Mini Chicken Meatballs?! You mean they’re tiny and bite-sized and perfectly loaded with Parmesan cheese?! Yes, friends. That’s exactly what I mean.
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These meatballs were DELICIOUS, and I have never before eaten a meatball I liked. We’ll be making these again and again.
Monica
A few days ago I posted a recipe for that super quick 5 Minute Romesco Sauce. You were happy, I was happy, our blenders were happy – in general we all liked what was going on with that sauce .
But then I went and made lots of things with the sauce, one of those things being Mini Chicken Meatballs, and I was convicted – what kind of food blog friend would I be if I didn’t also show you the most delicious way that this sauce has manifested itself into a full blown dinner recipe? Not a good one. This is Deliciousness Level: Shout From The Rooftops and so that’s exactly what I’m going to do except my rooftop is more like a little corner of the internet and my shouting is more like nerdy-fast fingers flying across a keyboard. BUT WE’RE DOING THIS.
Mini Chicken Meatballs (plus crispy potatoes plus two kinds of sauce not even sorry), here we come.
I’m not going to lie to you – we made these a few times and I started to get a little sick of them after a while. It was mainly for two reasons – 1) they were in my life for like 8 meals in a row, and 2) they were too big.
Enter: Mini Concept.
I wanted them to keep their round shape better than the large ones, and I also wanted them to have a higher surface area to inside ration (these are the crazy things I think about when it comes to food). So we made them into these little mini two-bite meatballs and BOOM. Just like that, all was right in the chicken meatball world.
They get perfectly golden brown (with a good balance per bite of outside to inside textures) and they can be eaten in just two bites with a fork – no need to cut anything in half just to get a good amount of sauce coverage.
Speaking of sauce coverage.
I’ll just tell you what I did and you can work with it however you want:
I pan-fried the mini chicken meatballs and the potatoes. I topped it all with Romesco Sauce which I had simmered for a while with some water to make it the right consistency. I added some leftover chimichurri from our arepa party the night before. Topped with parm and parsley? Doneso.
Other ideas for these Mini Chicken Meatballs:
- Cook it all in the crockpot. Meatballs won’t get as pretty, but it will work. We tried it.
- Bake it. Also tried this. Again, the Mini Chicken Meatballs will be more of a pale-ish color situation vs. that nice golden brown, but think of the Instagram surfing you could get in with all that saved time.
- Freeze it. Either freeze the fully cooked meatballs or freeze them raw so they can be popped into the oven or the crockpot at a hangry moment’s notice.
- Use a different sauce. I adored this Romesco sauce with it (especially when turbo boosted with a few spoonfuls of chimichurri) but you could quite easily use another sauce with excellent results. The meatballs shall forgive. If you’ve got a good jar of something or another favorite homemade sauce recipe, feel free to use and DEFINITELY leave me a comment to tell me about it.
So there it is – kind of an unusual one for Pinch of Yum maybe -> a big bowl of beautiful golden browned Mini Chicken Meatballs + Crispy Potatoes all loaded with Romesco Sauce and Chimichurri.
Mwah.
Mini Chicken Meatballs with Crispy Potatoes and Romesco
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Mini Chicken Meatballs – super easy recipe made with chicken, breadcrumbs, Parm, garlic, eggs, salt. Served with crispy potatoes and a 5-minute Romesco sauce!
Ingredients
Mini Chicken Meatballs:
- 2 lbs. ground chicken
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese (grated very finely)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- pinch of dried oregano
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Other Stuff:
- 1 1/2 lb. baby golden yukon potatoes, cut into small bite sized pieces
- additional olive oil for pan-frying
- Romesco sauce
- Chimichurri sauce if you wanna get REALLY punchy
- salt to taste
Instructions
- MEATBALLS: Combine all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl until well-mixed. Roll into small 2-bite balls and place on a large baking sheet. Add more breadcrumbs if necessary to get the mixture to hold its shape when rolled. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a large non-stick or heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs in batches and turn every few minutes until the exterior is golden brown and the inside is fully cooked.
- POTATOES: In the same pan that you fried the meatballs, pan-fry the potatoes for about 10 minutes with a little more olive oil and salt. They should be golden brown and crispy when finished.
- Serve the meatballs with the potatoes and any and all sauces you love. Namely, ROMESCO SAUCE. You can do the sauce hot or cold, and you can compliment it with a bright and herby finish like chimichurri or just a little extra lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Parmesan. If you do the sauce hot, I recommend simmering it first with a little bit of additional liquid to help it loosen up.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Spanish-Inspired
Keywords: chicken meatballs, potatoes, romesco sauce, crispy potatoes
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of savory meatball recipes. Check it out!
Hello! Iām thinking about making this recipe this week, but I have two questions. Could I make the romesco sauce with chives instead of parsley, or another herb? Do you have any green sauces from the blog I could make with this instead of the linked chimicurri recipe?
this is amazing! the sauces 100% take this dish from meatball weeknight to fancy meatballs during the week. Yum!
These meatballs with the sauce and potatoes are absolutely amazing! Just made this recipe for the first time last week and making it again a week later by request from the teenager and the husband. Fairly simple and very fresh tasting. The chimichurri set the dish onto the next level for us. We will definitely be making this again and again!
What temperature setting and how long in the crockpot would you cook these after being frozen (assuming they would be thawed first)?
Made these today and loved themāthe mini size is key! I spritzed with a little oil and baked them at 400 for about 15 mins. They got decently brown and were very tasty! Ran across Romescu dip and Zhoug sauce at Trader Joeās and used those as a shortcut to mimic the sauces you describeāIām sure the sauces from scratch are much better but it helped me get dinner on the table a little quicker. š Weāll get a lot of meals out of these versatile meatballsāfroze a bunch of the meatballs for another day. Thanks for this great recipe!
Love a good shortcut! š
Please forgive my misspelling of Romesco!
I just saw this recipe, and I feel like you should put together a collection of this and other mini/fun things for a āBites of Happyā series, to bring everyone a little joy during quarantine š I know just seeing āmini chicken meatballsā made me smile and think, How Fun!
How fun! Thanks for sharing this idea with us, Brittany! We’ll chat about it as a team. š
this was an amazing recipe! especially the romesco sauce! we all loved it!
So glad to hear it, Johnny!
the simplicity in this recipe is amazing, i am saving this for later!
Hi Lindsay!
I hope you are well. I noticed the chimichurri recipe in the link uses Parsley. I thought it’s typically made with Cilantro? Also, for the breadcrumbs- does this recipe use Panko as well? Can I bake instead of pan fry these meatballs like your previous recipe suggests? Sorry for all of questions!
Appreciate your feedback. I’ve tried many of your recipes and they are phenomenal!
Kindest,
Fay
I can answer all of this! I made these tonight with both sauces and yes, I put both cilantro and parsley in the green sauce. I used veggie chicken in the meatballs but yes, i used panko for the breadcrumbs and then baked them in mini-muffin tins at 375 for about 20 minutes, turning them over once. Everything turned out perfectly! I loved the recipe.
You are the only cooking website I’ve ever followed – love your stuff and love your writing. Trying to throw a “real” vegetable in this (no offense potatoes) and trying to think what would mix well-roasted eggplant? spinach? any ideas?
I think eggplant would be a great sub! Or some sweet potatoes. š
For some reason this won’t let me choose 5 stars but this definitely deserves it! I made this recipe with both sauces last summer and it was absolutely fantastic. The sauces were to die for! It was so good I had to to find it again for another go round! It’s only my husband and me so I plan to freeze half of everything (especially want some of the sauces frozen in small amounts to add to other things) so we have it again soon. Thanks for the great recipe!
Glad to hear that, Dalia!
Missed your Romesco sauce recipe.
Please leave again.thank you.
Of course! Here it is: https://pinchofyum.com/romesco-sauce
I plan on making these this week, but curious as to how you made them in the crockpot. Please share š
Thanks!
Hi Cassie! You essentially just skip the pan frying and combine the potatoes and meatballs in a crockpot and cook until the meatballs are done and potatoes are soft. š We’d estimate 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
I really like your recipes because you have mentioned number of recipes that can be cooked at home, It would be waste of time if order kebab delivery without trying these recipes at home.
I made this last night and it was delicious!! I don’t really like potatoes or chicken (made it with my husband in mind), but I loved it! I added parm to the sauce too! š Can’t get enough cheese…Shared the recipe with many friends already.
Hi – do you cook the pots before frying them. Love the posts
Hi Nicky! Are you referring to the potatoes? If so, no cooking before frying! The Yukon Gold Potatoes cook pretty fast. š
Thanks yes sorry lazy typing – pots aka potatoes. Brill – will try to find those in Aus
These meatballs were DELICIOUS, and I have never before eaten a meatball I liked. We’ll be making these again and again.
So glad to hear it, Monica!
Yummy
We made these for dinner last night and they were truly delicious. I have very picky kids and they gobbled them all up, romesco sauce and all! The only drawback to the recipe was that everyone was back in the kitchen an hour later looking for more food! We split the recipe between 5 people, I served more veggies on the side but everyone was still starving an hour later! Not sure this recipe would stretch to 8 people as it’s not very filling? Will definitely make again though, thanks.
Glad your family enjoyed it, Isabel!
How many batches of the Romesco sauce would you do? This recipe is 8 servings, and the sauce is 4, so I’m assuming two batches?
That would probably be best to ensure you have enough!
looks yummy! wish i knew how to cook
I made this for dinner and added some greens to the potatoes in the last few minutes they were cooking. I used kale and it was delicious! Gave it a little green so it wasn’t just meat and potatoes. Loved the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it, Kyra!
The chicken meatballs dish is simply mouth watering. I’m dizzy just looking at it.
Do these freeze well?
Yep, they freeze great!
That was the actual bomb! Finished the meatballs in the oven so they didn’t fall apart and the chimichurri sauce, nommeth!!
Same again tomorrow as I somehow have leftovers!
Glad you loved it! š