Like any good little Italian boy, my son requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner last weekend. Considering I usually jump for joy when my little guy requests anything with protein in it, (he is usually not a big meat eater, so when he asks for it I always happily oblige) I opened the fridge and pantry to see if I could make it happen…
Sadly, I just didn’t have the right stuff to make even a halfhearted attempt at a meatball so I told him it wasn’t going to happen…. but did promise to add them to our menu this week.
Instead of the usual beef meatball I decided to use ground chicken and whole wheat breadcrumbs to lighten up the traditionally heavy dish. It was a hit and will be a regular on the menu at our house. Here is how I made them:
Necessities:
2 pounds ground chicken (1 # chicken and 1 # chicken breast)
1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion (any color onion will work)
3 garlic cloves finely diced or pressed (or about 1 Tablespoon)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs (I use Gia Russa, pictured to the right)
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Method:
When reviewing the ingredients, you probably noticed that I use 1/2 regular ground chicken and 1/2 ground chicken breast. Regular ground chicken has a higher percentage of fat (approximately 5%) which provides moisture and flavor. Whereas ground chicken breast has almost no fat. In the picture below, the ground chicken is on the left and the breast in on the right. You can see that there is more “white stuff” marbled into the chicken on the left and that “white stuff” is fat.
With that said, you are welcome to use all regular ground chicken! However, I don’t recommend using only ground chicken breast as your final product will be quite dry. I like to use the combination of both because it helps to keep the meal leaner, but still moist and delicious.
To a large bowl, add all of the ingredients, and then (with clean hands) dig in and start to mix it all up.
This lovely bowl of ingredients should end up looking like this.
Next I pour a jar of my favorite pasta sauce into the bottom of a shallow baking dish, such as a 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Yes, I use jarred pasta sauce. I do like to make homemade sauce, but I usually only do that a few times a year 😉 Jarred sauce is good stuff and handy to have in the pantry. Remember making delicious and nutrient packed food for our families should be easy right?!
Roll the mixture into balls and place right into the sauce. If you can’t squeeze them all in, no worries, you can just put the extra balls on a baking sheet.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. Then remove the foil, turn the oven up to 425 and bake for 10 more minutes uncovered – this will help to get a little brown on the tops of the meatballs. Don’t they look delicious?!
The beauties are hot and ready to eat atop your favorite spaghetti and dusted with a generous helping of Parmesan. Or you could tuck them into toasted Italian bread with melted provolone for a meatball sub. Maybe try with some zoodles if you are trying to cut back on carbs. Or if you’re like my husband, you’ll just grab them with a fork straight from the serving dish! I hope you give these a whirl and let me know what you think.
[recipe id=”968″]