This cozy dinner combines tender chicken meatballs in a luxurious pumpkin curry sauce you’ll LOVE! It’s nourishing, filling, and delicious!
Have you tried the Chicken Zucchini Poppers on my blog yet? They’re my most popular recipe of all time. I love them because they’re easy to put together, a great way to “sneak” extra veggies into a meal, and they freeze well, so it’s easy to make a double batch and have a quick meal another day or take some to a friend.
We’ve tried putting an Asian twist on them with a teriyaki glaze, tried dipping them in a citrus avocado sauce, and now this variation: Thai curry!
This sauce is creamy and satisfying. We’ve swapped out the traditional peanut butter for cashew butter. I love the flavor of cashew butter and know many of you are peanut free for allergies or dietary reasons, but the recipe also works well with sunflower seed butter, or traditional peanut butter. Whatever you prefer!
If you’ve never worked with curry paste before, be advised that the flavor develops and intensifies as it blends into the sauce. Start small and work your way up! Michael’s sweet spot is about 2 Tablespoons per recipe, where I’m more of a 1 Tablespoon kind of girl.
We love this because it’s delicious and flavorful, but you don’t have to worry about your house smelling like curry for a week. Creamy, delicious, and filling enough on its own, you don’t need to serve it with anything (especially if you’re Paleo or doing Whole30), but we also LOVE it with this pomegranate rice. For Paleo and Whole30 eaters, this great recipe for roasted cauliflower rice should fit the bill. You can jazz it up with some minced cilantro and fresh pomegranate if you like.
Lastly, if the meatballs seem like too much work for a weeknight, you can always just use 1 lb. of chicken, diced and cooked. If you do have the time, though, I highly recommend baking a double batch of meatballs and freezing some for later!
Notes on the Recipe:
We’ve tried this with chile oil (for a Whole30 version) and Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. Both are delicious. We’ve also found that Thai Kitchen brand red chile paste isn’t full of weird additives, etc., but in case you’re feeling ambitious and want to use homemade ingredients…
A few helpful links:
- How to Make Chile Oil (if you’re using it in place of the Thai Sweet Chili Sauce)
- Thai Sweet Chile Sauce by Pinch of Yum
- Paleo Curry Paste by Cook Like a Cavewoman
Thai Pumpkin Curry Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
For The Chicken Meatballs
- 1 pound ground chicken breast*
- 1 1/2- 2 cups shredded zucchini (squeeze extra liquid out with paper towels!)
- 2 Tablespoons cilantro minced
- 1-2 teaspoons fresh ginger minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For The Pumpkin Curry Sauce
- 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk (full-fat!)
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup cashew butter sunflower seed butter or peanut butter will also work
- 2-3 Tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce use 2 tsp chile oil for Paleo/Whole30
- 1-2 Tablespoons red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons gluten free tamari use coconut aminos for Paleo/Whole30, or you can use soy sauce
- 1/4 cup cilantro minced
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/2-3/4 cups water as needed
Instructions
First, Make Meatballs
- Preheat & Prep. To start, preheat oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with spray oil or coconut oil.
- Combine Meatball Mixture. In a large bowl, blend ground chicken breast, zucchini, cilantro, ginger, and salt. Toss with a fork until just mixed in (it'll probably feel like you have too much zucchini at first. Don't worry! Just keep going.)
- Scoop & Shape. Using a small scoop or a heaped tablespoon, scoop out meatballs onto prepared sheet pan. (Depending on the size of your meatballs, you'll end up with about 24-28 meatballs).
- Bake meatballs 12-15 minutes, or until they're cooked through. If desired, broil an additional 1-2 minutes for browning.
Make The Curry Sauce
- Combine. While the meatballs are baking, Whisk together coconut milk, pumpkin puree, cashew butter, chili sauce (or oil), curry paste, ginger, and tamari in a large sauté pan.
- Cook sauce over medium-low heat until smooth and heated through. Taste and add additional curry paste, chili sauce (for more kick), or tamari as desired. Stir in cilantro. Add water as needed to thin out the sauce to your desired consistency.
- Add Meatballs. When the meatballs are cooked through, add them to the sauce and stir to coat well. Garnish with extra cilantro, some chopped peanuts or cashews, pomegranate seeds, or your favorite garnish!
- Serve & Store. Enjoy with rice or cauliflower rice. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge 3-4 days.
Notes
- Ground Chicken. I prefer ground chicken breast over regular ground chicken since it’s leaner, higher in protein, and has a milder taste. If you can’t find ground chicken, you can make your own! Just put boneless, skinless chicken breast or chicken thighs (or a mix of both) into your food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until finely ground.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are an estimate only and will vary based on brands and amounts used.
Find it Online:
https://www.onelovelylife.com/thai-curry-chicken-meatballs/
I made this last night, but with turkey meatballs, and it was super delicious!
Unfortunately I feel I ended up with too much sauce, so I will cut down the sauce ingredients next time.
Used the remaining pumpkin pulp for some nice muffins.
Pumpkin season is here! 🙂
Emily, do you know how/if almond butter would work as a substitute for cashew butter? We have one child who is allergic to peanuts, another who is deathly allergic to cashews, and for at least one of our children, sunflower seeds are a question mark.
Ames – Sweet mercy, that’s hard. Almond butter would work. The only thing I don’t *love* about it in a dish like this is that I think the flavor would come through. It really adds thickness and creaminess more than anything, but if you skipped it altogether, the dish would still taste great. Coconut butter might work? Otherwise, I’d just skip it, I think.
Thank you!!! Sounds amazing. It’s on my menu list for this week 🙂