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My whole family is in love with these low carb chicken meatballs. Oh my goodness, they're so good!
Mushrooms and almond flour bring out the best in the ground chicken breast - the meatballs brown beautifully when baked and are SO juicy and tender. They are low carb and gluten free. You'll look forward to eating these all day long if this is what's for dinner!
And since they taste extra delicious after chilling in the fridge for a while, they're even better for lunch the next day.
Why you Need to Make These
- They taste amazing - juicy, browned and lovely
- They are versatile - the recipe card will show you how to make these curry flavored (which are so yummy served over rice with a creamy sauce) or flavored with parmesan and Italian seasoning ( which are fantastic with marinara sauce and zucchini noodles)
- They are meal prep friendly - I like to make a double batch of these, bake them, and store the extras in an airtight container to toss into a creamy sauce for dinner on busy nights.
- High in protein, low in carbs - These meatballs fit right into a low carb diet, ketogenic diet, or a gluten free diet.
Everything You Need to Make Low Carb Chicken Meatballs
- Ground chicken breast
- Mushrooms - adds so much flavor, and preserves the juiciness of the chicken which can get dry when its cooked
- Almond flour/almond meal -this is the replacement for bread crumbs. It holds the mixture together in a ball but without adding unnecessary carbs that would have come from bread. The fat in the almond flour adds texture, flavor and moisture.
- Eggs - the binder that holds the ground chicken meatballs together as they bake.
- Spices - curry or Italian, either are good
Chicken Meatballs Go Great With:
- Low carb half calorie rice
- Low carb mashed potatoes
- Low carb keto coleslaw
- Sweet chili cucumber salad
- Use them for spaghetti and meatballs if you change the curry powder to Italian seasoning, and add some parmesan cheese.
- A great recipe for chicken meatballs would be to use the creamy sauce in my Chicken Dijon with Mushrooms and Bacon and swap the chicken pieces for this chicken meatball recipe
Here's How you Make Them
Step 1. Combine chicken and eggs in a bowl.
Step 2. Grind mushrooms in a food processor
Step 3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Step 4.Shape using a wet cookie scoop along with wet hands.
Step 5. Place meatballs on a baking tray.
Step 6. Bake at 400℉ until done, remove with a spatula and serve.
Making Your Own Ground Chicken
You can buy ground chicken breast, but it hasn't always been easy to find in stores in my area. And when I do find it, it's so expensive!
I bought this KitchenAid meat grinder attachment and I use it nearly every week. I make ground chicken breast or thighs when I find chicken on sale. It saves our family a lot of money, and you can get one for under $40! It will more than pay for itself in no time.
Here's what I use:
Buy Now → Do you want to see a tutorial on how I make ground chicken? Scroll down (allll the way down to the bottom of this post) and let me know in the comments and I'll be happy to add it to this post!
Helpful Tips
- Use a cookie scoop
- Get your hands and scoop wet. Lean meat is easier to handle with a little water, then it won't be so sticky.
- The mushrooms and almond flour are important ingredients in this recipe. Without them they will be flat little pancakes.
- If you cook them in a pan, add a lid. These meatballs have a better, more rounded shape if they steam as the cook. After they're almost done, you can take off the lid and let them get brown and crispy.
- Use a meat thermometer to tell when they're done. Overcooked chicken breast can be dry. You're looking for an internal temperature of at least 160℉
Easy Low Carb Chicken Meatballs - Keto Friendly
My whole family is in love with these low carb chicken meatballs. Oh my goodness, they're so good!
Mushrooms and almond flour bring out the best in the ground chicken breast - the meatballs brown beautifully when baked and are SO juicy and tender. They are low carb and gluten free. You'll look forward to eating these all day long if this is what's for dinner!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 40 meatballs, 2 inches 1x
- Category: dinner
- Method: bake
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 and ½ pounds ground chicken
- 8 oz. mushrooms, or about 3 cups
- ⅓ cup almond flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon . salt
- 1 tsp . black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tsp . curry powder, or Italian seasoning, if desired
- 2 large eggs
- Oil of choice, for cooking
Instructions
- In a large bowl, place the ground chicken and eggs.
- In a food processor or mini chopper, finely chop the full 8 oz. of mushrooms.
- Add the mushrooms, almond flour, and spices to the chicken mixture. Mix with wet hands or a wet spoon.
How to Cook in a skillet:
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Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
-
Using a small cookie scoop, form meatballs. You could also use your wet hands to roll meatballs, but I highly recommend the cookie scoop - the meat mixture is very sticky, since there is so little fat in it.
- Place the lid on the skillet. This will help the meatballs steam as they cook, which seems to help them keep their round shape better than when they are cooked in an open pan. Cook and turn frequently ( about every 2-3 minutes) until browned on all sides and no longer pink in the center. Turn them carefully - they are pretty sticky and fragile until they start to cook and turn more solid. You can remove the lid near the end of cooking time to allow the meatballs to get a little more crispy.
How to Bake in the Oven:
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Preheat oven to 400℉. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and brush with a little oil.
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Shape as described above, and as shown in the step by step photos.
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Bake for about 20 minutes or more, depending on how large the meatballs are. An internal temperature of 160℉ is the best way to tell if they are done.
Notes
Notes: If you absolutely cannot find ground chicken you can use ground turkey, although the flavor will be a little different.
Make sure your recipe has a good binder. If you want to keep them low in carbs, that could be eggs, or a moist vegetable like mushrooms or zucchini. Ground chicken is usually very lean. Very lean ground meat does not hold together on its own very well as it cooks
This could be because you added eggs to the recipe that were very cold. Cold eggs cooked in a meatball mixture can congeal and make little pockets of rubbery egg in parts of the meatballs. Running some warm water over the eggs before cracking them can help "take the chill off" so they will blend into the ground chicken mixture evenly.
Yes! Ground chicken meatballs are a great thing to put in the freezer. Let them cool completely and add them to a freezer bag or airtight container in a single layer so they don't stick together. Frozen meatballs can be added directly to a sauce or soup as it cooks, or heated in the microwave or air fryer first.
russ says
I love me some meatballs especially the chicken variety. OH BABY