Spinach and Feta Turkey Meatballs
Mixed at home, carried cold, cooked in a foil pan over coals. Spanakopita filling with the pastry left behind.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 60
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground turkey | 1 lb | lean; chicken or lamb also works |
|---|---|---|
| Salted butter | 3 tbsp | melted |
| Lemon | 1 | zest and juice, both |
| Fresh spinach | 3 cups | chopped fine, raw |
| Feta cheese | 3/4 cup | crumbled from a block |
| Fresh dill | 2 tbsp | chopped, or 2 tsp dried |
| Green onions | 3 | sliced thin |
| Egg | 1 | |
| Panko breadcrumbs | 1/2 cup | |
| Kosher salt and black pepper | 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper |
Method
- At home, melt the butter and stir the lemon zest and juice into it. Hold half of it back in a small jar.
- Combine the spinach, feta, dill, green onions, panko, egg, salt, pepper, and half the lemon butter in a bowl. Work it until the spinach slumps and darkens.
- Add the turkey and mix with your hands. Stop as soon as it comes together.
- Roll twelve meatballs, golf ball size. Pack them in a foil pan, cover, and keep them cold.
- In camp, build a bed of coals or set the grate low over a steady fire. Pour the reserved lemon butter over the meatballs.
- Cover the pan with foil and set it on the grate. Cook 20 to 25 minutes, turning the pan once so one side does not char.
- Cut one open at the center. No pink, juices clear. Spoon the pan drippings back over the top before serving.
Spanakopita without the phyllo, which is the part that does not survive a cooler anyway. The filling is the good part: spinach, feta, dill, lemon. Bound with egg and panko and turkey, it becomes something you can cook in one pan on a grate.
The lemon butter is split for a reason. Half goes inside the mix, where it keeps lean turkey from drying into gravel. Half goes over the top, where it pools in the pan and becomes the sauce you spoon back on. The spinach goes in raw and chopped; it wilts as you mix and again as it cooks, so precooking it in camp is wasted fuel. Large meatballs are deliberate — small ones overcook before you can check them by firelight.
Packing
Mix and roll at home, then pack the foil pan into the cooler with the lid taped down. The reserved lemon butter goes in a small screw-top jar; it solidifies cold and remelts on the fire. Dill and green onions can be chopped a day ahead.
Variations
- Dutch oven instead of a foil pan: same time, lid on, a few coals on top.
- Swap the panko for crushed rice crackers to make it gluten-free.
- Serve over instant couscous or stuffed into pita for a bigger dinner.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/spanakopita-meatballs