There are some meals you can always count on to make everyone happy. At our house spaghetti night, taco night, and pizza night rotate frequently through our menu plan. For spaghetti night I usually make the same ground beef meatballs, so this week I decided to switch things up and try something new.
The new meatball features some of the usual suspects like basil, Parmesan cheese and garlic, so the switch-up came in the form of ground chicken and spinach.
Using a pound of chicken and a 10 ounce box of frozen spinach I was able to make 18 decent sized meatballs-- we had some for dinner and I froze the rest to have on hand for those busy days when dinner needs to be ready in a hurry.
Since it was spaghetti night we had ours over, well, spaghetti. However, I think these would make great sandwiches, as well. Overall, the chicken and spinach meatballs were a nice change from our old stand-by meatballs.
Chicken & Spinach Meatballs
Makes approximately 6 servings
1 pound ground chicken
10 ounce box frozen spinach, thawed, drained and chopped*
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 large garlic gloves, minced
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
a few pinches of salt
a few pinches of pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together until just combined. Form the mixture into golf ball sized balls and place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 360 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
*For the spinach: Be sure to thaw completely and then wrap it in a clean dish towel to wring out all the excess moisture before chopping.
That's a really nice change from a meatball to a chicken ball and they're baked. Best of all, it sounds and looks really tastey without the added calories.
ReplyDeleteThese look really delicious. Now, if I can just convince my family to eat spinach... :)
ReplyDeleteComing from an Italian family, we also frequent meatballs in our menu. i will have to try this to switch things up!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to making these with my daughter--this is a healthy weeknight dinner everyone at the table will enjoy.
ReplyDeleteExcellent recipe! I love Spinach and Im going to try this!
ReplyDeleteLove it!! Your pictures make me want to dive right in!
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful idea! very creative and I love that you used spinach in the meatballs.
ReplyDeleteVery creative and innovative meatballs, I love the combination of chicken and spinach
ReplyDeleteThis looks really good! I just got some organic pepper and Himalayan sea salt from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com and I think I'll try them both out in this recipe over the weekend. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love it when I come across great recipes! Today is a great day :) If you don't mind I'd love to direct our readers to your blog. Just add your choice of widget to this post and you're all set!
ReplyDeleteSo creative and it looks delicious!
ReplyDelete