Chicken Meatballs – little golden balls that are juicy on the inside, bursting with savoury flavour, these are BAKED so they hold their nice round shape and frankly, it’s just way easier than pan frying! Spaghetti and meatballs was never so tasty!
And PS – just wait until you see how soft these are in the video!
Chicken Meatballs
Monday Meatball Mania* is back – and fellow meatball lovers, I have a ripper for you today! Beautiful, juicy, super tasty chicken meatballs that are baked, not fried. No more rolling meatballs around in the skillet, tediously ensuring they brown as evenly as possible all over and praying to a higher power that they stay nice and round.
Forget that. Just spray ’em and bake ’em!
* Monday Meatball Mania is a “thing” that my friend Jo from Jo Cooks and I started at the beginning of 2017. Because we both agree that all ball shaped food is delicious, and there should be more of it in the world, so we’re making our contribution by each sharing a meatball recipe on the last Monday of every month.
Chicken Meatballs MUST be soft and juicy!
Look how soft they are! ↑↑↑ Can’t squeeze dry, hard meatballs like that. You’ll see the squeezing action in the video too. 😉
And here’s a little peek inside. Juicy!
You’ll find that these meatballs are have plenty of flavour so you’ll need to resist the temptation to pop them straight into your mouth from the tray. I say “resist”, but I do insist that the cook does a taste test before plating these up. You know, to check for seasoning… 😉
From a practical perspective, what I was leading to is that these would be great to pass around at a gathering. I’d probably have some kind of sauce on the side – ketchup, or even some of the tomato basil pasta sauce in this recipe.
But I must say that they are absolutely fantastic tossed through spaghetti with a simple homemade pasta sauce. It’s the same one I use in the Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni I shared last week.
What a sight. Hurry up dinner time! I’m in the mood for meatballs tonight! – Nagi x
Love Chicken meatballs? Try these!
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Vietnamese Meatballs – base recipe is pork but it’s so good with chicken too!
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Thai Meatballs – make these with chicken!
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Mexican Meatballs – beef and pork meatballs supercharged with fiesty Mexican spices
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Browse all meatball recipes
Chicken Meatballs
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Chicken Meatballs recipe video!
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BAKED Chicken Meatballs with Spaghetti
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 500 g/1lb chicken mince (ground chicken), or turkey or pork (Note 1)
- 1/4 small white onion , grated into the bowl
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan
- 1 large garlic clove , minced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (or 2 tsp dried parsley or basil)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- Olive oil spray (or olive oil)
Pasta Sauce:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove , finely chopped
- 3/4 small onion , finely chopped
- 800 g / 28 oz crushed tomato
- 1 cup / 250 ml water (swirl in tomato can to clean out)
- Handful basil leaves , torn, or 1 tsp dried herbs (e.g. Italian mix, oregano, thyme, basil)
Serving:
- 250 g/ 1/2 lb spaghetti or other long strand pasta of choice , cooked per packet
- Fresh basil , optional
- Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan/convection).
- Place a rack on a tray, and spray the rack with oil.
- Place Meatball ingredients in a bowl, mix well. Scoop up a heaped tablespoon, roll into a ball and place on the rack. Repeat with remaining mixture - should make 25 - 30. Tip: spray hands with oil or wet lightly with water.
- Spray each ball well with oil, then bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Give 'em a squeeze and you'll see how soft they are!
Sauce:
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 - 3 minutes until translucent. Add tomato and water, stir then turn heat down to medium. Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes, then season to taste with salt and pepper and stir through basil (or use dried herbs).
Serving:
- Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water. Drain then return pasta to the same pot.
- Add Sauce and meatballs, toss.
- Serve, garnished with fresh basil and parmesan.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
So exhausted after a big beach session, he slept through meatballs….. though you’ll see in the video that I did wake him up for a treat! 😂
Yummmm!! Thank you Nagi!
I make this recipe once a month as my partner can’t get enough of it. Definitely add Italian herbs to the sauce and I add 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes to make the sauce spicy. Plus I double the garlic cloves as we absolutely love garlic and it’s so good to keep the sniffles away. This recipe is an absolute winner!
Just made this, sooo tasty !
Cooked it in the airfryer 180 15 mins . 😋
Just made, this absolutely tasty !
Cooked it in the airfryer 180 15 mins . 😋
These were fabulous and so soft and tender. I didn’t have any of the red sauce ingredients so I just made a simple lemon/garlic/onion/ricotta/pasta water concoction and added loads of parmesan on the top and it was a huge hit with the fam. Am making a double batch today for the freezer. Thank you once again Nagi!
5star recipe for its simplicity and heavenly taste! Nagi, you are the best!
Such a great recipe and my only addition was a sprinkle of sugar to counteract the tomato bitterness that sometimes happens with tinned tomatoes. My husband enjoyed the chicken balls and delicious fresh flavours with spaghetti. Definitely a good recipe for ease of baking the balls. ❤️❤️
OMG. Never have I ever seen a recipe so easy and delicious ! Tastes amazing ! I did remove the parmesan and parsley because my brothers don’t like them but it still tasted bomb and I will definitely make this again in the future and sharing this . Although it does take some time it makes a perfect dinner and all of the ingredients are accessible .
Definitely a 10/10 for me 🙂
I make this recipe all the time, I always dubble it so we have enough for another time but they always get eaten in one go! I was out of eggs when I cooked them last night and just in case someone who’s wondering reads this comment I just wanted to say that it worked amazingly without aswell! 🙂 no leftovers that night either 😂
Test Driving this tonight…I’ll let you know how it goes
I’ve no Parmesan can I use regular cheese or will mixture be too moist? Thank you
I took it out completely bcs of my brothers and it turned out almost the same, it’s all really for taste but do what you prefer.
Would ground turkey work instead of chicken? Our store only has turkey.
Yes, I sub turkey in this recipe because I think it has more flavor. Made it for a large family dinner to rave reviews.
Are these freezable once cooked?
Hi Meena – yes you can freeze the meatballs but I don’t recommend freezing the pasta. N x
Amazing recipe.. tried it out the first time and it was a hit 🥰🥰
OMG, these Chicken meatballs are so good. I test drove a couple before baking them. Cooked stovetop. So good. Then I tried the baked ones, so moisted. oh Mama. Thank you for this
Can you use both chicken and turkey mince together?
You could Tracey! N x
These meatballs are so good. I made with ground turkey but everything else the same. My picky eater asked for them again, I’m not sure that’s ever happened!
Filed to family favourites now- tried on numerous occasions. Nice change in flavour compared with Beef or Pork- also works with pantry tweaks when you don’t always have on hand the “exact” ingredients. My oven is slow though and mine always need more time- I just set the timer for 25 minutes and then eyeball for goldeness accordingly. Thanks Nagi.
I’m sure the recipe is 5 star but my cooking is not. The meatballs were dry and hard. I will try again with thighs
Thighs are better for this Joy…better luck next time! N x
Nagi should hire George Constanza to be her hand model
Can I use ground turkey in place of chicken?
Yes 100% Lana!!! N x
These are great! My toddlers ate them and husband loved it. The spaghetti sauce made so much I froze the leftover. Will be making these again for sure!