Baked Chicken Meatballs

These Baked Chicken Meatballs are super juicy and full of flavor! Serve these chicken meatballs for appetizers or for dinner. They can also be used in many different recipes like meatballs subs or chicken and rice bowls! Make a double batch and freeze them for an easy meal!

Why You’ll Love This Baked Chicken Meatball Recipe

These chicken meatballs are both delicious and easy to make. We often think of meatballs as a comfort food meal, much like our popular Grandma’s Sunday Meatballs & Sauce. But these meatballs are packed with protein, low in fat and low in carbs!

• Easy To Make: It only take about 10 minutes to prep this meatball recipe and get them into the oven.
• Make Ahead: Reheating these chicken meatballs is easily done in the microwave, so make them ahead of time and heat them up when you need them.
• Adaptable: Serve these meatballs for appetizers or for dinner. Use them as a base for many different recipes like meatball subs or drizzle with sauce and make buffalo chicken meatballs.
• Customizable: You can adapt the seasonings and flavors in this chicken meatball recipe to your liking. Scroll down to the “Variations” section of the post for some ideas.
• Juicy and Flavorful: Ground chicken recipes often turn out dry. Not these meatballs – thanks to a secret ingredient!

Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Chicken Meatballs

Please scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for complete ingredient list and amounts.

• Ground Chicken: We like using ground chicken breast, which is leaner since it’s all breast meat. You can also use regular ground chicken which is a mixture of white and dark meat and has a higher fat content.
• Breadcrumbs: Regular or seasoned breadcrumbs. We use just enough to hold these meatballs together.
• Egg: One beaten egg.
• Diced Onion: 1/2 cup diced yellow onion.
• Chopped Garlic: 1 tablespoon.
• Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper: Kosher salt is more coarse than regular table salt and has a less “salty” and more briny flavor. Freshly ground black pepper has so much more flavor than pre-ground.
• Dried Oregano: Dried oregano gives these meatballs an Italian-feel.
• Grated Parmesan Cheese: Not enough to make the meatballs taste cheesy, just adds a nutty pop of flavor, also more protein.
• Mayonnaise: Mayonnaise is our secret ingredient that not only adds flavor but helps to keep the chicken meatballs moist.
• Fresh Parsley: Chopped fresh parsley brightens up the flavors of the chicken.

How To Make Chicken Meatballs

All you need is about 10 minutes of prep time to get these meatballs ready to bake. There is an optional step to chill the chicken mixture for 30 minutes to let the flavors blend, but if you don’t have time you can skip it.

Please scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for complete instructions.

• COOK THE ONIONS AND GARLIC: Add oil to a skillet and cook the onions and garlic 5 minutes until softened. Set aside to cool.
• MAKE THE MEATBALLS: Combine the ground chicken, cooled onions and garlic, salt, pepper, dried oregano, mayonnaise and parmesan cheese in a bowl and mix until combined.
• CHILL: Chill the meatball mixture for 30 minutes in the refrigerator to let the flavors combine. This is an optional step, but it does enhance the flavor of the meatballs if you have the time.
• PREHEAT THE OVEN: 400 degrees.
• FORM THE MEATBALLS: Spray a 1 1/2 tablespoon scooper with non-stick cooking spray and portion out the meatballs onto a parchment lined baking sheet. If using your hands, you can either wet them or spray your hands with cooking spray.

• BAKE AND BROIL THE MEATBALLS: Bake for 12 minutes and then broil the meatballs for 5 minutes. Broiling the meatballs will give them a nice, brown exterior. If you want to skip the broiler, cook the meatballs in the oven for 15-17 minutes until cooked through.

How To Serve These Chicken Meatballs

Like we mentioned before, you can serve these meatballs for appetizers or for dinner! Our boys like to make rice bowls with these meatballs, rice and steamed broccoli and some sort of Asian sauce like our Homemade Stir Fry Sauce recipe.

Dip these meatballs in marinara sauce like we have here, or try some of these sauce options:

• Awesome Sauce
• Ranch Dressing
• Homemade Creamy Caesar Dressing
• Barbecue Sauce
• Bang Bang Sauce
• Yum Yum Sauce
• Duck Sauce

You can also serve these meatballs with your favorite pasta recipe, or just regular spaghetti with marinara sauce for an easy meal. Even try forming the chicken mixture into patties and making chicken burgers!

Can You Freeze Chicken Meatballs?

Yes! Which makes them perfect for meal prepping. Make a big batch or two, let them cool and freeze in resealable freezer bags in a single layer. That way you can take out as many meatballs as you need at a time.

Thaw the meatballs in the refrigerator and then reheat in the oven or microwave. An air fryer also reheats these perfectly!

How Do You Make Chicken Meatballs Juicy and Not Dry?

There’s a little secret ingredient we have here – mayonnaise. Mayo keeps these meatballs juicy instead of dry, and also adds flavor. Instead of mayonnaise you can use olive oil, but I wouldn’t recommend leaving either out or you’ll have a dry meatball on your hands.

Diced onion also helps to add some moisture to the meatballs, it’s an extra step to take instead of adding onion powder but we think it’s totally worth it.

Tips For Success!

This is a very easy recipe to make, but there are a few tips to help make them the best they can be!

• Don’t Pack The Meatballs Too Tight When Forming Them: Use a scooper like we have here and just turn them out on the baking sheet. They might not be perfectly round, but they will be perfectly moist and juicy. Alternately, you can form the balls with your hands, but don’t roll them around too much.
• Don’t Overcook: Cook these chicken meatballs just until they are cooked through inside. The internal temperature of ground chicken should be 165 when finished, but just make sure there isn’t any pink left in the centers. Cooking the meatballs too long will result in them drying out.
• Don’t Over Mix: Combine the ingredients until they are just blended together. Mixing the ground chicken mixture too much can produce tougher meatballs.
• QUICKEST COOKING METHOD: Skip the step where you cook the onions and garlic and simply add them raw to the ground chicken and other ingredients. Skip the 30 minute chill in the refrigerator and go right to baking the meatballs. Skip the broiler and cook the meatballs for 15-17 minutes.

Looking For More Meatball Recipes?

• Teriyaki Meatballs
• Air Fryer Turkey Meatballs
• Crock Pot Asian Meatballs
• BBQ Party Meatballs
• Easy Chicken & Broccoli Meatballs
• Slow Cooker Cabbage Roll Meatballs

Baked Chicken Meatballs

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• Author: Dan
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 17 minutes
• Total Time: 22 minutes
• Yield: 30 meatballs 1x

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These juicy chicken meatballs are a staple at our house! Super easy to make and they only need about 15 minutes in the oven. Serve these meatballs for dinner or for appetizers!

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Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup regular breadcrumbs (or Italian seasoned)
• 2 pounds ground chicken or ground chicken breast
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley

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Instructions

1. Add the oil to a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet, along with a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Set aside to let cool while you make the meatball mix.
2. Add the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl, along with the cooled onions and garlic and mix together to combine. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Spray a 1 1/2 tablespoon scooper with non-stick cooking spray and portion out the meatballs onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You might have to respray the scooper a few times while doing this as the chicken mixture will be very wet. If using your hands, you can either wet them or spray your hands with cooking spray.
5. Bake the meatballs for 12 minutes and then broil the meatballs for 5 minutes. Broiling the meatballs will give them a nice, brown exterior. If you want to skip the broiler, cook the meatballs in the oven for 15-17 minutes until cooked through.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition information is using extra lean ground chicken breast. This recipe makes approximately 21 large meatballs, so we count 3 meatballs per person, serving 7.

Store: To store the meatballs, let them cool first before storing in a container or plastic bag. The meatballs will stay good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.,

Freeze: To freeze, let the meatballs cool and then store in a freezer bag in a single layer. The meatballs will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 4 months.

• Category: Appetizers
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American