Give your next family dinner a delicious upgrade with these tender, juicy, and ridiculously simple Chicken Thai Meatballs baked in the oven. Featuring a flavorful mix of aromatic herbs, spices, and a sticky-sweet sauce that will transport your tastebuds straight to the streets of Bangkok, these Thai meatballs are like a little bite of heaven!Recipe can be scaled up or down by using the slider if you hover your mouse over the number of Servings.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
Mix Meatballs: In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground 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 over-mix or over-work the meatball mixture.
Form Meatballs: Spray your hands with non-stick cooking spray or lightly wet them with water to prevent the meatball mixture from sticking to your hands. Then,roll the chicken mixture into golf ball-sized balls (about 2 tablespoons mixture each). Transfer meatballs to prepared baking sheet.(Tip: If the meatball mixture feels too wet, add more panko, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it holds together and is easier to shape.)
Bake Meatballs for 20-25 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer inserted into a meatball reads 165 degrees F.
While Meatballs Bake, Make the Sauce: In a skillet or wok, combine all the ingredients for the sauce, plus the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and 1 tablespoon of ginger. Whisk to thoroughly combine. Then, place the pan over medium heat on the stovetop and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer. Once simmering, immediately reduce heat to medium-low. Cook the sauce, stirring occasionally, for about 5-7 minutes or until sauce is thickened to your liking. Turn the heat off under the pan, but keep pan on burner to keep it warm.
Add Meatballs to Sauce: When meatballs are done baking, transfer them from the baking sheet to the sauce in the skillet. Gently toss and stir to coat the chicken meatballs in the Thai sauce.
Garnish, Serve: Transfer meatballs to a platter or serve straight from the pan. Sprinkle your favorite garnishes over the meatballs and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
Chicken: This 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!
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.
Mixing Meatballs: When mixing the ingredients for the meatballs, make sure you do NOT over-mix!! Mix everything until the ingredients are JUST combined. Over-mixing the ingredients will cause your meatballs to be less tender.
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.
Forming Meatballs: 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).
Meatball Size: 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.
Recipe Yield: approximately 26-28 meatballs
Nutritional information is an estimate based upon 6 servings. Exact information will depend upon the brands of ingredients and precise measurements used.