These slow cooker turkey teriyaki meatballs are the ultimate easy weeknight dinner—flavorful, perfectly tender, and made with simple, better-for-you ingredients. Just mix, brown (if you want), and let the slow cooker do the rest. They’re naturally gluten-free and great for meal prep or feeding a crowd.
Table of Contents
- This recipe is…
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Teriyaki Meatball Ingredients
- Recipe Variations and Modifications
- How to Make Slow Cooker Teriyaki Meatballs
- Recipe Tips
- How to Serve
- How to Store and Reheat
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Favorite Meatball Recipes
- Slow Cooker Turkey Teriyaki Meatballs Recipe
- Recipe Contributors
This recipe is…
These turkey teriyaki meatballs are tender, flavorful, and simmered in a sticky-sweet homemade teriyaki sauce that’s both gluten-free and soy-free. They come together easily and cook low and slow in the slow cooker, which makes them perfect for busy weeknights or make-ahead meals.
Serve them over white rice, cauliflower rice, or tucked into lettuce wraps with crunchy slaw for a fresh, satisfying dinner. They also make a great appetizer or party dish—just set out toothpicks and watch them disappear. However you serve them, they’re a delicious, better-for-you take on a takeout favorite.
If you’re looking for more easy slow cooker meals, look no further. Be sure to add these slow cooker barbacoa, slow cooker pork carnitas, and slow cooker teriyaki chicken to your list.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You can set it and forget it – the slow cooker makes it super low-lift.
- It’s flavor-packed – sticky teriyaki glaze with garlic, ginger, and honey – how can you beat that flavor combo?
- It’s versatile – serve with rice, noodles, or in lettuce wraps.
- It’s a meal prep MVP – these meatballs are great for batch cooking and freezing.
- It’s allergy-friendly – this recipe is gluten-free, grain-free, and dairy-free by default.
Teriyaki Meatball Ingredients
This easy recipe comes together with a few ingredients for the meatballs and a few more for the teriyaki sauce. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Almond Flour, Panko, or Breadcrumbs – choose your adventure here! Use almond flour to keep things completely grain-free, use gluten-free panko to keep things gluten-free, and use regular bread crumbs if you don’t need either modification.
- Ghee – you’ll need 2 tablespoons of ghee to brown your meatballs. If you’d rather use butter or your favorite cooking oil, that works too!
- Coconut Aminos – instead of soy sauce, we’ll use 1 cup of coconut aminos as the base of our teriyaki sauce! Note that if you don’t have coconut aminos on hand, you can use 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 3/4 cup of water in its place.
- Honey – 1/4 cup of honey adds the perfect hint of sweetness to counteract the salty flavors we’ve got going here, but feel free to omit the honey if you need to.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Use ground chicken, pork, or beef instead of turkey. Generally, subbing one ground meat for another makes no difference to the recipe at all.
- Make it spicy by adding more red pepper flakes or a dash of sriracha.
- No slow cooker? Bake the meatballs at 400°F for 20–25 minutes and simmer the sauce until thick and sticky (see instructions in this homemade gluten-free teriyaki sauce recipe) separately. Or, for the Instant Pot, use sauté mode to brown, then pressure cook on high for 5 minutes and quick release.
How to Make Slow Cooker Teriyaki Meatballs
These slow cooker turkey teriyaki meatballs come together really easily! Here’s what you’ll need to do to bring this flavor-packed dish together in a flash:
Step 1: in a large bowl, simply smash your ground turkey, breadcrumbs, ginger, garlic, half of the green onions, salt, and pepper together. To smash, I recommend using your hands, they work better than any spoon I’ve ever encountered. If the thought of getting raw ground turkey under your fingernails grosses you out, put on a pair of housecleaning (latex gloves) first.
Step 2: once your turkey is well-combined, form them into about 2 tablespoon-sized balls.
Step 3: this is an optional step, but adds a lot of flavor to the meatballs if you have time for it! Simply melt 1 tablespoon of ghee, butter, or your cooking oil of choice in a large pan (or the base of your stovetop-friendly slow cooker) over medium heat, and start browning each meatball. It doesn’t take long, just sear them until the balls really hold their shape and are a light golden brown on the outside.
Step 4: in a small bowl, whisk together the teriyaki sauce ingredients (coconut aminos, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes) to form the teriyaki sauce.
Step 5: transfer the meatballs to the slow cooker, pour your teriyaki sauce over top, and let that wondrous Crock Pot work its magic! Then, serve and enjoy.
Recipe Tips
- Wet your hands before rolling the meatballs to prevent sticking.
- Double the batch. Make one for now, freeze one for later. They freeze beautifully before or after cooking.
- Browning the meatballs equals more flavor. It’s an extra step, but browning the meatballs helps lock in moisture and adds a nice texture.
How to Serve
One of the magical things about these perfect meatballs is that they can be served in a huge variety of ways! Throw them over shredded cabbage, grated carrots, and cucumber salad for lunch or a light dinner, serve them alongside simple steamed broccoli, and a bed of rice (white rice or cauliflower rice for a low-carb option), or even stuff a baked white or sweet potato with them!
How to Store and Reheat
To store: keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
To freeze: let the meatballs cool completely, then freeze in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 3 months.
To reheat: warm gently on the stovetop over medium heat, or microwave in 30-second bursts until heated through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Bake the meatballs at 400°F for 20–25 minutes, then simmer the sauce on the stovetop until thickened.
You can use panko breadcrumbs if not paleo, or cassava flour for a grain-free option.
Definitely—try cutting the honey in half or using a lower-glycemic sweetener like monk fruit syrup.
Yes—assemble the meatballs and sauce the day before, then cook fresh in the slow cooker when ready.
More Favorite Meatball Recipes
If you tried these Teriyaki Meatballs or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Slow Cooker Turkey Teriyaki Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 2 pounds ground turkey
- ½ cup panko, breadcrumbs, or almond flour
- 1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ½ bunch green onion, thinly sliced, divided
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- ½ teaspoon white sesame seeds
For the Sauce:
- 1 cup coconut aminos*
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot starch
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon fish sauce
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine turkey, breadcrumbs, ginger, garlic, half of the green onions, salt, and pepper.
- Form the ground turkey mixture into 2-inch balls.
- Optional browning step: In a large skillet or saute pan (or the base of your stovetop-friendly slow cooker), melt the ghee. Sear the meatballs for 2-3 minutes per side until browned, then transfer to slow cooker.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all ingredients for the sauce. Pour onto the meatballs.
- Cook in slow cooker on high heat for 2-3 hours or on low for 4-5 hours.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and the remaining green onion.
- Serve alongside cauliflower rice, simple white rice (basmati is my favorite), or rice noodles. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Form your meatballs according to steps 1-2.
- Now place your ghee into the Instant Pot bowl and press the Saute button. Place your meatballs gently in the hot ghee and saute them on all sides until they begin to brown. Shift them regularly or they may stick.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all ingredients for sauce. Pour onto the meatballs and then secure the lid and manually set the time to cook for 5 minutes.
- Allow the cooking cycle to complete and then quick release the pressure valve and remove the lid once safe to do so. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to remove the meatballs and set them aside.
- Serve as stated above!
Nutrition
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What is a serving size?
Hi Keeley! The recipe should yield about 16-20 meatballs, so I would consider a serving size to be around 4-5 meatballs. ~Melissa
Is there a way to make this recipe on a stovetop? Would love to share it
Sure! We’d recommend browning them on the stovetop for 2-3 minutes per side (or baking them at 400°F for about 10 minutes) and then combining them with the sauce on the stovetop and cooking it all together for about 20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through!
Most satisfying dinner I’ve ever made.
So glad to hear that, Stella! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
This was so good! We made it two weeks in a row. The only adjustments we made was not using fish sauce and we didn’t sub a thing! The other was more garlic bc we’re garlic lovers 🙂 Highly recommend!
Yay! So glad you loved it, Savina!
Congratulations to our winner, Elise! Please check your email for further instructions!
Thank you Lauren! I am so excited!!!
We have found our new favorite—easy to make, delicious Plus healthy—a home run in my home of teenage girls who want to look their best. I had actually forgotten about the 2 hour slow cooker time, so I made the balls & sauce, then stored them in the frig until the following night—and like magic, we had a dynamite meal! I served them over cauliflower rice since we’re all trying to loose our “quarantine 15” and zip our jeans. Thank you so much, Fed & Fit, for creating this delicious Plus Healthy Plus easy-as-pie dish!
So glad you all loved it, Michelle!
This was a good recipe. The only thing I would say is the almond flour gave the meatballs an odd texture. I would use the breadcrumbs or nothing next time.
Thanks for sharing that with us, Jennifer!
I made this in the slow cooker and it was delicious! And I love being in charge of all the ingredients in the teriyaki sauce 🙂 In the slowcooker the top half of the meatballs were not submerged in the sauce, so I cut the tops off a few and fed them to my super picky preschool aged boys — and they loved it! Yay! Also, as I was in the middle of the recipe I discovered I only had one pound of ground chicken, so I combined that with one pound of ground beef. I thought that might be weird mixing the two, but it tasted great and no one seemed to notice 🙂
That’s so great to hear, Stephanie! We’re glad the whole family loved it!
Made these for dinner last night. So yummy and the whole family enjoyed them!
SCORE! We’re glad they were a hit!!
This was delicious! I made it in the Instant Pot and the meatballs did stick to the bottom as indicated in the recipe. I think next time I will brown the meatballs in a nonstick skillet on the stove top. I didn’t have any ghee, so I used olive oil. Maybe that’s why it was really sticking to the bottom of my pan?
Oh no! I’m sorry they stuck, Kelly! We’re glad you enjoyed the flavor though!!
Made this last night. It was really good and it was nice to see it on Instagram stories to also see the prep before making the meal. I may try with beef next time just because I like beef more than turkey. Also used cauliflower rice and that was great. I did do the Browning step and that was also worth it! Will definitely make this again!
So glad you enjoyed this one, Lorie! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!