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!
Vietnamese Meatballs – base recipe is pork but it’s so good with chicken too!
Thai Meatballs – make these with chicken!
Mexican Meatballs – beef and pork meatballs supercharged with fiesty Mexican spices
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! 😂
Thanks Nagi for the wonderful receipe – love them
You’re most welcome Janine! N x
I made this recipe last night and WOW. Hubby’s not keen on pasta but guess who ate the leftovers and said it was really good??? I only had one small can of tomatoes so added 2 cups of chicken stock with 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. Snuck in a bit extra Parmesan cheese and added lots of fresh basil. I love the way you don’t kill pasta recipes by adding too much pasta. 250 grams was just perfect. Thanks again Nagi, another of your recipes has been added to our favourites.
I’m so happy to hear you and hubby enjoyed this Jenny!! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. N x ❤️
Hahaha I love Monday Meatball Mania! This chicken and meatballs spaghetti is totally calling my name! Look at all that sauce in the spaghetti! And the meatballs are totally to die for. I agree that a cook has to ‘taste for seasoning’. Ha.
Cooks right with EVERYTHING! 😂
You keep on hitting sixes! I used ground pork instead of the chicken and the meat balls turned out great. I cheated with the sauce. I bought a “Vodka” sauce that I like and doctored it with onions and garlic, salt and pepper. Really great. As always, man thanks.
Thank you Luis! So glad you enjoyed this one! N x ❤️
These look amazing! And baking is so much easier than frying.
Love your blog! Your photographs are wonderful.
Thank you for the lovely compliment Vered!! N xx
I love these and make them all the time, baking in oven pasta and putting them in sauces with hidden vegetables but the way they look in your video just makes perfect sense. Such a delicious combination
I bet yours is AWESOME Tania!!
Real soul food! And baking them does one make ever so much more virtuous: thus in my book one may just indulge more often 🙂 ! But no ‘ketchup’ in this house ever and I DO buy passata in glass bottles for the sauce to lessen the cancer and other baddies risk . . . . Oh is Dozer ever separated from his second-best pal?
His emoji!! He loves it, he even takes it to bed (his night one, that photo is his day one!!) N xx
Sometimes there’s just nothing better than a big ole bowl of spaghetti and meatballs! This looks so delicious and comforting- the fam is gonna love this!
Soul food is right!! N xx
Those look great! I’ve had little chicken meatballs in Italian soups, but have never tried them with pasta and red sauce, so must broaden my horizons.
Maybe you could slip one of my absolute favorites, chicken croquettes, in to a meatball Monday as a faux meatball, perhaps? They’re more conical in shape at the top, usually, but are fairly close to being a meatball. I must admit that I cheat a bit and chop a store bought rotisserie chicken to make them, but they’re quite easy to make and a truly divine indulgence with a chicken stock-based gravy, mashed potatoes, and a veg! Heavenly comfort food.
YUM!!!! Do you make them with just chicken or do you do the Spanish style which also has some ham in it? Bake or fry? They are SO GOOD!!! I figured out a way to bake them so they come out really crunchy and golden rather than splotchy 🙂 It works so well. But you can’t beat frying!
Hi Nagi! These look SO good! There is nothing worse than a dry, hard meatball. I always bake mine, but I do it a little different. I put them on a rimmed sheet pan and then pour about a cup of broth onto the pan. They end up nicely browned and very moist. I would probably use ground pork as the ground chicken in the stores is always watery and just plain unappetizing!
I can’t believe I’ve never heard of that method! I’m going to try it the next chicken or pork meatballs I do!!
I love your receipes, but mostly I love Dozer. Great you include him. I haven’t tried this receipe yet.
I LOVE that you love Dozer even more than the food! 😂
Thank you for beeing in my cooking/baking life
I tried a lot of your recipes and every time it was a big success.
Thank you
Nico Lego
You’re most welcome Nico! So pleased you are enjoying my recipes! N xx