Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

 

Becky and I love Chicken Parmesan. I typically make it about three times a month. I buy a huge bag of frozen chicken breasts from Costco so that I always have the main ingredient on hand. All of the other ingredients are regulars in my pantry and fridge, so it makes for the perfect meal if I don't feel like going to the store.

I was perusing the Interwebs last week and stumbled upon a recipe for Chicken Parmesan made with chicken meatballs. I wish I would have thought of this sooner...but making meatballs with lots of spices is a great way to add some zip to the dish. I could use all of the ingredients I normally employ to give a real kick to my pork and beef meatballs....but with chicken!

So I tried this recipe out last week and I'm here to tell you....it was fabulous! Here you have some very healthy, lean chicken meatballs bathed in a very awesome marinara sauce as well as mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

If you want to make your own marinara sauce, I would use San Marzano tomatoes as the base. But if you want to cut your labor time in half, I would recommend you buy Rao's marinara sauce when you are at your grocery store (also available at Costco). Rao's absolutely crushes the competition in taste tests because it is made with all natural ingredients and no added sugar!

INGREDIENTS

For the Meatballs

1 pound ground chicken

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2  teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2  teaspoon garlic powder

1/2  teaspoon onion powder

1/2  teaspoon salt

1/2  teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

For the Baking Dish

2 cups of marinara sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (or more if you are a cheese lover)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In a large bowl, combine all meatball ingredients. With your hands, mix everything together well, but don't overwork the mixture. Form the meatballs to be roughly golf ball size and set them in an 8-inch square baking dish. Place baking dish in oven and cook for 40 minutes.
3. While meatballs are baking, heat marinara sauce in a large pan over medium heat.
4. When meatballs are done cooking, remove baking dish from oven and drain any liquid from the baking dish. Set oven to broil (rack should be near the top).
5. Pour the hot marinara sauce over the meatballs, then add mozzarella cheese, sufficient to cover all of the marinara sauce. Top mozzarella with the parmesan cheese.
6. Place baking dish back in oven and cook for approximately 5 minutes, until cheese is bubbling and golden brown. Then serve.

Wine pairing: Chianti