Asian Chicken Meatballs
Saucy mini chicken meatballs in a delicious Asian inspired sauce that are SUPER tender and easy to prepare. Perfect for your next holiday party!
Pair the meatballs with Feta Cheese Dip and Mediterranean Flatbread for a festive spread.
Asian Chicken Meatballs
Chicken meatballs that are tender, juicy, saucy, and mini. How perfect is that?! Plus, did I mention that these are baked and then coated in the most delicious sweet and tangy sauce.
These Asian chicken meatballs make a delicious appetizer for any occasion. They come together really easily and can be made in advance.
Make the Chicken Meatballs
If you’ve been following me for a while then you know that I have a very special meatball recipe. It’s my mom’s recipe and it never disappoints. I’ve tweaked it a number of times in recipes such as orecchiette with baked mini chicken meatballs and crockpot sesame meatballs.
It’s a chicken meatball recipe that is super moist, tender, and almost fall apart good. The secret is plenty of grated onion and a little bit of sour cream. These two simple ingredients make the best chicken meatballs.
Other than that, the recipe is very simple. You combine the Panko and milk in a bowl. Let the Panko absorb the milk. Then add the ground chicken, eggs, onion, sour cream, salt, and pepper.
The mixture will be really wet but if you allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes before rolling it will be much easier to work with. It will still be on the wet side but not as sticky.
Then roll the mixture into mini meatballs, about 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Broil the meatballs for 3-4 minutes or just until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and set aside while preparing the sauce.
Make the Asian Sauce
The sauce is the perfect combination of sweet and savory. It’s so easy to make and works with other recipes too! You’ll need a large skillet or dutch oven to fit the sauce and all of the meatballs.
To make the sauce, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Cook the sauce until the sugar dissolves.
Then gently add the meatballs and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through about 7-9 minutes.
Right before serving garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
Katya’s TIP: These meatballs serve well with mini cocktail forks or toothpicks.
To Make Ahead
Meatballs can be rolled and broiled up to 1 day in advance. Cool the meatballs and store covered in the refrigerator until ready to add to the sauce.
Serving Suggestions
Make an appetizer spread by serving Asian chicken meatballs with other holiday favorite appetizers such as:
- Artichoke Tomato and Spinach Flatbread
- Healthy 7-Layer Dip
- Crudité Platter
- White Cheddar and Cranberry Dip
Or turn these meatballs into a main course by serving them alongside these side dishes:
- Asian Green Bean Recipe
- Red Skin Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- Pineapple Rice
- Cauliflower and Ricotta Mash
- Oven Roasted Broccoli
Asian Chicken Meatballs
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: about 60 meatballs 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Asian
Description
Saucy mini chicken meatballs in a delicious Asian inspired sauce that are SUPER tender and easy to prepare. Perfect for your next holiday party!
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 cup plain Panko breadcrumbs, white or whole wheat
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 2 large eggs
- 4 Tbsp. grated onion (about 1 small)
- 2 Tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbsp. sour cream
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
Sauce
- 3/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 2 Tbsp. green onions, sliced
- 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
Instructions
- Make the meatballs: Add breadcrumbs to a large bowl. Pour milk over the breadcrumbs and let stand for 5 minutes or until the breadcrumbs absorb the milk.
- Add chicken, eggs, onion, cilantro, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Combine the mixture using your hands. It will be wet and sticky. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. It will be easier to roll.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls and set on the prepared baking sheet. If the mixture is still sticky, rub a little olive oil over the palm of your hands before rolling the meatballs.
- Set the oven rack about 9 inches from the heat source and broil the meatballs for 3-4 minutes on HIGH without flipping. The tops will be lightly (barely) golden and the inside raw. Remove and set aside while preparing the sauce.
- Make the sauce: In a dutch oven or large skillet, combine all the sauce ingredients, except for the green onions and sesame seeds. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer over medium-low heat and cook until the sugar dissolves.
- Stir in the meatballs and cook until the meatballs are completely cooked through about 7-9 minutes. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds before serving.
Notes
- Meatballs might be a little flat on the bottom when baked.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 meatballs
- Calories: 169
- Sugar: 18.5 g
- Sodium: 510.2 mg
- Fat: 3.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.4 g
- Protein: 8.4 g
- Cholesterol: 51.2 mg
Keywords: mini meatballs, holiday meatballs
Can you freeze the meatballs and prepare and serve later?
I would like to make 3-4 days in advance, freeze, heat and serve with the Asian sauce.
You can definitely do that!
Can you cook the meatballs first then put them in a crockpot instead of on a skillet?
I would imagine you could. I’ve never tried it with this specific recipe though.
The meatballs were flat on the bottom when put on baking sheet and broiled. Also were hard. What do you recommend to make moist snd round?
They shouldn’t be hard at all. Did you make any substitutions?
Maybe just a drop less onion. They were very soft before cooking and were flat on bottom because they were so soft. Should that happen?
meatballs are tender and juicy. We are non-dairy so i used chicken stock instead of milk and sour cream but the sauce was delicious…I used chicken thighs, mixed all of the ingredients together and ran them through my meat grinder to mix. I doubled the sauce since we are a saucy crowd and they made a great super bowl treat! Thanks a lot for sharing!
So glad to hear that! Thank you.
I tried it. Very tasty recipe. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
I made this recipe and enjoyed it and thank you to the author for an easy recipe. I would like to share my 2 cents for anyone who wants to make it less sweet. It may seem obvious but since I made this mistake some one else may be thinking same way. LOL
I wanted to make it low carb and less sweet so used 1/3 brown sugar and 1/3 cup monk fruit sweetener in sauce . Also used almond flour instead of bread crumbs. It turned good until I added meat balls to sauce. It was tooooo salty. If anyone else decides to reduce sugar also reduce the soy sauce and salt in sauce. Otherwise balance of ingredients will be off. Overall quantity of sauce was more than enough for me. I will be trying again with my suggested tweak and one serving is sauce again soon.
I loved this recipe. The only tweak was that I didn’t add any sugar at all, but added a little extra honey instead. Tasted amazing! I’m making them to take to a pot luck tonight. They look as good as they taste. Thankyou!
★★★★★
Thank you!
the kids loved it! It is a little bit sweet as a main coure, but I it would be AWESOME for an appy!
★★★★★
That’s great! Thank you for your feedback.
Wow… I am so happy to have found this recipe it was delicious. My husband and I both loved them. The only thing I changed was using Italian style panko because it was all I had, I think it made it more flavorful. Highly recommend these… they were moist but not the least bit soggy.
★★★★★
Thank you Wrenn! So glad you enjoyed the meatballs. I appreciate your feedback!
Just made these today. Sooooo good!! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
★★★★★
Thank you!
So happy I found a recipe for these!
The Chinese restaurant we always went to (and occasionally go to now, because it’s one of our favorites!) recently stopped serving these and I was SO disappointed. I’ve been searching for a recipe for them! Can’t wait to try these!!
I hope you get a chance to try these soon Alliee! Thanks so much 🙂
I love this recipe! I just made sesame chicken yesterday and I’m still craving that flavor, this sounds like a fun alternative!!
Thanks so much Mary Ann! I hope you get a chance to try these.
At which temperature did you broil the meatballs in the oven??
Hi Jennifer! On HIGH temperature.
On my oven you set to broil and select a temperature. So would high be 400-450.
Yes you want high temperature
I would think at least 500 for broiler.
Perfect weeknight dinner. Thank you and have a pleasant day !
★★★★★
Thank you!