Chipotle Ground Chicken Meatballs Recipe

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.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. 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.
4. 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:

• Southwestern Salad: We’re talkin’ your corn and bean salads! A cilantro lime dressing would be AMAZING with this!

• Smashed Potatoes: Try sprinkling some cumin, chili powder or chipotle powder into the olive oil!

• Arroz Con Pollo – Traditional Mexican chicken with rice, but sub the pieces of chicken with the chipotle meatballs

• Corn Bread & Street Corn: If you serve it with cornbread and street corn, I recommend making a quick salsa verde to dip the cornbread in!

• Taco Pasta: This would be such a fun dish! Taco pasta is made with tomatoes, onions, cream cheese and cilantro, all of your favorite taco seasonings! Top it with the chipotle chicken balls, and you’ve got a delicious weeknight dinner idea!