Baked Chicken Meatballs are an easy healthy meatball alternative to kick up your favorite recipes. Baked golden brown and perfectly seasoned, these oven baked chicken meatballs are moist, tender and perfect to add to soups, stews and all of your favorite pasta dishes.
When it comes to ground chicken meatballs, I am your girl!
As a die-hard meatball lover, for the longest time I thought beef meatballs were the only way to do. I mean, who doesn’t love a juicy, tender meatball smothered in red sauce??
I can tell you that my usual M.O. when it comes to meatballs is grabbing a package of ground beef, rolling up two dozen meatballs, frying them up and then adding them to my spaghetti sauce and mmm… mmmm … good night Irene!
But then a light came on and I questioned if there was a better way, a healthy meatball alternative. I mean, I’m eating a plate full of pasta so do the meatball calories really matter?
Life lesson: Once you hit 40, EVERYTHING matters!!
So off I went to build a tasty healthy meatball alternative.
I stand before you now, I convert. Not only a chicken meatball convert but a tender, juicy baked chicken meatball enthusiast, no less!
What does that even mean? That means I don’t even remember the last time I stood over hot skillet and fried up some meatballs.
I use this recipe for EVERYTHING!! Swedish Chicken Meatballs, Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs… I even did low carb Keto Chicken Meatballs.
These baked chicken meatballs are the ONLY meatballs I make these days and I think when I tell you why, you will be a convert too!
This easy meatball recipe is so easy to make, you’re going to be mad that you haven’t been making these for years already.
baked chicken meatballs
Yeahhhhh buddy!! Now, I can honestly say I have never used ground chicken for anything before. I mean … anything! (slap my hand!)
So when I wanted to make a healthy meatball, I thought about ground turkey meatballs.
I use ground turkey all the time in my Turkey Shepherd’s Pie and my Homemade Hamburger Helper but I finally settled on chicken meatballs because don’t we all already love chicken?
I mean, I know I eat chicken probably at least four times a week already so why not add a winner winner chicken meatball dinner to the easy chicken dinner list, as well?
These chicken meatballs come out moist and super flavorful and I guarantee you wont even miss the ground beef. Not even once!
why chicken meatballs are the best
- Chicken meatballs are perfect to add to soups, stews, subs and pasta dishes
- Juicy and moist, these baked meatballs are seasoned perfectly and melt in your mouth!
- These meatballs are easy to make and only take 30 minutes in the oven to bake up golden brown and delicious
- Baked chicken meatballs are a tasty healthy meatball alternative to beef or pork meatballs and .. umm… hello! … BAKED!!
- The freeze perfectly so you always have these tender chicken meatballs in your freezer ready to go at a moments notice .. talk about Emergency Preparedness 101
- Super versatile, these easy meatball recipe are also perfect to throw in your slow cooker for the ultimate party meatball appetizer!!
- If you want to cut down on carbs a bit, you can also use my Keto Chicken Meatballs recipe. Same meatball recipe without the carbs!
- Oven baked meatballs are the best because you aren’t having to babysit an oil spitting skillet
To make these baked chicken meatballs, you will need:
- Ground chicken
- Egg
- Parmesan cheese
- Panko bread crumbs
- Seasonings
- Olive oil
how do you make baked meatballs?
To make these Baked Chicken Meatballs, start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking pan with tin foil then spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
Using your hands, combine well. Using a scoop, spoon or just eyeballing it, roll 25 – 30 small meatballs about the size of a quarter and place on your prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Remove from oven and use in your favorite dishes or just gobble them all up in one sitting! No, don’t do that.. the gobbling part!
pro tips for perfect baked meatballs
- Use a scoop to measure out identical sized chicken meatballs, no guess work needed!
- Don’t leave out the olive oil. It makes these chicken meatballs super moist!
- Ingredients are the key to awesome baked chicken meatballs. I prefer panko over regular breadcrumbs and I use a mixture of dried and fresh ingredients. These chicken meatballs come out perfectly browned on the outside and tender on the inside and using quality ingredients ensures you have perfect meatballs every time.
- Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb that is a bit more course than regular breadcrumbs and can be found in the breadcrumb section of most grocery stores.
- If you don’t have any fresh parsley on hand for your meatballs, substituting with dried is perfectly fine.
how to eat chicken meatballs
Seriously, these ground chicken meatballs are so tender and easy to make that you will throwing these little bad boy in everything!!
Soups, stews, pasta dishes, meatball subs, breakfast egg scrambles, salads, slow cooker meatballs .. heck .. you can use those little chicken meatballs for just about anything.
freezing chicken meatballs
One way to cut down on cook time is to have a batch of frozen chicken meatballs in the freezer to add into your favorite recipes.
Simply let your baked meatballs cool from the oven, line them up on a clean cookie sheet and freeze them for about 30 minutes before moving them to a plastic zip top freezer bag.
Now you always have them on hand and all you need to do is move them to your refrigerator to defrost or just toss them in your recipe as is if it is a dish that needs to bake.
MORE EASY FIGURE FRIENDLY IDEAS
- Spicy Thai Chicken with Coconut Lime Quinoa
- Chicken Tinga Tostadas
- Baked Blueberry Pecan Oatmeal
- Hawaiian Pork Rice Bowl
Enjoy ♥ Heather
If you’ve tried this Baked Chicken Meatball recipe, please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you it came out in the comments below.
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Baked Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking pan with tin foil and then spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, combine well. Using a scoop, spoon or just eyeballing it, roll 25 - 30 small meatballs and place on your prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Notes
- Use a scoop to measure out identical sized chicken meatballs, no guess work needed!
- Don't leave out the olive oil. It makes these chicken meatballs super moist!
- Ingredients are the key to awesome baked chicken meatballs. I prefer panko over regular breadcrumbs and I use a mixture of dried and fresh ingredients. These chicken meatballs come out perfectly browned on the outside and tender on the inside and using quality ingredients ensures you have perfect meatballs every time.
- Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb that is a bit more course than regular breadcrumbs and can be found in the breadcrumb section of most grocery stores.
- If you don’t have any fresh parsley on hand for your meatballs, substituting with dried is perfectly fine.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published in October of 2018 but was republished with an updated recipe, new photos, step by step instructions and tips in May of 2020.
Absolutely love these! Easy to make, quick dinner idea.
Thanks Kendra, you should try them over pasta with a little olive oil and parm or chicken meatball hoagies with a little marinara. The pasta is my favorite way to eat them.