Chicken Parm Meatballs

by Julie Baker
(Kingsley, MI)

Yum

Yum

C is not for cookie, it’s for chicken! Chicken meatballs to be exact. My twins, who turned 2 in Sept, love anything meatball related. I think it’s because they can pick them up and go to town. That, or they just really love my meatballs.

I always try to keep my meals healthy so I cook a lot with ground chicken breast. I gave my husband two choices for dinner (actually I think I gave him four come to think of it) chicken parm or chicken meatballs. He chose the meatballs because he wanted zucchini too. Figures, because I wanted the parm. So I married the two and made chicken Parmesan meatballs with zucchini “pasta” and fresh mozz. For the kids, I made Dreamfield’s penne (low carb pasta, run and buy it if you have never tried it) instead of the zucchini. So this is how my recipe came about. I usually am a cook by taste sort of woman, but I'm trying to be diligent about writing recipes down so that my kids will have something to follow when they are older.

The recipe is really easy and doesn’t require a lot of fancy ingredients.

Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound of ground chicken breast
  • 1/4-1/2 of an onion, grated (I prefer vidalias)
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 cloves crushed garlic
  • Handful of fresh grated parm, romano, or asiago (or you can use all three which is what I did)
  • 1 fresh mozzarella bocconcini broken into pieces
  • Crushed red and black pepper (to taste)
  • Sea Salt to taste
  • 1 TBSPN (give or take) of granulated garlic
  • 1 TSPN of onion powder
  • 1-2 TBSPN of Italian Breadcrumbs
  • Italian Breadcrumbs for coating
  • Olive oil for sauteing

    PREPARATION

  • In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with the exception of the breadcrumbs you will need for coating (do mix in the couple of TBSPN of breadcrumbs) and the oil.
  • Let mixture chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up.
  • After 30 minutes, roll into meatballs (I made them more like mini sliders versus a meatball) and lightly coat in the breadcrumbs.
  • In a nonstick saute pan, put about 1 TBSPN of olive oil (or two, you don’t want to deep fry, just lightly saute) and cook the meatballs over medium/medium high heat until golden brown on both sides.
  • Cook time will depend on how big you roll your balls (stop laughing). Now, you have options.
  • You can either place the meatballs in the marinara and let them continue to cook in the sauce or you can cook the sauce separately.
    The choice is yours. I put the meatballs in the sauce tonight. As far as the recipe for my marinara, tonight it was ultra simple. I cracked open a jar of Rao’s and was done with it. LOL There is nothing better than a homemade sauce, but tonight I wanted easy, and Rao’s is fantastic anyway.

  • The zucchini pasta is a no brainer. Bust out the mandoline and julienne it to resemble angel hair pasta. You can blanch in boiling water for a minute or two, steam it, or leave it raw.

  • If you don’t want marinara at all, just serve the meatballs with the zucchini and toss with a little melted butter and grated parm, just like you would a normal pasta (and maybe a squirt of fresh lemon juice for shiggles).

    • Click here to post comments

    Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Mangia Italiano Fall/Winter Italian Recipe Contest.