Chicken Meatballs with Tomato-Balsamic Glaze
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Winner, winner meatball dinner! Quick, easy, and irresistibly tasty, these baked chicken meatballs with a tangy glaze make the perfect fuss-free family supper.
If you’re looking for an alternative to traditional meatballs or turkey meatballs in marinara sauce, these light and elegant chicken meatballs fit the bill. I love them with mashed potatoes, puréed cauliflower, polenta, or buttered noodles for a quick and easy weeknight meal. They also make a delicious appetizer—just make them smaller and spear them with toothpicks.
Table of Contents
“I made a triple recipe of these for a family dinner…Everyone loved them, especially my younger grandsons.”
What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Meatballs With Tomato-Balsamic Glaze
When purchasing ground chicken, stay away from extra-lean all breast meat; if the meat is too lean, the meatballs will come out dry and lacking in flavor.
Tomato paste can be purchased in a small can or tube. While I use canned here, the tubed variety is more practical because you can use just what you need and store it in the fridge until you need it again. To preserve canned tomato paste longer, freeze it in tablespoon-sized portions (use an ice cube tray or put tablespoon-sized portions on a cookie sheet). Once frozen, transfer these portions into a freezer-safe plastic bag for future use.
The recipe calls for pecorino Romano cheese, a hard Italian sheep milk cheese. It is similar to Parmigiano Reggiano, in that both cheeses have salty, umami-rich flavors, but pecorino Romano is saltier, tangier, and stronger in flavor.
Step-by-Step Instructions
To begin, combine the egg, parsley, tomato paste, garlic, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Mix well with a wire whisk, making sure the tomato paste is completely dissolved.
Add the ground chicken, grated cheese and breadcrumbs.
Use your hand to mix the ingredients together; it will be somewhat wet.
Using wet hands, form medium-sized balls and place into an ungreased 9-x-13-in baking dish.
Next, make the glaze by combining the tomato paste, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small bowl.
Whisk to combine.
Brush the glaze evenly over the meatballs.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball registers 160°F. Remove from the oven and serve.
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Chicken Meatballs with Tomato-Balsamic Glaze
Winner, winner meatball dinner! Quick, easy, and irresistibly tasty, these baked chicken meatballs with a tangy glaze make the perfect fuss-free family supper.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound ground chicken (preferably Purdue, not extra lean all breast meat)
- ½ cup grated pecorino Romano cheese
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Italian seasoned bread crumbs
For the Glaze
- 1½ tablespoons tomato paste
- 1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- In a large bowl, combine the egg, parsley, tomato paste, garlic, milk, salt and pepper. Mix well with a wire whisk, making sure the tomato paste is completely dissolved.
- Add the ground chicken, grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Use your hand to mix the ingredients together; it will be somewhat wet. Form medium-sized balls and place into an ungreased 9-x-13-in baking dish.
- Make the glaze by combining all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Brush evenly over the meatballs. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a meatball registers 160°F. Remove from the oven and serve.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cooked meatballs can be frozen, with their glaze, for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to serve, thaw them in the fridge and then reheat them, tightly covered with foil, in a 300°F oven, until hot in the center.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 meatball
- Calories: 119
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Sugar: 1 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 10 g
- Sodium: 161 mg
- Cholesterol: 54 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Jenn, if all I can find is ground breasts and I grind my own, what should I use…breast. thighs or a combo? Would I still use one pound of meat or a little more? Last question, can i sub Panko?
Hi Carol, I’d use a combination of breast and thigh meat and I’d stick to a pound. And, yes, panko should be fine. Enjoy!
I am unclear about your instructions for freezing; do I defrost first or go directly from freezer to oven? Thank you.
Hi Andi, Sorry it’s not clear – you should thaw them first. I will add that to the freezer-friendly instructions. Hope that helps!
Jenn,
These chicken meatballs are extraordinary with your BBQ sauce (half of ingredients for sauce) from your turkey meatloaf recipe. Simply delicious with egg noodles and vegetable side.
Cheers!
Great idea!!!
🙏 Thank you !!!😊
Made the meatballs ..so tasty … we loved them.
With Dutch potatoes with sour cream and spinach ..from my garden… and a glass of Chardonnay
I plan to make this for my family and am bringing to another family for the first time. I see in your new cookbook there is similar recipe (with pancetta)- which version do you suggest for my first time?
They’re both good, but I’d probably go with the pancetta as it gives an additional punch of flavor. Hope you all enjoy!
We are always excited when this comes up in our food rotation, and honestly something has to be really really good to make it into the rotation. We have to double the recipe to have leftovers and even the leftovers go fast. Thank you Jen for sharing such an amazing recipe.
Can I prepare the meatballs the night before and then put into the oven the next day. Perhaps using the glaze right before they go in the oven?
Sure, Michelle, that’s fine. Hope you enjoy!
Made these meatballs tonight as my husband has had some health issues and not eating much and thought he might enjoy them. Well I certainly guessed right as he actually ate the best meal in many weeks. They were so moist and delicious. Love all your recipes & I recommend them to my daughter for her family. Thanks Jenn.
These were excellent! My only regret is that I haven’t made these sooner for my family. I served the meatballs paired with your string beans and shallot recipe. Another one of our favorite sides!
Thanks once again, Jenn, for a delicious recipe! After sampling the first few meatballs, I have put the rest in the freezer for family visits. I really appreciate that many of your recipes can be made ahead! I know everyone will be happy with these yummy meatballs!!
FYI — No one had any Purdue chicken & I searched at several stores but was unable to find ground chicken thighs of any brand! I requested that the butchers grind up the packaged thighs that they had for sale but they said they aren’t allowed to grind it because of cross-contamination. One of the butchers offered to take a package of thighs & put it through his tenderizing/cubing machine several times, but the unhappy result was mashed-up meat full of tendons etc. that was impossible to use. I managed to free up a small amount of actual thigh meat from that process, but had to add it to the regular lean ground chicken (breast?) meat that was available. After all that, however, the result was amazing!
I have a question about the Tomato Balsamic Sauce. I made double to have extra for dipping, & I prepared it exactly as you direct in your recipe, but the sauce seems much thicker than what is shown on your website. I used extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, & canned tomato paste, & sugar. It’s very thick, not at all pour-able, mounding & almost standing up on its own, & it is somehow separating from the oil. I even tried whirling it in the blender. Do you have any suggestions on how to remedy this situation? Should I use tomato sauce instead of tomato paste? And if we want less tart flavor, for the children’s sake, would you recommend adding some cream or using more sugar or less balsamic vinegar, or ???
Thanks again for being such a ready help in time of need !!
Hi Toni, Glad you like the meatballs, Regarding the sauce, the texture that you’re describing is really just the nature of the glaze. It’s thick by design so that it will stick to the meatballs and not really intended for dipping. That said, you could try thinning it out with a little bit of water. That will serve to thin it and also temper the flavor a little bit. Hope that helps!
Can I use the beef turkey meatballs I made and froze last week …or will that combo alter the taste too much? If so I will get ground chicken!
Thanks
If you already have meatballs, made, I’d go for it. Please LMK what you think!