Big-batch recipe · Low carb
Turkey meatballs with roasted zucchini and marinara
6 portions, about 36 g of protein in each. 20 minutes of hands-on work and 30 min of cooking.
Where it sits in the week
What this one is for
It is one of the four big-batch recipes on the low carb track. Cooked once, portioned hot, and eaten across the days that session covers.
Two portions is about 72 g of protein — our own arithmetic on the figure above, not a separate measurement. Protein targets on this site are computed against goal weight or lean mass rather than scale weight, which is the whole of Real Fuel.
Part of the low carb meal plan, cooked in the two-session prep schedule.
What goes in
- 3 lb ground turkey
- 1 cup grated parmesan, 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup almond flour, 4 cloves garlic, minced, 2 tsp dried oregano
- 6 medium zucchini, sliced into rounds
- 1 jar (24 oz) marinara sauce, no added sugar
- Olive oil, basil
How
- Mix the turkey, parmesan, egg, almond flour, garlic and oregano gently — overworking it makes the meatballs dense.
- Roll into golf-ball sized meatballs, sear in olive oil in batches until browned on the outside, then set aside.
- Zucchini rounds tossed in oil and salt, roasted at 425F for 15 minutes on a separate tray while the meatballs finish.
- Meatballs simmered in the marinara for 15 minutes until cooked through. Serve over the roasted zucchini, basil on top.
Keeping it: Fridge 4 days, freezer 3 months for the meatballs and sauce. Roast the zucchini fresh on reheat days rather than freezing it — it goes watery from frozen.
Nothing on this page is medical advice. It is a plan written for general strength training in healthy adults, and any condition or medication you are managing outranks it.
Doing it cheaper
Swaps that apply to this one
From the low carb track's budget version, filtered to the ingredient this recipe actually uses.
| Instead of | Use | Why it is worth it |
|---|---|---|
| Ground beef | Ground turkey or pork, or 50/50 beef and lentils | Same skillet, lower cost, and nobody notices the lentils in a heavily spiced dish. |
The prices behind these swaps, with sources, are in the protein-per-dollar table.
The rest of the low carb week
3 more big-batch recipes on this track, plus the seven-day plan they feed.