These Chicken Meatballs are baked but taste fried. They are paired with a savory-sweet herby tomato sauce and served with spaghetti. You can serve these chicken meatballs with any side you like.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place breadcrumbs and milk together in a large bowl and mix so the breadcrumbs absorb the milk. Add the ground chicken, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, chicken bouillon powder, salt, red pepper flakes, egg and 1 tablespoon of oil.
Mix everything together until just combined. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop out the mixture then mold the scooped-out mixture into balls. Wet hands between molding the mixture into balls so you get perfectly round balls. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet.
Place the chicken balls in the oven to cook bake for 30 minutes until lightly brown on the outside.
Pasta
Cook the pasta according to packaging instructions. Salt the pasta water just before adding the pasta. Once the pasta is done, remove one and a half cups of pasta water and reserve.
Make the Tomato Sauce
Heat up 1/4 cup of oil in a pot on high heat for 2 minutes. Add the minced garlic and onions then stir until fragrant for about 2 minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they shrink for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and cook while stirring from time to time so the under of the pot doesn't get burned for about 15 minutes.
Add one cup of reserved pasta water to the sauce. Add a teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder. Mix well to combine then bring to simmer. Add the chicken meatballs to the sauce and let them simmer for 2-5 minutes. Chop the sprigs of bail and add to the pot just before turning off the heat.
Notes
1. Adding pasta water to the tomato sauce ensures a creamier sauce so be sure not to skip this step.2. I use a large size ice cream scoop. The one I use is about 2-37 inches. If you use a larger scoop, you will need to increase the cooking time. If you use a smaller scoop, reduce the cooking time.3. Lining the baking sheet with parchment paper ensures easy clean up after cooking.4. These chicken meatballs could be made in huge batches and stored in the freezer. Make them without the sauce then store in the freezer so you could easily heat them up and add to the freshly made sauce or you could serve them as they are for an appetizer/snack.6. In my chicken meatballs video, you will see that I do not add milk nor oil to the ground chicken. If you use ground chicken breast with little to no fat, failing to add milk nor oil will yield very dry chicken balls. To avoid dry chicken balls, add the milk and oil.