Not sure I am ready for Monday this week. We had a busy weekend getting stuff done around the house, as well as a trip to Costco. We are having a Super Bowl party next weekend, so we had to stock up on a few things, as well as get a few repairs done at home. Saturday afternoon turned into an impromptu faucet replacement in a bathroom. No damage was done, so that is good, but still not exactly what I had in mind for the weekend.
So Monday, it is here no matter what. That means grocery shopping and meal planning for me. Do you do a meal plan for the week? I try to plan 5 meals for the week, which leaves 1 night for leftovers, and 1 night to go out. It works well for us, and I think it saves a ton of money on groceries in the long run. These little muffins cups should get put into your meal plan, sooner rather than later. They are filled with good for your ingredients, are quick to throw together, are a big crowd pleaser, and the leftovers are good too!
These are kind of like meatloaf or meatballs made in muffin tins, only way better. They have ground turkey, oats, and quinoa in them. I top them with marinara sauce and cheese, so they have an Italian twist. They are great with a salad or roasted veggies for a healthy dinner. My 7 year old likes to have extra marinara sauce on his plate to dip them in, and maybe an extra sprinkle of Parmesan cheese as well.
Turkey Quinoa Muffins Cups

Mini turkey meatloaves filled with oats, and quinoa. Topped with marinara sauce and cheese!
Ingredients
Turkey Muffins
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 3/4 cup cooked quinoa, (I used red quinoa)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 green onion, , chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 Tbls fresh parsley, , chopped
Topping
- 3/4 cup marinara sauce
- 3/4 cup Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with non stick spray, or liners.
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Scoop about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture into each muffin cup.
- Using your fingers or the back of a spoon put a small indentation into the top of each muffin cup.
- Put 1 Tbls of marinara sauce into each indentation.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Top each muffin cup with 1 Tbls of cheese.
- Return to the oven, and bake until the cheese is melted.
- Serve warm.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
Adapted from Running to the Kitchen
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 289Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 121mgSodium 510mgCarbohydrates 13gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 27g
Nutrition Disclaimer: All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information shared on dinnersdishesanddesserts.com should only be used as a general guideline.
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Cassie | Bake Your Day says
Perfection! I have wanted to make some quinoa muffins or a while now, they are going to make the list again ASAP!
Jennifer @ Not Your Momma's Cookie says
These sound delicious! I’m normally ok about menu planning. I used to be much better at it….I don’t know what happened! 🙂
Kate @ Kate from Scratch says
How adorable! I love a good quinoa recipe. My kids are still picky and often only want one of three things, so menu planning for them is easy. lol.
Sandra's Easy Cooking says
mmm…those look fantastic Erin! Love the pics and recipe sounds delicious!
The Café Sucré Farine says
What a great idea and very nutritious sounding!
RavieNomNoms says
Um, these look great!!! I am totally going to make these soon!
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
Love these savory cups, they’d make such a fun appetizer!
Jessica@AKitchenAddiction says
These will have to go on our menu soon!
Kim (Feed Me, Seymour) says
These look really fantastic and super nutritious. Two great things rolled into one. 🙂
Emily @ Life on Food says
I definitely meal plan each week. It makes me feel so much more confident that I can make it to Friday. These looks super good and I know they are healthy. Great use of quinoa!
Lisa {AuthenticSuburbanGourmet} says
What a fun dinner to have – everything all packed into one cute cup! Delish!
Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips says
These sound so good. Pinning to make them soon.
Tracey says
I am slowing converting my husband to a quinoa fan and I’m almost positive he could get behind this idea. They look awesome!
Suzanne says
What a great way to make meatballs and I like the ground turkey it’s just better for you, nice job!
Jen Laceda @ Tartine and Apron Strings says
What a cute, fun idea! For sure, I will try this recipe! Glad the repair wasn’t something major. Still, when things happen like that, it really throws a wrench to your weekend. Not that you’re not busy enough already…
Me too, I plan our meals ahead as well; usually by the week. Sometimes, I even do batch cooking on the weekends so that our week days are more relaxed. Come home from work, and find most of our food prepared already. But of course, it’s not always 100% foolproof. There are just days when I feel lazy or we have some kind of major plans on the weekend that prevents me from cooking large batches.
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
I meal plan on Friday and then buy groceries on Sat for the entire next week but I always somehow run out of food. It’s so bad.
Anyway, these muffins cups – YES PLEASE! I love incorporating quinoa into my diet so this here is just perfect!
Ramona says
Wow, healthy and delicious! Love the use of the muffin pan here. 🙂
Elizabeth@ Food Ramblings says
can’t wait to try these!
The Kitchen Edition says
Wow – I’m wondering how these would freeze. They’d be great to have on hand for lunches.
Erin says
I think they would freeze beautifully. I often freeze meatballs, and these are very similar, so I can’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Baking Serendipity says
I love that these are baked in muffin tins! I try to plan meals for the week too, but with a few more days of leftovers. (It’s the benefit of it just being me and my husband, I guess.) Adding these to next week’s line-up!
Carole says
Hi there. The current Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter is all about meatloaf. I do hope you link this nice one in. This is the link . Please do pop back to check out some of the other links. Have a great week.
Alyssa | Queen of Quinoa says
Very happy to have found your site. This recipe looks absolutely delicious! A creative twist on meatballs, I love it! They would make a great party appetizer if baked in mini muffin tins. Yum!
I would love for you to come enter this fabulous recipe into Thank Goodness It’s Quinoa, a bi-weekly link party celebrating all things quinoa. I know our readers would adore this recipe!
http://www.queenofquinoa.me/2013/02/thank-goodness-its-quinoa-tgiq-3/
Happy Friday!!
kaylee says
do you know how many calories are in these? They look delicious!!
Erin S says
I calculated about 120 calories per muffin (using 93% lean ground turkey). Hope you enjoy!