Inspired by Sam the Cooking Guy and using our favorite baked chicken meatball recipe
Time: 1 hour
Feeds: 2-4 people
Ingredients:
For chicken meatballs:
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- black pepper to taste
For the sauce:
- 4 oz pancetta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 3-5 cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
- 3 oz sun dried tomatoes
For serving:
- Buttered noodles or mashed potatoes
- Grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
For the meatballs: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix together with a fork or with your hands. You want everything well combined but not so mixed that it gets dense. No one likes dense balls. Portion out the meatballs into 2-3 tablespoon balls and add to a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake the meatballs for 15-20 minutes temping them to make sure that they’ve hit 165 degrees.
For the sauce: Sauté the pancetta in a dry pan over medium low heat until rendered and crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside for garnishing later.
Turn the heat up to medium and add 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of butter and thinly sliced onions to the pan. Sauté until softened and starting to caramelize. Add the garlic after the onion is cooked and sauté for 1 minute. Then add tomato paste and Dijon mustard, sautéing for 2 minutes to get rid of the raw flavor.
Once everything has been sautéed, add the chicken stock, heavy cream, dried thyme, and red pepper flakes. Stir and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add the sun dried tomatoes and continue to cook until it’s starting to thicken and the flavors have married. Add the cooked chicken meatballs to the pan and stir to combine.
For assembly: When everything is finished cooking, serve the chicken meatballs with either mashed potatoes or buttered noodles, including as much of the sauce as you’d like. Top with the crispy pancetta and grated parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes: The recipe that inspired our version originally called for chicken thighs as the protein in this dish. Of course, it’s great that way too and you’re more than welcome to make it like that. The chicken thighs are sautéed in the pan with the pancetta fat and then set aside until the sauce is finished cooking, being incorporated similarly to the meatballs and coated in the sauce.