Thai Chicken Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles
Try this Thai Chicken Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Thai Chicken Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- for the glaze:
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
- 1 pound ground chicken breast
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 garlic cloves grated or finely minced
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
- 3 scallions, whites and light green parts only finely chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 medium zucchinis (this makes 3 servings with 3 meatballs use 3 more zucchinis and double the glaze.)
- Carbohydrate 8.88216231348115 g
- Cholesterol 130.029812733333 mg
- Fat 18.2330578702961 g
- Fiber 3.79971257034858 g
- Protein 29.6745785242592 g
- Saturated Fat 4.21489936566396 g
- Serving Size 1 1 with 3 meatballs per serving (197g)
- Sodium 1007.00689040077 mg
- Sugar 5.08244974313257 g
- Trans Fat 1.37282264933699 g
- Calories 313 calories
Step-by-step
- Put all the ingredients for the meatballs in a medium bowl.
- Using your hands, mix all the ingredients until well combined. (This is a little gross, but also kinda fun.)
- Cover and refrigerate the meatball mixture for 30 minutes to allow the chia seeds to work their gelling magic.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- With damp hands, very gently roll heaping tablespoons of the chicken mixture into balls. (Try not to squeeze the meat too much, dudes. It will make the meatballs tough.)
- Arrange them on the prepared baking sheet, making sure they are not touching.
- You should have approximately 18 balls.
- Transfer the meatballs to the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- Turn the meatballs over and bake for another 10 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.
- While meatballs cook, spiralize the zucchinis with Blade D and trim the noodles.
- In a large skillet, whisk together the ingredients for the glaze.
- Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for about 1 minute until it thickens slightly.
- Add the meatballs to the pan and shake gently to coat them with the glaze.
- Set the meatballs aside and add in the zucchini noodles.
- Cook until al dente, about 5 minutes.
- Divide the zucchini into three plates and top with 3 meatballs per plate.
- Freeze the rest of the meatballs for future use.
Replacing the chia seeds with an equal weight of standard breadcrumbs alters the moisture retention significantly, requiring a watchful eye during the baking process to prevent dryness. Ground chicken breast lacks the natural fat content of beef or pork, meaning structural binders are necessary to hold the protein matrix together while cooking at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Dampening hands before rolling prevents the lean mixture from sticking to palms without adding unwanted flour or oil to the exterior. Light browning across the surface indicates doneness when baking times reach the 20-minute mark, eliminating the need for probing with a thermometer.
Fresh garlic and ginger deliver sharp, volatile aromatic compounds that dissolve rapidly into the glaze during its one-minute reduction. Preserved or tube-based pastes undergo processing that mutes these bright pungencies, producing a flatter flavor profile that requires a compensatory splash of lime juice to lift. Grating fresh root vegetables on a microplane ruptures cell walls efficiently, releasing maximum essential oils into the meat mixture before chilling.
Chilling the shaped or unshaped mixture for 30 minutes allows solidifiable components to hydrate fully and firm up the protein. Rolling the portions loosely ensures steam can escape during the initial ten-minute bake, keeping the interior tender rather than dense. Over-packing the ground poultry results in a rubbery texture that fails to absorb the surrounding sriracha and soy reduction properly.
Zucchini noodles demand high heat for a brief duration to release excess water without turning mushy. Cooking the spiralized squash for five minutes in the skillet achieves an al dente bite that contrasts effectively with the tender poultry. Tossing the noodles immediately after the glaze coats the meatballs utilizes residual pan heat effectively.
