Parmesan Chicken Meatballs
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Parmesan chicken meatballs are a delicious twist on the classic Italian dinner, chicken parmigiana. They are simple to make and freeze well. As a result, this ground chicken recipe is perfect for easy meal prep!
These baked chicken parm meatballs have lots of flavor, thanks to Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and lemon zest. They have a great texture from the onions and toasted pine nuts, too. Plus, it’s a ground chicken recipe, so they’re lighter and healthier than beef meatballs.
Chicken Meatball Ingredients
On its own, ground chicken can be rather bland. A few simple pantry staples will fix that problem. In addition to the chicken, you’ll need:
- Diced onion
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Plain or Italian spice breadcrumbs
- Toasted pine nuts
- Lemon zest
- Minced garlic
- Fresh parsley
- Fennel seeds
- Red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
- Whole egg
- Olive oil
How to make perfect meatballs
Regardless of the ground meat you use, meatballs can easily become dry. This is especially true when they will be baked in an oven. Use these easy tips to make perfectly juicy meatballs.
- Use a light touch. As you combine the ingredients, moisture releases from the ground meat. As a result, the meatballs will lose the moisture they need to stay juicy.
- Keep them uniform in size. To ensure that all of the chicken meatballs cook evenly, try to keep them the same size. The easiest way to do this is to use a cookie scoop to portion the mixture.
What can you serve with chicken parmesan meatballs?
Because of the Italian flavors in the meat, they pair well with any type of Italian sauce. We prefer them with my Pesto Alfredo or white pesto pasta sauce. If your family prefers red sauces, the chicken meatballs will taste fantastic with any of these:
- Homemade Arrabbiata sauce
- Meatless Spaghetti Sauce
- Vodka sauce
- Roasted red pepper sauce
To really jazz up the meal, try them with fresh, homemade chimichurri sauce!
You can serve the parmesan chicken meatballs on a bed of your favorite pasta, gnocchi, risotto, or even egg noodles.
Tasty side dishes that pair well with chicken parm meatballs include:
Meal prep instructions
Because they freeze well, the meatballs make a great make-ahead meal. They can be cooked and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Then, when you’re ready to serve them, allow them to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. You can either reheat them in the oven or directly in a sauce. SO easy! Enjoy!
This recipe first appeared on Kevin Is Cooking October 2013 and has been updated with new content, photos and/or video February 2020.
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Chicken Parm Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground chicken
- 1/2 onion diced fine (See Note 1)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup pine nuts toasted
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp parsley chopped
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Dice the onion, mince the garlic and zest the lemon. In a small sauté pan, toast the pine nuts until golden and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the ground chicken, onion, Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, pine nuts, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and egg. Mix well to incorporate.
- With a small scoop, make 24 meatballs and roll with your hands, arrange them on a foil lined, rimmed baking pan sprayed with cooking spray or olive oil.
- Using a brush, gently coat each meatball with the olive oil or cooking spray. Bake for 18 minutes.
- Remove meatballs from oven and allow to rest 5 minutes. Serve with your favorite sauce or my Pesto Alfredo over cooked pasta of choice.
Video
Notes
- Feel free to sauté in olive oil until translucent and golden brown if you prefer.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Oh. Cheet these were amazing , I think I used a smaller scooper , was hard to tell if you used large ice cream or medium cookie …I mixed a little store fresh pesto with half n half I found i frig. It was a hit
Thx
Vinnie
Nice! So glad you enjoyed these and the smaller scooper was the perfect one.
I don’t see a recipe for pesto Alfredo !,!, sounds good
vinnie
I’ve updated the post to reflect, but here is a direct link to my Pesto Alfredo Vinnie!
These look amazing,but not a fan of fennel. Any suggestions?
You can just omit the fennel seeds. Let me know how you enjoy them!
Really enjoyed these! Making another batch today for the freezer. Thank you for this creative and delicious meatball recipe.
I am so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for leaving a comment!
Oh Kevin!!! Why isn’t the recipe for your pesto Alfredo sauce here too? I need to make these exactly as you did but now I NEED that sauce!
I guess I need to post that one. In the meantime I’ll email it to you!
I could think of so many uses for these, including enjoying straight up as they are! Delicious, Kevin! Love the pine nuts too!
You will love them Dawn! Give them a try!
I’m giving you five stars for the taste of the meatballs, however, as an Italian American I have to say, please use real grated cheese. Your meatballs will be a 10 star recipe once you do that. I adore meatballs and have made them for my whole life. Starting making chicken meatballs to bring more chicken into our daily rotations and trying to avoid a little more red meat. I promise you if you try a good quality cheese it will make your meatballs sing. Keep up the great recipes, love your site, you have a lot of fabulous flavors in your cooking.
Thank you for your kind words Licia! I am so glad enjoyed them! Thank you for the rating!
I had some font on cheese I grated too , snuck it in parm pesto, with half n half 😵