Recipe Chicken Ricotta Meatballs

[The Late Night Gourmet]

These were hard to work with, because ground chicken is less cohesive than ground beef. The mixture is very sticky once everything was combined. I didn’t see any way I could form them into balls like that. So, I popped the mixture in the freezer for about half an hour to firm up. It worked!

Another thing I like to do when I making sausage or something similar is testing the mixture before putting the whole thing in the oven. I take a little bit of it, cook in a pan on the stove, and adjust the seasoning if I don’t like what I have. By the way, I wanted to use two slices of bacon, but the kids ate all the bacon. So, I used pepperoni slices. I tested the mixture twice before coming up with something I liked. They are a little bit spicy, so adjust the cayenne pepper if you like.


Ingredients

2 pounds ground chicken
4 slices light white bread
1 cup light ricotta
2 eggs
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
15 slices pepperoni, finely chopped
1 tablespoon kosher salt


Directions

1. Roast fennel seeds in a pan on medium heat for about 1 minute, or until browned.

2. Chop bread into chunks, then pulse in food processor until small crumbs form.

3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Test a small amount of the mixture by pan cooking. Adjust seasoning if desired. Chill in the freezer for about half an hour.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

5. Use an ice cream scoop to form mixture into 24 meatballs that are about 1 1/2 ounces each. Arrange in rows on baking sheets.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip over. Bake for another 10 minutes or until done.

 

[Morning Glory]

I imagine the fennel seeds work well in this recipe.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I imagine the fennel seeds work well in this recipe.

It does! I decided to add a sort of Italian sausage aspect, and it worked well.

 

[buckytom]

Lol, I was just thinking the fennel seeds makes it more Italian...

Hey, where's mypinch been lately?

I'm going to have to try this soon. Thanks, LNG.

 

[Slumgullioneer]

Great recipe, Im all for different.
Ground turkey would definitely work well here, and lend itself
to the dish more like ground beef or sausage.
However, its not gonna "taste just like chicken" lol so it would
basically be a different dish.
But it would still be poultry at least.

 

[buckytom]

Yes, I was thinking of trying ground turkey instead of chicken as it is a little more "meaty", slightly less wet/gooey.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Yes, I was thinking of trying ground turkey instead of chicken as it is a little more "meaty", slightly less wet/gooey.

Good point. Chicken breast was chosen because of its health value, not because of its flavor (it's a "blank canvas" type of food that doesn't bring much to the table itself, but works well with whatever you want to throw at it). Chicken thighs would also work for that.

 

[Slumgullioneer]

Exactly, and thats the very reason for the ground turkey,its healthier, and emulates ground beef. You can even make
meatloaf out of it. Plus its cheaper.

 

[buckytom]

My wife makes a very good turkey meatloaf, and Italian style turkey meatballs that are better than my beef and pork meatballs.

I really like the addition of fennel and ricotta in LNG's take on it.

 

[Morning Glory]

I used to think that turkey was a healthier option as it couldn't be factory farmed - but having searched, it seems that I am totally wrong. i was quite shocked to read about the conditions. Even in the UK which has tougher animal welfare legislation, conditions are grim unless you source turkey from a small producer. Also the issue of hormones used to promote growth bothers me. I could post links but its easy enough to research this...