Tarragon chicken with creamy white beans
Tender chicken in a creamy white bean sauce with fresh tarragon.
About 30 min · 375 kcal · 43 g protein per serving
One pan
Turkey meatballs in tomato and basil with polenta
Soft turkey meatballs simmered in tomato, on a spoonful of loose polenta.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 20 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm twelve meatballs from 300 g cook through in 15 minutes of simmering
- Confirm 65 g polenta to 450 ml water gives a soft, spoonable set
- Photograph the finished plate
- Time
- About 40 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 545 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 41 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains eggs, gluten, milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- dried breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs can contain soya or milk; check the label.
- chopped tomatoes. Tinned tomatoes vary in added salt; the sodium figure uses a standard salted tin.
- polenta. Maize is not a gluten cereal, but some polenta is milled alongside wheat; check the packet if you avoid gluten.
- Parmesan. Parmigiano Reggiano is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian. Vegetarian Italian-style hard cheeses are widely sold.
Cooking steps
Mix the turkey mince, breadcrumbs and egg with your hands until just combined. The mixture is soft; that is intended.
Wet your hands and roll twelve small meatballs, setting them on a plate as you go.
Warm the oil in a wide pan over medium heat and brown the meatballs on two or three sides, about 5 minutes. Do not try to cook them through yet.
Pour in the tomatoes, half fill the tin with water and add that too. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, turning the meatballs once.
Cooked when: 74°C / 165°F in the thickest part. A food thermometer is the reliable way to tell.
Meanwhile bring the water for the polenta to the boil, rain in the polenta while whisking, and cook on low for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until thick. Beat in the Parmesan.
Tear the basil into the sauce off the heat and serve the meatballs over the polenta.
The useful detail
Wet your hands before rolling. The mixture is deliberately soft, because a firm, over-worked meatball is a dense one, and wet hands are the only way to handle it without it sticking.
Make it work for you
One serving is Six meatballs with sauce over half the polenta. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Chicken mince instead of turkey
A little softer and richer.
Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about 2 g less protein, about the same fat.
Vegetarian hard cheese instead of Parmesan
Identical in the polenta. Parmesan is made with animal rennet.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Oats instead of breadcrumbs
Slightly softer meatballs. Blitz the oats first if you want them invisible.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A dinner where the protein is in the meatballs and the polenta is a small, deliberate portion rather than the centre of the plate.
| Energy | 545 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 41 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| of which saturates | 6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 42 g |
| of which sugars | 7 g |
| Fibre | 6 g |
| Sodium | 580 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| turkey mince | 300 g | FDC 172850Turkey, ground, 93% lean, 7% fat, raw | 450 kcal | 56.2 g |
| dried breadcrumbs | 25 g | FDC 174928Bread, crumbs, dry, grated, plain | 99 kcal | 3.3 g |
| eggs | 50 g | FDC 171287Egg, whole, raw, fresh | 72 kcal | 6.3 g |
| olive oil | 9 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 80 kcal | 0.0 g |
| chopped tomatoes | 400 g | FDC 170051Tomatoes, red, ripe, canned, packed in tomato juice | 64 kcal | 3.2 g |
| polenta | 65 g | FDC 168867Cornmeal, degermed, enriched, yellowCalculated with FoodData Central's degermed yellow cornmeal record; polenta is the same ground maize. | 241 kcal | 4.6 g |
| water | 450 g | No energy | 0 kcal | 0.0 g |
| Parmesan | 20 g | FDC 170848Cheese, parmesan, hard | 78 kcal | 7.2 g |
| fresh basil | 10 g | FDC 172232Basil, fresh | 2 kcal | 0.3 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1086 kcal | 81.1 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Eat within 3 to 4 days. Keep the polenta separately; it sets firm and can be sliced and fried the next day.
- In the freezer
- The FDA chart gives cooked poultry dishes 4 to 6 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Turkey meatballs with roasted pepper sauce
Tender turkey meatballs in a smooth pepper sauce, served with orzo.
About 40 min · 585 kcal · 42 g protein per serving