Smokey and spicy chipotles in adobo sauce are mixed with lean ground chicken meat to form a baked meatball recipe that is thronging with flavor. The smoked chili peppers are the perfect complement to mild chicken. This ground chicken meatballs recipe is also baked, so you don’t have to worry about burning the outside and undercooking the inside. Ohh, and I forgot to mention! These chipotle meatballs take less than 5 minutes to prep. I know! It’s almost TOO easy… (insert shifty eyes…)
Why Is This A Ground Chicken Recipe?
I absolutely love to cook with ground chicken. I find that ground chicken enhances the flavors of whatever you put in it. It’s subtle texture and mild forgiving flavor allow the other flavors in the dish to be the stars. With ground beef, I find that the beef flavor can overwhelm the other tastes in the dish. When cooking ground chicken, you don’t have to worry about that puddle of grease that you can sometimes get when cooking ground beef.
Ground beef also tends to have a slightly higher percentage of fat and calories than the same amount of ground chicken or turkey. For example, these numbers come from a serving size of 4 oz:
| 92% Lean Fresh Ground Chicken | 160 calories | 9 grams of total fat | 22 grams protein |
| 90% Organic Grass Fed Ground Beef | 190 calories | 11 grams of total fat | 22 grams of protein |
| 93% Ground Turkey | 160 calories | 8 grams of total fat | 22 grams of protein |
Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a time and place for ground beef! I am no beef scrooge. But, for this specific chipotle ground chicken meatballs recipe, I recommend using either ground turkey or chicken. Just note that ground turkey has a slightly stronger flavor.
You’re Going To Love This
Download Our Helpful Free Beginners Guide!
Want to understand more about why the Mediterranean diet might be right for you, even when everything else that you have tried has failed? Our free guide will give you a practical overview of this incredible lifestyle, along with a full Mediterranean diet shopping list, practical advice for sustaining the lifestyle, recipes, and new evidence-based research!
How To Cook These Spicy Chicken Meatballs:
There are a few things to think about when cooking with lean ground chicken. The term ‘lean‘ lends itself to ‘less fat‘. So in order to prevent your chicken meatballs from drying out, you need to add a liquid or sauce to the mix. In this instance, we make spicy chicken meatballs using chipotles in adobo sauce. In other recipes, you might see the ground chicken mixed with bbq sauce or even greek yogurt.
- PUT IT IN A BOWL: Place your ground chicken in a large mixing bowl. Add the parsley, garlic, dried onion, cumin, Panko and adobo sauce to the bowl. Feel free to mince up some chipotle peppers to make it a little spicier.
- MIX IT UP: Mix it all up well, so that every ingredient is well combined. Notice how this is an eggless meatballs recipe, because the adobo sauce binds everything together!
- PREPARE BAKING SHEET: Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and roll equal sized meatballs in your hands. Place them on the baking sheet with a little space between them.
- BAKE IT: Bake them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. The inside of the meatball needs to register 170 degrees.
THATS IT! Your tasty spicy ground chicken meatballs are ready to be devoured!
What To Make With Ground Chicken:
There are so many options for what you can serve with this ground chicken recipe. Recipes using chipotles in adobo sauce tend to be more Mexican inspired, so think tex-mex or southwestern cuisine when thinking about what to serve with these delicious meatballs!
Here are a few examples of awesome side dishes for meatballs:
Chipotle Ground Chicken Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 oz lean ground chicken
- 4-5 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce (feel free to chop up a pepper for more spice)
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 tsp dried onion powder
- 3 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp minced parsley
- 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs (any bread crumbs work, but i would try to not use Italian bread crumbs)
Instructions
- PREHEAT: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- PUT IT IN A BOWL: Place your ground chicken in a large mixing bowl. Add the parsley, garlic, dried onion, cumin, panko and adobo sauce to the bowl. Feel free to mince up some chipotle peppers to make it a little spicier.
- MIX IT UP: Mix it all up well, so that every ingredient is well combined. Notice how this is an eggless meatballs recipe, because the adobo sauce binds everything together!
- PREPARE BAKING SHEET: Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and roll equal sized meatballs in your hands. Place them on the parchment paper with a little space between them.
- BAKE IT: Bake them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. The inside of the meatball needs to register 170 degrees. Enjoy!
How To Make Homemade Spaghetti Noodles