These Baked Chicken Meatballs are tender and moist, filled with the most delicious flavors of garlic, romano cheese, and herbs. They are baked until golden brown and then served on top of spaghetti, in a meatball sub, or just to snack on by themselves (they are that good!!).
These chicken meatballs make a super family friendly dinner! Kids and adults absolutely love them. Serve them to the pickiest eaters.
Keeping Ground Chicken Moist
To secret to keeping your chicken meatballs moist and tender is a panade. Traditionally a panade is a mixture of stale bread and liquid which helps ground meat retain its moisture, no matter how long it is cooked (within reason!).
In this recipe we combine the ground chicken with a panade mixture of panko bread crumbs and milk. It retains the moisture while the chicken cooks all the way through.
All About Ground Chicken Meatballs
Here is everything you need to know to make the very best Chicken Meatballs!!
Ingredients
Grab these ingredients to get started:
- 1 lb ground chicken
- panko bread crumbs
- milk
- salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, onion powder
- Italian parsley
- shallots
- garlic
- romano cheese (could also use parmesan)
- extra virgin olive oil
- egg
- cooking spray
How to Make and Bake
Preheat the oven to 400. Grab a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper, spray the paper with the cooking spray.
In a large bowl combine the panko bread crumbs, milk, salt, pepper, parsley, Italian seasoning, onion powder, shallots and garlic.
In another small bowl whisk together the egg and extra virgin olive oil. Pour it into the bread crumb mixture.
Add the grated romano cheese and ground chicken to the bread/egg mixture. With clean hands or a fork, very lightly combine everything, do not overmix or you will have tough meatballs.
With a light touch roll 18-20 meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet. Spray the tops of the meatballs with the baking spray.
Pop in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until cooked through with a 165 degree internal temp.
If you like a little more of a golden finish you can pop them under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.
Serving
These Baked Chicken Meatballs are perfect to top spaghetti with marinara, they also would be amazing inside a meatball sub. If you want to stick to something healthier you could serve them atop spaghetti squash or zoodles.
They are delicious enough to serve on there own too, maybe with a side of creamy Instant Pot Risotto and a green veggie.
Freezing
You can absolutely freeze your chicken meatballs. I recommend baking them completely and then freezing.
Let the baked chicken meatballs cool, then pop them in the freezer on a baking sheet. Once they are frozen, about 2 hours, you can place them in a freezer safe baggie. Keep for up to 3 months.
Reheating
Reheat your frozen meatball from FROZEN, do not thaw first. Pop the frozen meatballs in a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.
More Meatballs…
If you love these chicken meatballs, here are a couple more meatball recipes to check out:
Baked Chicken Meatball Recipe
The Best Baked Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken do not buy the extra lean all breast meat, it is too dry!
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp shallot, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup Romano cheese, grated
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large egg
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a reusable silpat, spray with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl combine the bread crumbs, milk, salt, pepper, parsley, Italian seasoning, onion powder, shallots and garlic.In another bowl whisk together the egg and extra virgin olive oil. Pour it into the bread crumb mixture. Add the cheese and ground chicken to the bread/egg mixture. Lightly combine, do not overmix or you will have tough meatballs.
- Form the chicken mixture into 20 meatballs, placing them on the prepared baking sheet. They will be a little smaller than a golf ball. Spray the tops of each meatball with the baking spray.
- Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes until they are cooked through (165° internal temp). For a golden top place them under the broiler for 3-4 minutes.
Serving
- These meatballs can be served on top of spaghetti with marinara sauce or in a meatball sub!
Notes:
If nutrition facts are provided they are calculated as an estimate to the best of our knowledge.
TAS
These are the most flavorful chicken meatballs I have ever made. I have used them in pasta sauce with spaghetti and have also used them for meatball subs – both were delicious. They are so good you can just eat them plain.