These BBQ chicken meatballs are delicious, healthy, freezable and can be made in under 30 minutes.
What is it about summer that makes you crave BBQ? The smell takes me right back to my childhood. These chicken meatballs are a great weeknight dinner that's dairy free!
How is everyone doing? The days are blending into weeks over here. I pretty much have the nursery set up and the kitchen is being renovated. I can't wait until I can get back in there and start cooking again. Other than that, just counting down the weeks until our baby girl is here!
Just a quick note, I love using ground chicken in recipes. It gives a whole new flavor and texture to the dish compared to just boring old shredded chicken. These instant pot chicken tacos would be amazing with ground chicken too!
Ingredients
- Ground chicken: You can find ground chicken near the ground turkey section in the grocery store. Tip: if you can't find chicken, ground turkey works with this recipe as well.
- Spices: This chicken meatball recipe calls for garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and Worcestershire.
- Olive Oil: I find that these meatballs need a little fat in them and olive oil makes them moist. You will also need some olive or avocado oil for pan-frying after baking.
- Breadcrumbs (GF if necessary): I used regular, plain breadcrumbs, but Panko breadcrumbs would work too.
- Egg: You will need an egg to hold it all together.
- BBQ sauce: This meatball recipe calls for half a cup of BBQ sauce. Most likely you won't need or use that much. I used this brand BBQ sauce. That brand isn't gluten free, but they do have a gluten free (wing sauce) variety.
How to Make Chicken Meatballs?
This recipe calls for these chicken meatballs to be baked and THEN pan fried. The pan frying in a little olive oil (or avocado) is optional, but I like it for the crispiness.
FYI THESE ARE FREEZABLE ! They are definitely going to be a staple in the house during my maternity leave.
Check out this video for how to make BBQ Chicken Meatballs!
What to serve them with?
- Serve over a bed of quinoa or cauliflower
- Use as finger foods for littles
- Serve with a side of homemade baked fries
- Grilled vegetable skewers
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BBQ Chicken Meatballs
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 15 meatballs 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These BBQ chicken meatballs are delicious, healthy and can be made in under 30 minutes. They are freezable and dairy free!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- ¾ tbsp worcestershire
- 1 tbsp EVOO + more for pan frying
- ⅓ cup + 2 tbsp breadcrumbs (GF if necessary)
- 1 egg, whisked
- ½ cup BBQ sauce
- Garnish: Parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F and prepare a greased baking sheet.
- In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, worcestershire, one tablespoon olive oil, breadcrumbs and egg. Mix to combine.
- Roll ground chicken mixture into small meatballs. This recipe makes about 15 meatballs.
- Place each meatball on the baking sheet and bake at 425F for 15 minutes. After timer is up, option to pan fry for crispy edge in olive oil or other cooking oil over medium high heat.
- After crispy edges are obtained, pour in half cup of BBQ sauce and toss to coat.
- Garnish with parsley and serve.
Notes
Panko or regular breadcrumbs will work for this recipe. You can substitute gluten free breadcrumbs as needed.
Optional to pan fry for crispiness, but I really enjoyed the texture and flavor.
If you want to freeze these meatballs, you can store in an air tight container or zip lock bag without the BBQ sauce on them.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Lunch, Entree
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Made these tonight. I’ve made them multiple times with Turkey but man, the chicken is delish. The kids couldn’t get enough, might have to double the recipe next time! Great job Maggie!