, julienned
- Pears, Asian - 1, julienned
- Lemon juice - 2 Tbsp
- Maple syrup - 2 tsp
- Green onions - 2 stalks, chopped, green and white parts combined
- Lettuce, romaine - 12 leaves
- Turkey meatballs (ingredients listed separately) - ~12, halved
- Turkey, ground - 1 lb (look for ground dark meat turkey if available)
- Eggs - 1
- Panko breadcrumbs - 1/4 cup
- Salt - 1/2 tsp
- Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
- Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp
- Oil, cooking - 2 Tbsp
- Stock, any type - 1/4 cup
- Sour cream - 1/2 cup (sub plain or Greek yogurt)
- Vinegar, red wine - 4 tsp
- Adobo sauce - 2 tsp (from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo)
- Honey - 2 tsp
- Paprika, smoked - 1/2 tsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make honey adobo sauce - Whisk together sour cream, vinegar, adobo sauce, honey, and paprika. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Make meatballs - (If making Thursday’s meal, double the meatballs.) Mix ground turkey with eggs, panko, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Form into 1.5" / 4 cm meatballs. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
- Celery / Pears / Green onions / Lettuce leaves - Prep as directed.
- Make slaw - Combine celery, pears, lemon juice, maple syrup, and some salt.
Make
- Heat a large skillet with oil over medium heat. Add meatballs and sear until golden brown on a few sides, ~5 minutes. (Note: If making Thursday’s meal, cook those at the same time. If the pan is not big enough to cook all of the meatballs at once, do this in batches.)
- Pour stock into pan with meatballs. Lower heat to medium-low and cover with a lid. Cook, covered, for another 6 to 8 minutes until meatballs are cooked through (internal temperature should be 165F / 74C; or slice into one to be sure).
- Remove meatballs from pan and allow to cool slightly. Slice meatballs in half. (You can slice the meatballs for Thursday at the same time, remembering to reserve them for that meal.)
- Set out lettuce leaves, meatballs, sauce, green onions, and slaw. Fill lettuce wraps with meatballs, sauce, and green onions at the table. You can add some slaw to lettuce wraps or have it on the side. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
This meal has 13 reviews
Really tasty!!!!! The meatballs were delicious and the sauce was out of this world!
these meatballs were absolutely delicious. It was hard saving half for the next meal. The sauce was just so-so for me and too spicy for the toddler.
I wanted a veg version of the meatballs instead of the quesadilla so made some modifications that doesn’t really lend a fair review. I cooked up some seitan with garlic powder and the adobos sauce then served in the lettuce cups with the sauce and green onion. Made the sauce a bit spicier than listed here. I’m not a fan of celery so was really reluctant to make to salad. It was just ok for me but did appreciate the fresh crispness as a contrast to the spicy lettuce cups.
We really enjoyed this! Even without any prep, it came together pretty quickly and was a nice, light meal to enjoy. We would probably add rice or something on the side next time just to bulk it up a bit more - partner was hungry an hour or two later.
Thought the flavors here were good, but not amazing! Definitely enjoyed it but wouldn’t crave it in the future. (Note I hold a high bar for these meals by the way because of how amazing many of them have been!)
About 3.5. This was quite nice actually, we liked the lentils in the quesadilla. The slaw was interesting but not bad. The sauce really makes the meal come together, pretty flavorless without it!