Is there an extremely high demand for flat-leaf parsley that I am unaware of? Or did herb famers go on strike?? I went to three grocery stores and all of them were sold out of flat leaf parsley. Seriously… what the heck!? I should probably point out that by “I”, I of course mean Boy. You have got to love my husband for his unwavering support of me, and my passion for cooking. After driving around town and stopping in not one, but three stores, he finally called me to ask if it was ‘okay if he couldn’t find flat leaf parsley. Instead he got me curly.’ I could tell, when he was talking to me, that he was holding his breath. What did he think I was going to say? “No hunny, that is completely unacceptable. I need you to drive to another city, to see if they are possibly unaffected by this parsley shortage debacle. And if that city is dry of flat leaf, I’m going to need you to go ahead and drive to the next state. Don’t bother coming home with that curly stuff.” Lol. I know I’m a little crazy, but I’m not that freggin’ cray-cray! Or am I?
Never mind, don’t answer that question. Instead let’s talk about these mind-blowingly delicious Jack Daniels Glazed Chicken Meatballs. I haven’t been to TGI Fridays since dinosaurs wondered the earth, but I do remember their Jack Daniels glazed menu items. And I know people are nuts-o over those dishes, mostly because I get a promotional flyer for them at least once a week. Last week, when I went to throw away the flyer, like normal, I paused and totally had one of those light bulb moments. I decided I absolutely had to recreate that glaze, stat. Obviously, that’s exactly what I did. 🙂 However, this Jack Daniels glaze is a million times better than TGI Fridays (#SorryNotSorry). Why, you ask? First of all, this glaze is made with love. That secret ingredient alone makes everything taste better. Second, you know exactly what is in it, which is always a huge plus. Third, it is slightly thicker, so the glaze coats and lovingly hugs the nooks and crannies of the meatballs. The glaze is also perfectly balanced: slightly sweet and a bit boozy, with a touch of a spicy kick on the back end. All in all, it’s epically delicious. You could easily slurp up the glaze on its own. And you can most definitely use this glaze on anything: chicken breast, tofu, pork, beef ribs…. Limitless possibilities.
But then you would miss out on the meatballs, which are magnificent. Soft, moist, meltingly tender and baked for an overall healthy, delicious chicken meatball. As far as the ground chicken for the meatballs, you want to be sure not to use all ground breast meat. I know, I know ‘but you like chicken breast!’ Just trust me on this one. If you use all ground breast meat, you will end up with a dry chicken meatball. And you want a juicy meat-a-balla! Right? Right!
I served my Jack Daniels Glazed Chicken Meatballs in a fondue pot with the burner lit to keep the meatballs warm. I found the fondue pot to be a perfect little vessel for serving these meatballs. However, you could certainly transfer these to a crockpot if transporting them to a party, then set it on warm when ready to serve. Or, you could just eat these immediately, and not futz with serving them in anything cutesy. Your call.
Enough chit-chat. Let’s get to rocking and rolling out some boozy, sticky meatballs! Until next time, Cheers!
-xoxo-
Cheyanne
Jack Daniels Glazed Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
- Meatballs:
- 1 pound Ground Chicken (preferably NOT all ground chicken breast)
- 3 Cloves Garlic – minced
- ½ Small Yellow Onion – finely diced (about ½ cup)
- 3 TBS Curly Parsley Leaves - Minced
- ½ Cup Panko Breadcrumbs
- ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- ½ tsp Dried Oregano
- 1 tsp Poultry Seasoning
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Large Egg – beaten
- 2 TBS Buttermilk
- Glaze: (yields roughly 1 cup)
- ¾ Cup Unsalted Chicken Stock
- 1 Cup Pineapple Juice
- 1/3 Cup Teriyaki Sauce
- 1 ½ TBS Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar , packed
- 3 TBS Lemon Juice
- ¼ Cup Yellow Onion – finely diced (about a quarter of a medium sized onion)
- 3 Cloves Garlic - minced
- ¼ Cup Jack Daniels Whiskey
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 TBS + 1 tsp Cornstarch
Instructions
- For the Glaze: In a medium sized saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the stock, pineapple juice, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar. Bring contents to a boil.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients, except for the Cornstarch.
- Immediately reduce to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer glaze, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, about 1 hour.
- Mix the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water. Slowly whisk into the glaze. Continue to simmer until thickened to desired consistency, about 5 additional minutes.
- Meanwhile, Make the Meatballs: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up.
- In a large mixing bowl combine all of the meatball ingredients. Use your hands to mix ingredients together, being sure NOT to over mix the meatballs. For medium sized meatballs, scoop 2 tablespoons of chicken mixture into hands and form into a ball. Place onto prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer inserted into a meatball reads 165 degrees F.
- Toss the meatballs with the glaze.
- Serve immediately with additional glaze on the side for dipping.
Notes
*Glaze can be made a day in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Reheat in a small saucepan over medium low heat until warmed throughout, stirring occasionally. Toss with hot meatballs.
*Glazed meatballs will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to three days.
*To reheat glazed meatballs: Place in a medium sized saucepan over medium low heat and cook, stirring occasionally until warmed throughout.
Nutrition
*Glaze heavily adapted from Top Secret Recipes
This was my first visit to your site and saw these and just had to let you know these were amazing. Friday’s has always been one my three go-to restaurants for casual dining. I am curious, do you have a recipe for their rice pilaf? I didn’t know I liked rice until I tried theirs and I can’t find a copycat for it anywhere.
Hi Teresa,
I’m so thrilled to hear you enjoyed the meatballs!! Thank you for coming back and letting me know how it went over!
Unfortunately, I do not have a copycat recipe for their rice pilaf. And, in full disclosure, I’ve never actually tried their rice. However, from glancing at it on their site, it looks as though they just cook jasmine rice pilaf-style with garlic and finely diced yellow onions, and then stir in diced red bell pepper and fresh minced parsley before serving. I would say you can probably easily recreate it at home. I’d prepare your favorite jasmine rice pilaf recipe (make sure you use broth, onion and garlic when cooking it) and then stir in the bell peppers and parsley. Hopefully that gets you close to theirs! Sorry I couldn’t provide a recipe for you!!
All the best,
Cheyanne
What othee meat do you suggest i use with the ground chicken? Ground turkey?
Hi Samantha,
You can absolutely substitute ground turkey if desired! Cheers!!
Hi I was wondering if you could do these with ground beef?
Hi Linda,
While I have never tried using ground beef for these meatballs myself, I don’t see why it couldn’t be substituted for the ground chicken. If you try it, let me know how it goes! Thank you so much for stopping by! Cheers!
Alright, these look great, probably gonna make ’em today!
One thing, though:
I really enjoyed your tale of the quest for flat-leaf parsley, then I notice your recipe calls for CURLY!
Is that right? ‘Cause I’m totally gonna use flat-leaf anyway, LOL!
RoadLord- Thank you for stopping by and actually enjoying my rambling on about my “quest”. 🙂 The recipe calls for curly, because that is all I could find during the very strange parsley shortage that went on around the Orlando area. You can most certainly use flat-leaf! I would have! However, flat-leaf is slightly more potent. So if you don’t want a lot of parsley flavor, you might want to cut the amount a tad. Cheers and thank you so much for stopping by!!
Yes! I am all about boozy sticky meatballs! Delicious!
Annie, you and me both Girlie! You can’t really go wrong with booze and meatballs, right?! 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by (and loving a boozy glazed meatball as much as I do). Cheers!
These look amazing! We are a brand new blog and would love love love if you took a look around our blog! There is a recipe for Crunchy Chickpeas that we think you might like. http://www.almondandoat.com
Sophia, Thanks for stopping by and welcome to the food blog-e-sphere 🙂 I’m a newbie blogger too (still in my first year), and I am all for supporting one another! I will definately go check out your blog! Cheers!
I would eat all of these in one sitting!
Rachel, LOL… I had to refrain myself from doing just that! Well, and I knew Boy (husband) would kill me if I didn’t save him any 😉 Thank you so much for stopping by! Cheers!!
Um, yes please! These look like the perfect Friday (at home!) happy hour treat 🙂
April, totally the perfect way to start the weekend. A little Jack for the Glaze and a little Jack for your drink (if you are 21 and older of course! Lol) cheers… literally! 🙂
Take that, TGI Fridays!!! haha This is a great post and recipe and that’s a good man you got there!
Tammy, your comments always have me giggling! Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving me with a huge smile on my face! **and of course for proving great writting and recipes on your own blog, that I drool over and love!!** ♡Cheers, pretty lady!
OMG! that looks sooo good!!! Delicious! Bravo!
Gaila, Thanks girl! I’ll totally accept that praise 🙂 Mostly because the glaze with these chicken meatballs is just that good 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and Cheers!
That glaze is glistening with gooey Jack Daniels sauce looks delicious
Mary, Glaze rocks the house. Definately wayyyy better than TGI Fridays… just don’t tell them I said that! 🙂 xoxo
Oh no you did not!! Jack Daniel’s glazed anything is a big thumbs up in my book. I’ll put this glaze on top of itself and eat it! But I’ll probably try it with these lovely meatballs first. P.S. Your Hubby is too sweet driving all around town to get you the correct parsley. P.S.S. I bought up all the flat leafed parsley and I’m not sorry…
Karrie, I could totally drink the glaze alone too.. so freggin’ good! I did happen to lick my fingers clean, multiple times 🙂 If you lived in Orlando still, I would totally believe that you bought up all the dang parsley! lol. Cheers, chick-a-dee!!