you're making mealtime meaningful.
When we think of meatballs, we typically think of spaghetti and (beef) meatballs, but that’s all about to change. Using chicken as the base of these meatballs, we decided to add fresh spinach to this mix for added nutrients and flavor. Chicken is a more mild base than beef, and it works perfectly with all the other flavors we added (onion, garlic, basil and cheese, to name a few…). While we’ve already waxed poetic about the meatballs themselves, we haven’t even touched on how yummy the sauce is! It’s creamy and flavorful, and once you make it once, you’ll be dying to try it out with all sorts of different dishes. We loved this dinner so much, we know it’s going to become a staple in our household – see if it don’t feel the same way!
Chicken Spinach Meatballs
Yield(s): Serves 4-6
1 hour
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- Sauce:
- 1 (25 oz.) jar marinara sauce
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Meatballs:
- 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
- 1/2 cup fresh spinach
- 1/2 cup panko or seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup white onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- fresh basil, garnish
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400º F.
- Heat tomato sauce in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Stir in heavy cream, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, spinach, panko, parmesan, onion, garlic and dried basil, and season with salt and pepper.
- Using your hands or two forks, mix everything together until fully incorporated, then roll into 1 1/2-inch balls.
- Place meatballs on 1-2 large baking sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through.
- Once baked, transfer meatballs to the skillet with the tomato sauce, and top with extra parmesan, if desired.
- Cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until sauce has absorbed meatball flavor and cheese is melted.
- Remove skillet from stove and top with chopped basil. Serve hot and enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Spoonful Of Flavor