These are the most delicious baked chicken meatballs I’ve ever had! Packed with flavor, baked, and then brushed with a lemony garlic herb butter for even more flavor, they’re lighter-tasting than many meatball recipes. Enjoy them with your favorite pasta, zucchini noodles, in a soup, or all on their own! You won’t regret making a double batch and freezing half for a future meal.
One reader, Sarah, commented: “I can’t believe I waited so long to try this! I have been using Sally’s sweet recipes for years and only today tried out these meatballs. SO GOOD! Soft, perfect flavor, and a crowd pleaser. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Shannon, commented: “I almost couldn’t believe how tasty these were… Loved the garlic and herbs. Tons of flavor. The garlic butter was delicious. I also made the zucchini noodles for the first time and loved them! All four kids and my husband loved them, too… ★★★★★“
While I’ve become an expert at blocking out the temptation that comes along with the constant presence of sweet baked goods in my kitchen (hazard of the job!), a new temptation has been calling my name from the refrigerator, in the form of these savory baked chicken meatballs.
Lunch, dinner—I’ve been all about this chicken meatball recipe. I’ve been making some variation of them for years, but this recipe you see below is my favorite, and my family (kids included!) enjoy them too. Pair with spiralized zucchini noodles tossed in a zingy lemon-herb butter, and you have a super springy, fresh-tasting main dish that’s a far cry from the heavier meals we typically crave in the winter months.
Why This Will Be Your New Favorite Chicken Meatball Recipe
- No cooking apart from 20 minutes in the oven—just mix, shape, and bake.
- Lemony, garlicky, herby butter “sauce” is a fresh, flavorful finishing touch.
- Delicious on their own, or smothered in a marinara or pesto sauce.
- You can swap ground turkey for the chicken, if preferred.
- Make them gluten free by using GF bread crumbs.
- You can also shape them as patties, and grill them to make chicken burgers.
Best Ingredients to Use & Why
The ingredients for the meatballs are similar to the burger patties in my caprese pesto chicken burgers recipe.
- Ground Chicken: Or use ground turkey, if you can’t find ground chicken.
- Egg: 1 egg works to bind the ingredients together.
- Olive Oil: For flavor and moisture.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Just a small amount provides big flavor, just as it does in crab cakes, black bean burgers, and beer cheese dip. Versatile!
- Breadcrumbs: Another binding agent. You can use panko, regular, whole wheat, Italian seasoned, homemade using croutons, or even gluten free.
- Grated Parmesan Cheese: More delicious flavor! Feel free to omit.
- Garlic: Mince 4–5 cloves; you’ll use some in the meatballs and some in the garlicky herb butter sauce.
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, onion powder, dried oregano, and fresh parsley flavor these chicken meatballs from the inside out.
And, optional… a red pepper flake garnish for some kick!
How to Make Baked Chicken Meatballs
The first step is to simply mix all the ingredients together. Yep, all together all at once, in 1 bowl! You can use a big spoon or silicone spatula for this.
Scoop a portion of the mixture (about 2 Tablespoons’ worth, or 30–35g) and roll/shape into a ball with your hands. This part can get a little messy, so have some paper towels nearby to wipe your hands as needed. Or do what I do and have someone spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray before you begin!
Do I Need to Pre-Cook These Chicken Meatballs?
No. Unlike with many homemade meatball recipes, like these crockpot turkey meatballs or slow cooker BBQ meatballs, there’s no searing/stovetop step in this baked chicken meatball recipe. You can place the shaped meatballs right on a lined baking sheet and they’ll be ready to eat in less than half an hour.
Fresh Lemon Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
While they bake, make the simple sauce on the stove. This “sauce” gives these flavorful chicken meatballs even more moisture and flavor—I don’t recommend skipping it! It’s not so much a sauce as it is simply melted butter flavored with fresh lemon, garlic, and herbs.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter with some fresh-squeezed lemon juice, then add the minced garlic and cook briefly, until nice and fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped herbs.
Brush or spoon it on the warm meatballs when they’re done baking, and spoon any extra over the pasta or zucchini noodles you’re serving the meatballs with. The texture is light enough that it can be layered with another, thicker sauce, like marinara or homemade pesto, but that’s totally up to you!
My favorite way to enjoy them is with some zucchini noodles (aka “zoodles” or “courgetti”)—which I also love in this bruschetta chicken recipe—tossed in the herb butter sauce. See recipe Notes for how to cook zucchini noodles.
The meatballs could be over-baked, but it’s also likely that they were packed too tightly when shaping. Meatballs can taste rubbery and tough if they’re formed too tight. Roll the mixture gently, just until it comes together to form a ball.
The meatballs only take about 20 minutes in the oven. Bake them just until an instant-read thermometer reads the internal temperature as 165°F (74°C).
What to Serve With Chicken Meatballs
- Your favorite variety of pasta; or zucchini noodles (pictured) or spaghetti squash
- Your favorite pasta sauce, like marinara or homemade basil pesto
- On their own, on a platter with toothpicks, as a party appetizer
- Alongside zucchini casserole, zucchini fritters, or baked sweet potato fries
- In a hoagie roll, as a meatball sandwich
- Alongside olive bread, asiago-crusted skillet bread, homemade breadsticks, homemade garlic bread, savory quick bread, or these garlic knots
- Or try shaping the mixture into patties and making chicken burgers with it. Top with fresh mozzarella, a slice of tomato, and a swipe of pesto on a bun for a caprese-style chicken burger.
Looking for even more family friendly recipes? Be sure to check out this list of 30+ back to school recipes and 30 delicious fall dinner recipes. And here are two of my family’s favorite weeknight dinners—crispy coconut chicken and baked pineapple teriyaki chicken!
How to Freeze Chicken Meatballs
I have these instructions below, but can briefly explain here as well. You have 2 choices here: (1) you can bake and then freeze them or (2) freeze them raw. To freeze after baking, let the meatballs cool completely, then place in a freezer-friendly container and freeze up to 2 months. To freeze before baking, form meatballs, then space apart on a lined plate or baking tray and freeze for 1–2 hours or until they’ve “set” and will no longer stick together. Then you can place them in a freezer-friendly container and freeze up to 2 months.
Reheat: Heat oven to 400°F (204°C). Bake frozen fully cooked meatballs for 15–18 minutes. Bake frozen raw meatballs for 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C).
Easy Baked Chicken Meatballs
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: about 35 meatballs
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Packed with flavor, baked, and then brushed with a lemony garlic herb butter for even more flavor, these chicken meatballs are lighter-tasting than many meatball recipes. No need to pre-cook, and you can easily freeze them before or after baking. Enjoy them with your favorite pasta, zucchini noodles, or all on their own!
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2 pounds (907g) ground chicken (I usually use 94% lean)
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 cup (84g) breadcrumbs*
- 1/2 cup (50g) grated parmesan cheese*
- 2–3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Lemon Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
- 1/4 cup (56g; 4 Tbsp) unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
- pinch of salt
- optional for serving: crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- With a large spoon or spatula, mix together all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl.
- Scoop a portion of the mixture, about 2 Tablespoons (30–35g) in size, roll into a ball with your hands, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining mixture. You should have around 35 meatballs.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until cooked through. Insert an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness; the meatballs are fully cooked when an instant-read thermometer reads the internal temperature as 165°F (74°C).
- Make the sauce: Place the butter and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the butter is fully melted. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant (about 1 minute—don’t let the garlic brown). Remove from heat and stir in the chopped fresh herbs. Brush or spoon the buttery sauce onto the meatballs when they come out of the oven. You will have some extra for serving. If desired, sprinkle meatballs with crushed red pepper flakes.
- Serve warm meatballs with remaining herb butter sauce, over your choice of pasta or zucchini noodles.
- Store leftovers covered tightly in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: To make ahead, you can complete steps 2 & 3, then cover the unbaked chicken meatballs tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 day before baking.
- Freezing & Reheating Instructions: You have 2 choices here: (1) you can bake the meatballs and then freeze them or (2) freeze the meatballs raw. To freeze after baking, let the meatballs cool completely, then place in a freezer-friendly container and freeze up to 2 months. To freeze before baking, form meatballs, then space apart on a lined plate or baking tray and freeze for 1–2 hours or until they’ve “set” and will no longer stick together. Place in a freezer-friendly container and freeze up to 2 months. To reheat either, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Bake frozen fully cooked meatballs for 15–18 minutes. Bake frozen raw meatballs for 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C).
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheet | Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowl | Silicone Spatula | Instant-Read Thermometer | Basting Brush | Spiralizer (to make zucchini noodles)
- Ground Turkey or Beef: You can substitute ground turkey or beef for the chicken.
- Breadcrumbs: You can use panko, regular, whole wheat, Italian seasoned, or gluten free.
- Parmesan Cheese: Feel free to skip the cheese (it does give a lot of flavor, though!), or replace with another shredded or crumbled cheese of your choice. Give the shredded or crumbled cheese a quick chop before using.
- Herbs: You can replace any of the fresh herbs with dried, if desired. General rule of thumb is to cut the amount in half; so 1 teaspoon of fresh oregano = 1/2 teaspoon dried.
- Zucchini Noodles: If you’d like to make the zucchini noodles as pictured, here is how I cook them: Add a splash of olive oil to a skillet, followed by the zucchini noodles. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and carefully drain off most of the liquid, if any has accumulated. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with the meatballs and a little of the sauce.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5 meatballs with sauce
- Calories: 333
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 584.9 mg
- Fat: 16.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.8 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 34 g
- Cholesterol: 142.7 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
Very good! Will definitely make again. Made with chick pea pasta and zucchini ribbons. I really enjoyed it. Used all the sauce with about a half of the meatballs. Will freeze the rest and make a fresh sauce when we have the rest. I love fresh herbs. Excellent!
Hello, is it possible to prepare the meatballs a day in advance? Thank you so much
You bet! See recipe Notes for details.
question? If I am freezing the cooked meatballs do you add the lemony garlic herb sauce and freeze or after baking?
Hi Terry, we would freeze the baked meatballs plain, then brush or spoon the buttery sauce onto the meatballs when they come out of the oven.
Sally!! (and team!!) ANOTHER HOME RUN!! I am in a cooking rut, and wanted to try something new, and these looked delicious and fairly quick and easy (which they were). I will 1000% make these again, using this base recipe. For the meatballs, the only thing I changed was to use 93/7 turkey since it was on super sale at the grocery store! (Gotta love BOGO!). We shaped them and froze half. With the marinade, because my husband doesn’t love things that are super lemon-y, I used 1 TBS lemon juice, 1 TBS white wine. Also, to decrease cholesterol, I used 2 TBS butter and 2 TBS olive oil. I also used dried herbs. We had it over quinoa with sautéed spinach. So delicious!!! This is a recipe to try out, people!
So glad to read all of this! Thank you for taking the time to report back about your results.
These meatballs were a hit in my family. They were just so delicious and made a large batch.
I froze some of them and used them in my spaghetti sauce, excellent!! We will be using this recipe again.
Just had this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I had to make it with turkey instead of chicken…I tried just about every store on this side of the island and NO ONE had ground chicken. So that caused me to put off making it for a few weeks, because I’m not fond of turkey. But it was wonderful! It came together so quickly and – since I’m currently on a diet – I didn’t have it with any pasta or rice – as someone else said it didn’t need it! Very satisfying. I’ll definitely be making this one again.
These were SO delicious and moist. The lemon/garlic/herbed butter was so tasty. I doubled it to have extra for the rice we ate with it. I would try mashed potatoes next time.
Made these last night and they’ll definitely be in regular rotation. SO GOOD! These are light and the hint of lemon is delicious! I made these with buttered garlic noodles, but next time will do without. The meatballs are the star of the show and don’t need anything else. YUM!
Omg best meatballs ever just delicious I will never make another meatball again unless I use this recipe
This is a great recipe. My wife doesn’t eat red meat, so I wanted something we’d both enjoy. I make these and freeze them on a baking sheet, then vacuum seal 4 at a time, so we can microwave them to have with pasta. Delicious!
I just made these for dinner, and OMG, soo good! I used ground turkey Since that is what I had on hand. ‘Paired with whole wheat pasta, drizzle the sauce on both & then sprinkled red pepper flakes. Such a hit with this family of 5.
Can I cook the chicken meatballs in a crockpot? Thinking ahead for a super bowl party!
Hi Andrea, We haven’t tested it but it should be fine! Just be sure not to overcook them (cook just until the internal temperature is 165°F).
These chicken meatballs are delicious and very versatile. I will be making them often. My husband and I enjoyed them very much. I have a bag in the freezer for future meals. They are great in tomato sauce for spaghetti and meatballs as well as the original recipe with the Herb Butter Sauce.
These meatballs were a HUGE hit last night with my family! I made them with ground pork. Even my 6 year old devoured them! Served them with some lemon, parmesan thin spaghetti!
The herb sauce puts these meatballs over the edge!
These are really nice and have a great texture. I didn’t make the sauce because I was making them to go with a creamy tomato dish. Next time!
I halved the recipe as I just had a pound of chicken, so I used just an egg yolk.
I don’t often use breadcrumbs, so instead of buying a carton that might get wasted, I just made enough for the recipe with white sandwich bread dried out and zipped in my smoothie blender!
This recipe is what we use for Italian Wedding Soup! Lots of grated cheese is parsley & not to much breadcrumbs to keep moist with egg. We boil those smallish meatballs in water & add to chicken soup. Chicken soup , chicken meatballs and escarole is perfect pairing.
Can I make the balls with cooked turkey.
Hi Gloria, sure can!
Really enjoyed this recipe and using ground chicken. Easy to make with zoodles (which I still love.)
Made these for my 2 year old granddaughter to have with veggie fried rice. (Meat balls only) not sauce. She loved them and they were so tasty that my daughter and hubby kept pinching the cooked ones off the tray straight out of the oven. I used chicken mince, tasty cheese and white bread crumbs.
This recipe is absolutely delicious!! I use the meatballs warmed in a salad which is terrific with a vinaigrette dressing and artichoke hearts!!
Changed this up by giving them oriental flavours and brushing over with a sauce left over from making Char Siu – no complaints at the dinner table!
My whole family loved them! Great recipe.
This was so easy and delicious. I didn’t have garlic but everything else (substituted garlic powder)and it was still great, very quick and easy. I also used turkey instead of chicken. Made a brown gravy from a packet and added red wine and half and half. Served with rice and salad and it was gobbled up, even by my 18 month old grand daughter! Thank you!!
My son is allergic to eggs. What can I use as a substitute
We haven’t tested an egg substitute, but let us know if you do!
Am wondering if I could use a pound of chicken & a pound of pork for these meatballs.
Would it be to “different” types of meats to combine? This recipe does sound SO good!
Hi Trish, we haven’t tried that before, but let us know if you do!
These are now a staple in our house! The meatballs are so delicious and then you add that lemon sauce and it’s just amazing. My two young girls eat these and ask for more. We make ours with simple lemon noodles and a veggie. The meatballs also freeze and reheat in the oven really great.
Omg! I was really worried cuz the family never had chicken meatballs and kept saying oh that’s weird. But they were a HUGE hit! I should have doubled the recipe! This was for kids 17,16, 12,11 & 4 years old and 3 adults! I have 2 thumbs up from all of them! Made without cheese and served over egg noodles with some chicken gravy seasoned with the same spices. THANK YOU for adding an Easy, delicious favorite to our menu!
This recipe is a hit! I skipped the butter and put them in marinara. Served them on hoagies topped with mozzerella. The family loved it.
Do you think the sauce would work with olive oil, rather than butter? Thx.
Hi Anita! Butter is really best for flavor in this recipe.
Great and easy-to-do recipe! Will definitely be making it in the future.