Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
Introducing your new favorite way to eat meatballs! This recipe for THE BEST Buffalo Chicken Meatballs is saucy, spicy and easy to make in 30 minutes! Serve them in bowls, wraps, or sandwiches for a delicious meal. Or with ranch, or blue cheese dressing on the side, for a flavorful party appetizer!
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup onion, finely diced
- ½ cup celery, finely diced
- ½ cup carrots, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 large egg yolks
- ½ cup buffalo sauce
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
- Add the finely diced onions, celery and carrots, cook for 4-5 minutes, or until tender.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute, then remove from the heat.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, ground pork, chili powder, paprika, salt, black pepper, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg yolks and buffalo sauce. Add the sauteed, minced vegetables and stir to combine everything.
- Once the ingredients are combined, form the mixture into about 40 golf ball sized meatballs.
- Place the meatballs on a foil lined baking sheet and under the broiler, on the middle rack of the oven, for 8-10 minutes. Alternatively, you can bake the meatballs at 400°F for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven and serve with buffalo sauce, blue cheese or ranch dressing on the side for dipping.
Notes
- You can replace the chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper with 2 tablespoons of my famous Chicken Wing Seasoning for even more flavor and spice.
- You can also cook these meatballs in an air fryer. Line the meatballs up in a single layer, with space around each meatball in an air fryer basket. Cook at 380°F for 8-10 minutes. You’ll have to do this in 4-6 batches, depending on the size of your air fryer.
- The meatballs can be made ahead of time, up to 3 days before serving. Store them in the fridge, in an airtight container, until you’re ready to bake and serve them.
- If you want to bake the meatballs ahead of time, after baking I recommend transferring them straight from the oven to a slow cooker, or Crock Pot, set to warm. I also like to pour 1/2 – 1 cup of buffalo sauce over the meatballs in the slow cooker. This will make them extra saucy and keep them moist, while on warm in the Crock Pot.
- Do not over-mix the meatball ingredients! Only mix the ingredients enough to combine them. Over-mixing will cause the meatballs to become tough.
- Make even-sized meatballs. If your meatballs are different sizes, it means they won’t cook at the same time and you’ll get some over-cooked and some under-cooked meatballs, which no one wants! If you have a hard time eyeballing the correct size for each meatball, simply use a cookie scoop to make perfectly even-sized meatballs every time! I recommend spraying the cookie scoop with cooking spray first, so that the meatball mixture doesn’t get stuck in the scoop.
- To make gluten free meatballs, simply swap out the panko breadcrumbs for gluten-free panko bread crumbs. Always make sure the buffalo sauce used is gluten free. Frank’s RedHot, as seen in this post, is gluten free!
- To make this recipe low carb and perfect for those on a keto diet, substitute in pork panko for the breadcrumbs. By making this swap, each meatball will contain .3 total carbs, and .1 net carbs, so virtually carb-free!
- Leftover uncooked meatballs will stay good in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Leftover cooked meatballs will stay good in the fridge for up to 6 days. If you want to store them longer, toss them in the freezer! Refer to the blog post above for freezing instructions.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 63kcal (3%)Carbohydrates 1gProtein 5g (10%)Fat 4g (6%)Saturated Fat 2g (10%)Polyunsaturated Fat 1gMonounsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 28mg (9%)Sodium 195mg (8%)Potassium 113mg (3%)Fiber 0.2g (1%)Sugar 0.3gVitamin A 381mg (8%)Vitamin C 0.4mgCalcium 23mg (2%)Iron 0.3mg (2%)
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