Baked Italian Chicken Meatballs
Homemade Baked Italian Chicken Meatballs are the perfect addition to your favorite pasta! Made with ground chicken, garlic, herbs, and cheese, these baked meatballs are a healthier alternative that don’t sacrifice any flavor!
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If there’s one meal my whole family and I can agree on, it’s spaghetti & meatballs. It’s such a classic comfort food!
To me, it’s like a warm blanket that just came out of the dryer on a cold January night.
It’s my happy place, and thankfully, these Baked Italian Chicken Meatballs are a guilt-free way to enjoy one of my favorite meals.
Ground chicken is lean and a lot healthier than beef or sausage, so we amp up the flavor with fresh garlic, herby parsley, and shredded cheese. Delish!
Baked Buffalo Chicken Meatballs is another great ground chicken meatball recipe!
Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):
- Ground chicken – not extra lean
- Italian breadcrumbs
- Milk
- Eggs
- Fresh parsley
- Parmesan cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- Garlic
- Herbs & spices (dried oregano, dried basil, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper)
📍This is just a summary. The full recipe with exact ingredient amounts and instructions is on the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
These meatballs are truly a win-win-win. They’re super flavorful because they are loaded with garlic, herbs, and both parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
They’re healthier than traditional meatballs because they are baked and not fried, and also because they’re made with ground chicken, which is super lean.
Lastly, have you compared the price between ground beef and ground chicken? Ground chicken is so much cheaper!
How to serve Italian Chicken Meatballs
- I like to add these chicken meatballs to Spaghetti Aglio e Olio so that the flavor of the meatballs really shines, but they would be excellent as a main course with roasted vegetables and a salad for a low-carb meal.
- A cheesy meatball skillet with your favorite pasta sauce is a fun family-style way to serve them also.
- Alternatively, you could serve them with toothpicks and sauce as a two-bite appetizer!
- Meatball parmesan sub sandwiches on a toasted roll with marinara and melted provolone or mozzarella cheese are fantastic!
Serve these chicken meatballs with homemade Sugo, an authentic Italian tomato sauce made with San Marzano tomatoes, onion, garlic, and basil.
If you love these Baked Chicken Meatballs and want to indulge, make sure you try The Best Italian Meatballs (pictured below)!
How long are homemade meatballs good for?
Leftover cooked meatballs can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
They can also be frozen in freezer-safe packaging. For the best quality, use within 2 months.
NOTES:
- The best kind of ground chicken for this recipe is 92% lean. Anything leaner and your meatballs will be dry.
- I have used both Italian-style breadcrumbs and panko breadcrumbs with great results.
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Baked Italian Chicken Meatballs
Equipment
- baking sheet
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground chicken 92% lean
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs Italian-style OR panko (both work well)
- 1 splash milk
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 5-6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. When everything is fully incorporated, grab small handfuls of the mixture and roll into meatballs that are a little bigger than a golf ball. The mixture makes approximately 24-32 meatballs.
- Bake meatballs for 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165° in the middle. Add to your favorite pasta, make chicken meatball sub sandwiches, or eat as a low-carb entrée. Enjoy!
Notes
- Leftover cooked meatballs can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- They can also be frozen in freezer-safe packaging for up to 2 months.
My meatballs always burn and get hard on the bottom, is there any advice? Thank you. I do love this recipe but I end up having to cut bottom half off.
Hi there! Perhaps your oven runs a little hotter? There are a couple things you could try. One is to make the meatballs smaller and reduce the cooking time, so they don’t take as long to cook. You could also turn down the temperature of your oven. If you have a meat thermometer, you just need to make sure the meatballs are 165 in the middle. If you don’t have one, there’s an excellent one that I use that is very inexpensive. Hopefully one of these suggestions will work for you :) https://www.amazon.com/shop/therealflavorfuleats/list/1CP9ZLHSPP05Q?tag=onamzlavorfat-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d
Delish!