These Sticky Baked Thai Chicken Meatballs are juicy, tender and bursting with savory flavor. Baked for convenience and coated in a sticky, slightly sweet Thai sauce, these meatballs are perfect for game day, as an appetizer when entertaining, or for dinner!
Hey there lovelies!
How ’bout we skip the (in)formalities today?
Instead, let’s talk about what has people’s eyeballs GLUED to their television screens this month.
March Madness.
Are you guys into NCAA basketball, yay or nay?
Like, do you absolutely LIVE for the Madness of March?
Or, are you more like me – just in it for the food?
I’m going to be honest, basketball isn’t really my schtick. Which is kind of weird considering when I was growing up we had season tickets to the Orlando Magic games.
And I absolutely LOVED going to those games. I think the little version of me (that rocked uneven pigtails like nobodies business) just liked dressing in team colors, the rowdiness of the crowd, stuffing my face with soft pretzels, the half time show and cheering for Shaq with my sparkly pom-poms.
Anyways, somewhere down the line I grew out of loving to watch basketball, but I will absolutely pretend to watch it if there is good food around. 😇
So I’m going to use March as an excuse to showcase my mad skills in the eating department. 🍴
And it is going to be EPIC.
Because sometimes you just want an entire skillet of meatballs all to yourself.
And having an actual, justifiable reason to eat ALL the meatballs humanly possible makes me feel less bad about it.
I mean, ‘oh hey, I’m eating an absurd amount of meatballs, for the love of basketball’, sounds SO much better than, ‘I’m eating an absurd amount of meatballs because I’m fat and hangry.’
Amirite?
So there is a new rule at the SuBourbon Country Cottage:
Basketball = it is perfectly acceptable to eat approximately 26 meatballs in one sitting.
For breakfast, lunch or dinner. On repeat.
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Skillet Baked Thai Chicken Meatballs
Otherwise known as amaze-little-balls-a-meat.
That just so happen to be BAKED for easy convenience.
Juicy, tender, succulent chicken meatballs loaded with savory flavors such as garlic, ginger, curry and jalapenos.
Tossed and glistening in a sticky, semi-sweet Thai glaze.
Lovingly garnished with chopped salty peanuts, herbaceous cilantro, fresh scallions and spicy red pepper flakes.
These meat-a-ball-ahhhs are sticky, spicy, sweet and seriously sublime!
Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs FOR LIFE, y’all.
How to Make Thai Chicken Meatballs:
Aside from the unavoidable, slightly tedious part of forming the meatballs, these bad boys are super easy to make.
Chop some scallions, jalapenos and cilantro; mince some garlic, ginger and lemongrass, and toss it all into a large bowl. Add in your ground chicken, a splash of fish sauce and a large scoop of curry paste.
Dive right in with your hands and gently mix everything until it is JUST combined.
Form the mixture into little golf ball-sized balls and transfer them to a parchment paper lined pan.
Toss ‘em in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.
Meanwhile, make the sticky Thai sauce. Combine all the sauce ingredients, plus few cloves of garlic and a bit of ginger, in a skillet. Whisk it real good and cook the sauce over medium heat. Let it simmer and do its thing until the sauce looks like sticky, thickened goodness. Turn off the heat, but leave the skillet on the burner so it stays warm.
When the Thai meatballs are done baking, transfer them to the sauce and toss gently to coat.
Generously scatter some crushed peanuts, cilantro, green onions and red chili flakes on top and serve with plenty of lime wedges on the side.
Tuck a napkin into the top of your shirt and FACE PLANT right into this sticky meatball skillet sitch.
Can you bake meatballs in the oven?
While cooking meatballs can sometimes be tedious (all that batch cooking! And, flipping!), baking them in the oven is super simple and easy!
Baking meatballs saves you a ton of time, because you don’t have to worry about overcrowding the pan and you can bake a lot of meatballs at the same time.
As well, when you bake meatballs it is easier to ensure they are cooked evenly, all the way through.
What temperature do you cook meatballs in the oven?
While you can bake your meatballs in the oven at any temperature, normally between 350-425 degrees F, the recipe for these Thai meatballs bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Notes, Tips & Tricks for the best Sticky Baked Thai Chicken Meatballs recipe:
- The recipe calls for ground chicken, but make sure you do NOT use all ground chicken breast or the meatballs won’t be as juicy and flavorful. Purchase ground chicken that is made with both white and dark meat. Bonus, ground chicken that is a mixture of both is cheaper to buy!
- The recipe calls for fish sauce. Fish sauce adds a wonderful umami flavor and there is no great substitution. However, if you are in a pinch, or don’t like fish sauce, you can substitute soy sauce.
- When mixing the ingredients for the meatballs, make sure you do NOT overmix!! Mix everything until the ingredients are JUST combined. Overmixing the ingredients will cause your meatballs to be less tender.
- To keep the Thai meatballs from sticking to your skin when rolling them into balls, lightly oil your hands. This trick works like a charm! Also make sure you DON’T roll your meatballs into a tight ball. When meatballs are packed too tight they will end up tough and chewy after being cooked.
- Make sure you form your meatballs into roughly the same size. You don’t need to be overly obsessive, just make sure they are around the same size. If you want to be precise, you can use an ice cream scoop (it is what I use).
- You can make the meatballs mini sized or jumbo sized if you want, just see the above note (#5), and scale down or up the baking time accordingly.
Perfect for March Madness, your next soirée, or simply for the weeknight dinner win, these Baked Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs belong in your belleh.
Until next week friends, cheers – to sticky balls of cluckin’ deliciousness.
XOXO
Cheyanne
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Sticky Baked Thai Chicken Meatballs recipe👇
Sticky Baked Thai Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- Meatballs:
- 1 ½ pounds Ground Chicken *
- ½ Cup + 2 TBS Panko Breadcrumbs (or more if needed)
- 4 Cloves Garlic - minced and divided
- 2 TBS Ginger – grated and divided
- 2 Scallions – finely chopped
- 1 large Jalapeno – seeded and finely chopped
- 2 tsp Lemongrass , white part only – finely chopped
- 1 TBS Cilantro – roughly chopped
- 1 TBS Fish Sauce
- 1 TBS Thai Red Curry Paste
- Kosher Salt and Pepper , to taste
- Sauce:
- ¾ Cup Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
- 3 TBS Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce
- 3 TBS Light Brown Sugar
- 2 TBS Rice Wine Vinegar
- 2 TBS Lime Juice
- Optional Garnishes & Serving Options: Crushed Peanuts, Chopped Cilantro, Sliced Green Onions, Red Chili Flakes, Lime Wedges, White Rice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- Make the meatballs: In a large bowl combine the chicken, panko, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of ginger, scallions, jalapeno, lemongrass, cilantro, fish sauce and curry paste. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Use your hands or a rubber spatula to gently mix until just combined. Do NOT overmix.
- Using wet hands to prevent sticking, roll the chicken mixture into golf ball-sized balls (about 2 tablespoons mixture each). If the mixture is too wet, add 1 tablespoon of panko, at a time, to the mix until it is easier to shape. Transfer meatballs to prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer inserted into a meatball reads 165 degrees F.
- MEANWHILE, make the sauce: In a skillet, or wok, combine all the sauce ingredients, plus remaining 2 cloves of garlic and tablespoon of ginger. Whisk to combine. Place pan over medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until sauce is thickened. Turn heat off, but keep pan on burner to keep warm.
- To serve: When meatballs are done cooking, transfer them to the skillet and gently toss to coat. Serve immediately with optional garnishes. Enjoy!
Notes
1. The recipe calls for ground chicken, but make sure you do NOT use all ground chicken breast or the meatballs won’t be as juicy and flavorful. Purchase ground chicken that is made with both white and dark meat. Bonus, ground chicken that is a mixture of both is cheaper to buy! 2. The recipe calls for fish sauce. Fish sauce adds a wonderful umami flavor and there is no great substitution. However, if you are in a pinch, or don’t like fish sauce, you can substitute soy sauce. 3. When mixing the ingredients for the meatballs, make sure you do NOT overmix!! Mix everything until the ingredients are JUST combined. Overmixing the ingredients will cause your meatballs to be less tender. 4. To keep the meatballs from sticking to your skin when rolling them into balls, lightly oil your hands. This trick works like a charm! Also make sure you DON’T roll your meatballs into a tight ball. When meatballs are packed too tight they will end up tough and chewy after being cooked. 5. Make sure you form your meatballs into roughly the same size. You don’t need to be overly obsessive, just make sure they are around the same size. If you want to be precise, you can use an ice cream scoop (it is what I use). 6. You can make the meatballs mini sized or jumbo sized if you want, just see the above note (#5), and scale down or up the baking time accordingly.
So good, I’m making them for the second time this week. My kids never eat sauce on anything, and they ate this one right up.
Hi Elizabeth,
I am so thrilled you and your family love these meatballs! It makes me incredibly happy to hear even your children who don’t typically like sauce loved it!!! You have made my day!! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know how everything went over! Cheers!
OMG, I made these last night over mashed potatoes and they were delicious!! I used 1 lb. ground chicken and 1 lb. ground sausage for flavor, substituted a poblano pepper for the jalepeno (for the kid’s sake) and added shredded carrots, but other than that, stuck to the recipe. Loved all the flavors and will definitely be adding this in rotation for future dinners. It was such a nice change from traditional meatballs and worked really well for a cold winter night. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch today! 😉 Thank you for sharing!
Hi Sarah,
I am absolutely thrilled you enjoyed these meatballs!! Your substitutions and additions sound absolutely delicious!! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know how everything went over! Cheers – I hope you enjoy your leftovers for lunch today!! 😉
These sound wonderful. However, got me thinking about some sticky rice balls I once had and could never get the recipe. Do you have one you could share?
Hi Beverly,
Thank you so much for stopping by and for the kind comment! Unfortunately I do not have a sticky rice ball recipe, but I wish you all the luck in finding a recipe similar to the one’s you once had! Cheers! 🙂
Thank you for this delicious recipe! Unlike college basketball, chicken meatballs are totally new to me. Turkey, pork and beef, yes, chicken no. But I’m kicking myself that I haven’t tried them earlier, they turned out so well! I made a few substitutions, just because I didn’t have everything on hand, but I’m really happy with the result. I had to stop myself from eating them all as I’m saving them for weekday lunches for me and my husband!
Funny, basketball holds no interest for me, but this. Well, well, well… I know you know I am a BIG meatball fan and these are superb looking. Love that they’r chicken and I am digging’ that photo of your mise en place! I can smell these and the crunchy peanuts take this one over the top. Love this. 🙂
I think that I’d eat these right off the pan as soon as I coat them in the sauce. Can totally see a little competition going over who gets to eat more…maybe a double batch will solve this problem.
You and my hubby would get along perfectly. He loves March Madness. For me, I will sit back and admire the food. In fact, I love the bowl deconstructed shot with all the ingredients. That meatball is loaded with flavor and love. For sure a 3-pointer. (OK, that was bad, but I couldn’t help myself.)
Oh No, how did I miss this sticky recipe! I’m not a college basketball girl; I don’t watch much basketball at all. Nope, I’m all about football; I love the pigskin and those big men in spandex hitting each other, lol. All that said I promised myself I would watch a little March Madness this year to see if it sparks my interest. Growing up we had season tickets to the Gold State Warriors, back when there were terrible, but that didn’t stop us from going to a games. Those games were some of the best times of my life. Mmmmmm, look at all these delicious Thai meatballs. I want like 50 right now 🙂
One of the most popular appetizers I ever had at one of our parties was Thai meatballs. These sound absolutely delicious and I love that they are baked.
Our team didn’t make it into the tournament this year but I will use any excuse to eat lots of meatballs. These look amazing!!
I have to admit that I am not a fan of basketball, but I did watch the championship game last year when Carolina played. Sadly, they lost, but it sure was an exciting game. It wasn’t as exciting as these meatballs though! I’m digging the Thai flavors happening in here and they would be perfect to snack on while watching a game! Pinned, of course! XO
I like all the flavors here! Sticky spicy meatballs are the best. I’m not into March Madness but I do like the NBA 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Dang Girl – THAT sauce is seriously droolicious – as our those balls! I saw these on IG yesterday and had to come visit as soon as I could – cos these are food porn at it’s finest! I totally understand you take on MM – I gotta confess – am like that with football and basketball (though I do like watching soccer from time to time) but the food – the food is where it’s all at – especially when it looks as amazeBALLS as this does!
Happy FriYay to ya – hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Yes, March madness takes over our house with our three boys (hubby included). They kind of live and breathe it for the entire month. I don’t even watch it so I’ll be back in the kitchen stuffing my face with these gorgeous meatballs!
Basketball isn’t really my thing either but I’d be in it for the food and for sure for eating a whole lot of these meatballs 🙂 The sticky glaze sounds incredibly delicious – what a lovely treat and great excuse to eat them all day long! Have a great weekend, Cheyanne!
These meatballs are a serious business! I would have no problems finishing off the whole pot and I amjust imagining how divine they would be in a banh mi! You should post a picture of yourself with those uneven pigtails I bet you were beyond adorable!!
These meatballs are absolutely amazing!! All those wonderful Thai flavors and that sauce!! If these were being served I may be convinced to watch basketball !! Take care!
Have to be honest, not much of a basketball fan (though it’s fun to see one live). I’ve been bitter ever since the Sonics were stolen from Seattle…haha. Not that I hold a grudge. 😉
But I’d watch any sport if it meant having some of these meatballs. I saw them on FB and I’ve been drooling all day!
Oh gosh, you had me at STICKY! I love a great meatball, thanks for sharing these Cheyanne!
Okay, now I TOTALLY have to see you in uneven pigtails. Pretty please??? 😉 You must’ve been the cutest mini fan ever!! Also sparkly pom-poms ftw! 😉 I, myself, am not big into March Madness, or really too many sports… but I do love the whole ritual of it all. Ritual aka eating. Lol. When there’s food and fun involved, what more do ya really need? Oh btw, ALL the time I need an entire skillet of everything to myself. But as my bestie, you don’t judge, riiiight? 😉 This dish would seriously rock my mom’s ENTIRE world. No, really. So, when ya come over for the adoption ceremony, be sure to bring like 4-10 skillets of these, okay? That’s not heavy or anything… 😉 Love ya!
My chicken meatballs have never been so lovely nd juicy as these! I am so jealous!! these look so tempting!! cheers
We are HUGE basketball fans in our house and loving every second of March Madness (though our beloved Orangemen didn’t make the NCAA Tournament – they’re moving along in the NIT!)! These meatballs are everything, my friend! I could swandive into that pan and happily stay for the duration of the games! Cheers! xo
I will admit that I’m the opposite of a March Madness fan! For some reason, nobody in my family or any immediate friends are into it, so I know next to nothing about it. BUT if anyone wanted to start watching, I’d probably be OK with it if it meant I could enjoy food like these meatballs 🙂 Then again, I’d probably prefer to make them and enjoy them while watching some reality TV instead!!
Ha! We are thinking along the same lines Chey! Except your meatballs turned out amazing and mine were a total flop. So it’s back to the drawing board for me before they hit the blog! I can guarantee that I could probably devour just as many of these beauties as you in one sitting because the sauce looks absolutely addictive! I’m drooling all over my screen just looking at them. March Madness is big at our house. Unfortunately, Casey is the biggest fan of MM, but I’m not quite sure he’s getting it in Shanghai! Bummer! Happy weekend!
“What a beautifully roasted potato, Chey!” was going to say I before I saw the name of this delish dish:) Well, nothing has changed indeed – these are the most beautiful meatballs I’ve seen lately. Chicken meatballs are the best in my book, so succulent and tender. And certainly, I love all these fantastic flavors going on. Well done!
This Canadian isn’t much of a basketball fan (we’re more about the hockey and curling ;), but I’d become one for these meatballs! You had me at Thai.
Truth be told I didn’t even know March was a thing for basketball. HA!!! And I still (on the weekends occasionally) rock lopsided pigtails Princess Laya style….hehehe. So, if I don’t watch basketball I’ll have to find an excuse to eat this entire pan of meatballs by ma self and not feel guilty. Hmmmmm, maybe because I’ll make them on the weekend and anything goes? Yes, yes. That’s it 😉 This look deeeeelicious and love all this sticky bits and the chili. I’d be popping these like it’s nobody’s business. Pinning! Have a fab weekend, girl! xo
Having an entire skillet of meatballs ALL to yourself is just a necessity in my book! 🙂 Basketball is the sport I like the most, which is saying a lot because I don’t really like sports. While I can’t watch it all the time, I do like watching NCAA here and there. And going to actual NBA games, those are fun. Although I admit that watching it on TV can get boring. I think I would be able to tolerate it much more with a big plate of these meatballs, though. YUUUM! I’m loving that thai flavor, Cheyanne! And that you used ground chicken, too. What a perfect dinner for basketball season, or any other season! Pinned, of course! Hope you have a great weekend!
o lord…how come all your chicken meatball recipes look so perfect!! That whiskey glazed meatballs look to die for too, Chey.
I’m the same way! Grew up going to Charlotte Hornets games — and playing basketball myself for years — but then kinda lost interest. And didn’t go to a school with a serious basketball team so it just never held my attention. But I still fill out a bracket each March and love keeping up with all the craziness. And eating ALL the food! And you know I love a fun meatball flavor so this Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs are right up my alley! Pinned and they will definitely be happening soon. (And yes I’ll be eating 26 in a sitting too!) XXOO