Sunday, April 14, 2013

Who loves meatballs??? I do!

I don't care how you make them, what they are made of, or what they are drenched in...I LOVE meatballs! I've tried several recipes, including ones from Anne Burrell and Nigella Lawson. But I'm going to share a little secret with you...I have a better recipe!

There is one thing that came out of our brief stint doing the Insanity workout. And I'm not going to lie...I hated that thing with every fiber of my being! I have to admit that most of the meals from their recipe book were pretty decent, but of course they were better when I kicked them up a bit! :) So that is exactly what I did with these meatballs!

As I said, I've made several different meatball recipes, and some of them come out dry or without too much flavor. And I hate it when I have to cover up a meatball with sauce because it has no flavor. This recipe is great because the meatballs always stay juicy (even if you accidentally cook them too long), and they are great on top of the pasta and sauce!

Come along with me while I make

The REAL Housewife of Snohomish County's Fool Proof Chicken Meatballs!


This recipe has very few ingredients, but the few that it has pack it full of flavor!

  • 1 package of ground chicken (at QFC they are about 13 ounce packages)
  • 3 or 4 egg whites
  • Plain or Seasoned Bread Crumbs
  • Fresh Parsley - 3 to 4 tablespoons, fresh chopped
  • Fresh Ground Black Pepper
  • Kosher Salt
  • Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. (If you have a convection oven preheat to 375)

Using your knife, "shave" off the leaves of the parsley, then rough chop them. You'll need 3 to 4 tablespoons of the chopped parsley. Remember, it does NOT have to be exact, just eyeball it.


Put your ground chicken into a large bowl. Then add the chopped parsley to the bowl.



Now it's time to separate the eggs. Don't be scared, I promise it isn't that hard! You will need 3 or 4 egg whites. This depends on the size of your eggs. So I'd say start with 3 egg whites and if you need it, crack and separate the 4th. There are two ways you can do it.

First way...

Crack the egg, and using the two halves of the shell, drop the yolk back and forth between them until most of the whites are in the bowl below and the yolk stays intact in the shell.




Second way...

Crack the egg, and drop it into your hand. Let the whites slip through between your fingers.


Once you have the egg whites separated, add them to the bowl. (Notice that I separated the whites into a different bowl...this is in case I break a yolk.)


Now add the kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and red pepper flakes. Now I'm going to tell you to do something that scares Michael...add them "to taste." And mainly by this I mean, if you like them spicy...add more crushed red pepper flakes. If you don't like them spicy, leave them out. I do about four or five grinds on the pepper grinder. And I'd say about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt. **Remember, this is Kosher Salt! If you are using table salt...cut the amount in 1/2.)


Time for the bread crumbs. I use 4 or 5 palm fulls of bread crumbs. Give or take, it's about 5 tablespoons. Again, don't be afraid to eyeball here. The more you make these you'll realize that it's pretty hard to mess these up! :)


Now it's time to mix everything together. You can use a spoon or a spatula...but I prefer to use the two best kitchen tools I have...my hands! :)


Now don't be alarmed, this mixture is going to be a bit sticky, which is good! If you find it's too dry, add the extra egg white. If you find it's too wet and won't form into a ball, add a bit more of the bread crumbs. It's kind of like making pasta...let the mixture tell you what it needs!

Get a baking sheet ready, line it with tinfoil and spray it with cooking spray.


Now it's time to make meatballs! You can make these whatever size you want. Just know that the bigger you make them, the longer they'll take to cook in the oven. So I try to make them a little bit smaller than a ping pong ball. But again, if they aren't all the same size, the meatball police are NOT going to come get you! I promise! So get to work!

Oh, one more note...the mixture is sticky, so the way to combat it sticking to your hands...keep a bowl of water next to it, and every now and then, wet your hands. ;-)




Before I put them into the oven, I sprinkle just a little bit of kosher salt and black pepper over them. Now pop these bad boys into the preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. (Longer if you made them bigger!)


1/2 way through the cooking time, take the meatballs out and flip them over so they get browned on the other side.


Then cook them for the rest of the time. At the end of the cooking time, make sure to check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. They need to be cooked so the internal temperature is at least 160 degrees.


There you have it! The RHOSC Fool Proof Chicken Meatballs! I'm telling you, these are going to be juicy and flavorful! You'll love them! Last night we put them over spaghetti with some steamed green beans. :)


For some reason I want to break into the song "On top of Old Smokey...all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball...when somebody sneezed." Am I alone on this one? :)

I hope you enjoy these meatballs as much as I do! I promise, they are super easy to make, and hard to believe that they have as much flavor as they do!

Until next time...Keep Cooking!

3 comments:

  1. I'm going to try those with rice. They look yummy!

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  2. Finally...meatballs that don't have pork!!! I'm going to make some & I'll also try it with turkey :-).....mom

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