My mom made (apparently) great meatballs when I was a kid. Everyone loves them. But, since I was never a meat fan, I never cared for them. Especially since they were made with ground beef.
But, after a recent visit to Ikea where our girls gobbled down two plates of chicken meatballs with gusto, I decided maybe I could use mom’s awesome recipe to make chicken meatballs at home.
It’s really pretty easy. Step one, have Mr. Meaty grind up a pound of chicken in the meat grinder so you don’t have to touch the icky stuff with your hands. Now, once it’s ground up and looks less like raw meat, you can shape the meatballs.
Yes, I know my meaty eccentricities are adorable, thank you. But seriously, he leaves the ground meat in the mixer bowl and once I toss in the remaining ingredients, I can handle shaping the meatballs for some reason. *Shrug*
I used gluten-free (nearly grain free, just the rice flour, which I can still eat) bread for mine. But if you want, you could use regular bread, paleo bread or flour or even leftover rice in this recipe. It’s pretty forgiving.
Gluten-Free Chicken Meatballs
Makes 16-20 meatballs
Ingredients
1 pound chicken breast or cooked chickpeas, ground
4 slices bread (I get this kind at Sprouts)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 eggs
2 tablespoons parsley
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoons minced garlic
salt
Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Soak bread in broth for about 5 minutes. Add all ingredients to mixer and mix on “Stir” until combined. With wet hands, shape into 16-20 meatballs and place on a greased or silicone-matted cookie sheet.
Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes
Goose (our youngest) loves these! The next day I had slapped together some cashew butter and jelly sandwiches for a snack (usually cause for cheers) and Goose said “I didn’t want sandwiches, I wanted meatballs!”
Uh, you want leftovers I can reheat in 5 minutes? OK. Win!
Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breast, ground
- 4 slices bread
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Soak bread in broth for about 5 minutes. Add all ingredients to mixer and mix on "Stir" until combined. With wet hands, shape into 16-20 meatballs and place on a greased or silicone-matted cookie sheet.
- Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes
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