These chicken pesto meatballs are so tender and juicy with bold flavours from the basil and garlic pesto. This meatball recipe was served with a light lemon pesto pasta, that was so delicious and made a perfect weekday meal.
Every summer I look forward to making my fresh basil pesto and creating recipes that have so much fresh flavours. The beauty of making your own pesto is you can freeze it or jar it and make your favourite recipes throughout the cooler months. I highly recommend trying my homemade pesto, tap this link for the recipe: Fresh Pesto
When I decided to make chicken meatballs and add the pesto, I knew it was going to be a winner! The pesto adds so much flavour to these meatballs, as well the pesto has a fair amount of olive oil and the oils that are excreted from the walnuts, makes these meatballs very tender, moist and so juicy!
Many ways to enjoy these delicious meatballs:
- Appetizers: on their own as an appetizer with chunks of cheese, cherry tomatoes, and some veggies.
- Pasta dish: they would compliment most pasta dishes in this case the Light Lemon Pesto Pasta, or with a cream sauce or tomato sauce
- Meatball Sliders or Sub: add to your favourite ciabatta bun and top it with a tomato sauce
- Meatball stew: by adding the meatballs to a vegetable stew with a broth or sauce
- Meatball casserole: add these to a casserole with cheese and pasta
- Pizza: why not apt up your pizza with meatballs, and sprinkled with mozzarella
- Stir-fry: add them to a stir-fry and rice
Recipe ingredients:
Ground chicken: whether you purchase your chicken in the grocery store or butcher shop, look for lean, or hormone and antibiotic free; sometimes I will purchase chicken breasts and grind my own meat but when you can buy already ground, then it makes things much easier
Shallot: I like to use shallots whenever I can, they are mild and add enough onion flavour
Panko breadcrumbs: adds more texture to the meatballs
Seasonings: salt and pepper
Pesto: I will most often have pesto on hand to use, or make fresh, however, you can easily substitute with a store bought pesto
Parsley: rich in colour and adds such fresh flavour
FAQ
Can I use ground turkey instead of chicken? Yes you can, and the outcome should be very similar in flavours.
Should I use lean ground chicken or does it matter? The homemade pesto I used and all pesto’s have olive oil in it that will create tender, and moist meatballs.
Chicken Pesto Meatballs
Equipment
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
Makes: 18-20 meatballs
- 1 lb ground chicken (I use hormone/antibiotic free or organic)
- 1 shallot
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 4 tbsp homemade basil pesto (can substitute store bought pesto)
- 1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped (leave 2 tablespoons for garnishing)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375°F.
- In a medium bowl, add and combine ground chicken, shallot, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, pesto and parsley until it’s thoroughly mixed. Avoid over mixing.
- Shape the meat balls to size of golf balls, and place on a cooking sheet covered in foil. You should get about 18-20 meatballs. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink in the center. Turn them over after 10 minutes of cooking time to get a crispy coating on the outer surface of the meat balls.
- Serve immediately with lemon pesto pasta or spaghetti.
Notes
Nutrition
How to make these delicious meatballs:
Pre-heat your oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, add and combine ground chicken, shallot, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, pesto and parsley until it’s thoroughly mixed so all of the ingredients are incorporated. Try to avoid overmixing to prevent tough meatballs.
Shape the meat balls to size of golf balls, and place on a cooking sheet covered in foil. You should get about 18-20 meatballs. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink in the center. The outer surface on the meat balls should be a little crispy. I like to turn them over after halfway of cooking to get a create a crispy surface on all sides.
When making meatballs, and substituting chicken, it is a healthier option, and it can be less expensive then beef, veal or turkey. Often pork is added with beef or veal for juicy, moist and tender meatball until now, with adding pesto to a chicken or turkey meatball, we have a winner!!
Chicken meatballs can be a nice change when making a light pasta dinner. Growing up, our meatballs were made with a combination of pork and beef, and wow, they are so delicious! Now, I have a favourite chicken meatball recipe!! Enjoy these delicious meatballs with Lemon Pesto Pasta recipe, found on my blog. Simply tap this link for the recipe: Light Lemon Pesto Pasta.
