Family Dinner Ideas: Chicken Meatballs Recipe

An easy family dinner, this Chicken Meatballs Recipe is on high rotation with my family. My kids love meatballs and I love that the recipe uses fresh, healthy ingredients.

Chicken Meatballs Recipe

This is a quick and easy recipe (just 15 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to cook) and it’s really versatile too – you can easily adapt it to include whatever vegetables you have in season. For example:

• Spinach may be used as a substitute for kale.
• Add grated zucchini instead of, or as well as, the carrot.
• Passata may be substituted for the equivalent amount of tinned, or freshly chopped tomatoes.
• Orzo pasta is a risoni pasta, rice works equally well.

My children are happy to eat vegetables and don’t mind spotting them in a meal but I would suggest you mince or pulse the kale and beans in a food processor rather than finely chopping them if you prefer to disguise the vegetables.

The chicken meatballs and sauce can be frozen if desired (without the risoni/rice) so I often cook a double batch to cook and freeze as I love feeling organized by having extra meals pre-prepared!

For even more easy chicken dinner recipes, be sure to also check out our Chicken and Vegetable Pie or these Lemon Honey Chicken Skewers. And for more great family dinner ideas, this Sausage and Rice Bake recipe and our super easy Fried Rice are dinner winners!

Yield: Serves 4

Chicken Meatballs Recipe

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An easy family dinner, this Chicken Meatball Recipe is perfect for pre-preparing or batch cooking.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the meatballs

• 400 grams chicken mince
• 1 cup carrot – grated
• 30 grams kale – spine removed and finely chopped
• 85 grams green beans – finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves – finely chopped
• Generous pinch salt

For the sauce

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil of choice
• 900 ml passata
• 1 clove garlic - finely chopped
• 1 small brown onion – finely chopped
• Generous pinch salt

To serve

• Orzo (risoni) pasta
• Parmesan cheese or cheese of choice

Instructions

1. Add the ingredients for the meat balls to a bowl and stir until well combined.
2. Take spoonfuls of meatball mixture and shape balls the size of a walnut. Place each one on a plate until all of the mixture has been used.
3. Using a pan that can be covered with a lid, heat over a medium heat.
4. Add the oil, and then the garlic and onion to soften in the warm pan, stir occasionally.
5. Add the passata and a generous pinch of salt and bring to a simmer.
6. Carefully spoon the meatballs into the passata and cover with the lid, cook for 5 minutes on a medium simmer. Do not use a high simmer or you will evaporate too much of the sauce.
7. Uncover the pan, turn the meatballs and cook for a further  5-7 minutes, or until cooked through
8. Serve topped with parmesan, or grated cheese if the kids prefer.

Notes

Mince or pulse the kale and beans in a food processor rather than finely chopping them if your children aren't a fan of seeing vegetables in their meal.

The chicken meatballs and sauce can be frozen if desired (without the risoni/rice) so I suggest cooking a double batch - one to eat now and one to freeze.

This recipe is super versatile - you can easily adapt it to include whatever vegetables you have in season. For example:

• Spinach may be used as a substitute for kale.
• Add grated zucchini instead of, or as well as, the carrot.
• Passata may be substituted for the equivalent amount of tinned, or freshly chopped tomatoes.
• Orzo pasta is a risoni pasta, rice works equally well.

 For even more family friendly recipes, check out these related ideas;