Guys, I think these are the best little meatballs I’ve ever made.
This recipe intrigued me. These little meatballs are made with ground chicken and are seasoned with onions, mint, parsley, coriander, cumin, and lemon. Coriander and cumin for a Greek meatball? I found that unusual so I knew I had to try it.
These meatballs are so delicious. The mint and parsley are definitely the key flavors which are quite lovely and very quintessentially Greek. You don’t taste the coriander or cumin. Maybe that’s a good thing? Or maybe they do help what was otherwise boring ground chicken and I don’t realize it? Either way, I don’t think I’d alter the ingredients because I love them just the way they are. My husband would prefer less mint and lemon and more cumin, but that didn’t stop most of them from disappearing into him.
You can serve these hot, warm, or cold. They make a lovely appetizer or meal. We enjoyed them for dinner with rice, Mediterranean salad, and tzatziki (cucumber yogurt dip).
Chicken Keftedes – Meatballs Recipe
(Makes 24 small meatballs)
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup panko crumbs
- 1/8 cup milk
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- lemon zest from half of a lemon
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup of olive oil
Directions:
- In a small bowl, add the panko crumbs and milk and set it aside. This will allow some time for the panko crumbs soak up the milk.
- In a large bowl, add the finely chopped onion, chopped fresh parsley, dried mint, cumin, coriander, salt, lemon zest, lightly beaten egg, ground chicken, and panko/milk mixture. Mix everything together.
- Shape the mixture into heaping tablespoon sized balls. I used Oxo Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop to help consistently scoop out the same amount of mixture per meatball. You will get about 24 small chicken meatballs.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large skillet on a stove top, on medium/high heat, add the olive oil. If you are cooking the chicken meatballs in batches (because they will not all fit), add only 1/8 cup of olive oil and then add more with the next batch if you need it. (The oven part comes later.)
- Cook the chicken meatballs until they are browned on a couple sides, but not fully cooked.
- Place the partially cooked chicken meatballs into an oven safe dish and then bake them in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the chicken meatballs reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- Remove the cooked meatballs and serve, store, or snack on.
Source: Sweet Greek Shop (via her Instagram)
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