Mexican Zucchini Noodles and Jalapeno Popper Turkey Meatballs {Low Carb, Gluten Free & High Protein}

All the taste of a jalapeno popper but in a high protein, low fat and gluten free Turkey meatball, over healthy zucchini noodles!

For the longest time, I never knew what a jalapeno popper was. Canada is not known for it’s Mexican culinary scene y’all.  We’ve got just about every other kind of food your stomach could desire, but no super-duper-amazing Mexican. That all changed when I went to Mexico a few years back.  I remember the first bite of amazing, cheese-all-over-my-face-even-in-my-eyes-brows (side note: I don’t actually have eyebrows, they are tattoos.  A horrific incident when I was in makeup school. But, that is a different story) deliciousness.  My eyes had been opened to a realm of cheesy goodness that I had never known existed. Then, I came back to Canada and, amongst my post-vacay-it-rains-all-the-time-in-the-Northewest blues, I forgot ALL about them. Like I told ya’ll on Monday, I be moving to the sunshine state! (PARTAY!) Me and Mr.FFF have a huge deep freeze full of frozen items of deliciousness that we need to eat before we make this trek. So, the other day, I was digging through them and found some ground turkey. Ideas started whizzing around in my head and soon cheese, green onions, and various spices began whizzing around my kitchen. That is totally not an exaggeration, I am the messiest cook every in the whole entire world. Anyway, out popped these little balls (be mature) that have the perfect amount of creaminess from the cream cheese (duh) that subdues the jalapeno into the perfect amount of zing. AND they bring back that realm of cheesy goodness that I spoke of before. Even better? They aren’t deep friend and totally fat laden like the original jalapeno popper! But, no ball is good without some sauce right? (Again, maturity) This Mexican tomato sauce truly is the easiest thing everrrrr to make.  It has a smokey flavour from the adobo sauce and paprika and a kick from the salsa. Throw in some red onion and a little bit of corn and you’ve got a fiesta for your taste buds. Ok so, we’ve gone through the meatball, the sauce, whats left? The zoodles! Apart from being sooooo fun to say (anything with 2 o’s together is…think about it) they are super easy to make, super low calorie, low carb and gluten free.  Seriously I am so obsessed with zucchini noodles…as we’ve seen in the zucchini noodles BBQ Chicken Casserole, Zucchini Noodles with Lemon Greek Yogurt Chicken AND Zucchini Noodles with Everything Pesto and Fried Eggs.

Plus, they don’t expand to a million times the size in your stomach after, leaving you feel like you are going.to.die.  Has anyone else ever experienced that surprise i-really-only-ate-pasta-until-i-was-comfortably-full-but-now-i-feel-like-I-am-going-to-explode thing?  Yea, this avoids that.  Which means you can be all cute and wear those ultra stylish belts around your waist and still eat pasta without taking it off, forcing yourself to look less cute. Not that I worry about such trivial things or anything…. Anyways. Enjoy a fiesta in your mouth tonight. And look good doing it.

Print

Mexican Zoodles and Jalapeno Popper Turkey Meatballs {Low Carb, Gluten Free & High Protein}

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 4

Author Tate

Ingredients

• For the meatballs:
• 3/4 lb . lean ground turkey
• 1/4 Cup reduced fat cheddar cheese grated
• 2 Tbsps . Low fat cream cheese softened
• 2 Tbsps . Cup Green onion diced
• 1/3 cup Red onion diced
• 2 Tbsps . Cup Cilantro chopped
• 1 tsp . Salt
• 3/4 tsp . Cumin
• 1 Tbsp . Garlic minced
• For the sauce:
• 1/2 Tbsp . Olive oil
• 1/3 cup Red onion diced
• 1/2 Tbsp . Garlic minced
• 1 1/4 cups Crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup Mild salsa
• 1/2 in A chile adobo sauce diced
• 1/2 Tbsp . Adobo sauce
• 1/2 tsp . Cumin
• 1/2 tsp . Smoked Paprika
• 1/4 tsp . Salt
• 1/2 cup Frozen corn
• For the Zucchini noodles:
• 8 Medium zucchinis
• Salt
• Cilantro and additional cheddar for garnish

Instructions

2. For the Meatballs:
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Dice the green onion, red onion and cilantro and place into a large bowl.
5. Grate the cheddar cheese and mix with the onion and cilantro.
6. Throw the ground turkey, softened cream cheese, salt, cumin and garlic into the bowl. Mix with your hands until everything is combined and well distributed.
7. Form into small balls and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (should make around 16 meatballs)
8. For the Zucchini noodles
9. Peel the zucchinis and slice lengthwise on a mandolin using a 5mm julienne blade, to make long noodles.
10. Place a mesh strainer over a medium bowl and put the zucchini noodles in the strainer. Sprinkle with a healthy dose of salt and mix around. This will release a lot of the water that the zucchini is holding.
11. While the noodles strain you can make the sauce.
12. For the sauce:
13. Dice the 3/4 cup of red onion, 1 Tbsp. of garlic and the chile in adobo sauce.
14. Heat 1/2 Tbsp. of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
15. Sautee the diced red onion and garlic until it is soft, about 3 minutes.
16. Add in the diced chile in adobo sauce, the 1 Tbsp. of adobo sauce, 2.5 cups of crushed tomatoes, and 1/2 cup of salsa. Stir until well combined.
17. Add in the 3/4 tsp. of cumin, 1 tsp. smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp. salt of and 3/4 cup of frozen corn (no need to thaw.) Stir until everything is well mixed.
18. Turn the heat to low and simmer while you cook the zucchini noodles.
19. To cook the zucchini noodles and the meatballs:
20. Place the meatballs in the pre heated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
21. While the meatballs bake, spray a large pan with cooking spray and heat over high heat.
22. Rinse the zucchini noodles to get off the excess salt, and cook in the pre heated pan until they are lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes.
23. Divide the noodles among the plates and top with tomato sauce and meatballs. Garnish with cilantro and additional cheddar cheese if desired, and serve.

Recipe Notes

* A serving is 1/4 of the noodles, 1/4 of the sauce and 4 turkey meatballs.

Want more zoodles?

Turkey Zucchini Pizza Lasagna