I saw a recipe for Asian meatballs made with pork and beef the other day and I thought that a great way to cut some of the calories would be to make something similar but with ground chicken. Two of my son’s favorite meals are chicken teriyaki and spaghetti with meatballs. You should have seen the size of his eyes when I told him we were having Chinese chicken meatballs. His eyes got really big and his mouth dropped open. I think he was excited for the marriage of two of his fave dishes. He really liked the sauce and gobbled dinner up. I served these over rice with steamed veggies but they would also make an excellent appetizer. I must admit the sauce really makes this recipe. It has so many different flavors in it. It really gets your taste buds going. This recipe is fairly quick and very easy. With the number of meatballs it makes it ended up being enough for two dinners so I have some in the freezer ready for a quick and easy dinner in a few weeks.
Note: Toss the cooked meatballs in a crock-pot and double up the sauce, heat on low and you have an awesome and healthy appetizer that will stay warm for hours.
MEATBALL INGREDIENTS
2 lbs ground chicken
2 tsp sesame oil
2 c panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c green onions, thinly sliced
salt
sesame seeds and sliced green onions for garnish
SAUCE INGREDIENTS
2/3 c hoisin sauce
1/4 c rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ground ginger
STEPS
- Preheat oven to 400º.
- In a large bowl, mix together all meatball ingredients until well combined.
- Using an oversized spoon scoop about a ¼ cup worth of the meat mixture and shape into round meatballs. (Mine end up being about 1 1/4″ in diameter. This will yield about 28–32 meatballs.)
- Place the formed meatballs in a large lightly greased baking dish.
- Bake for 20–25 minutes or until balls are lightly browned on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.
- While your meatballs are baking put all your sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together until well blended.
- Pour the sauce over the hot meatballs and garnish with additional sliced green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
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