Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

This cheesy Chicken Parmesan Meatballs recipe channels all the classic chicken parmesan flavor you love, but without the frying! The combination of seasoned chicken, savory sauce, and melted mozzarella cheese is a winner every time. (You’d never guess this is a high protein dinner!)

Gather Your Ingredients

How To Make Chicken Parmesan Meatballs, Step By Step

As always, you can find the full recipe with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.

1. Preheat & Prep. To start, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Set out an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish. (I like a ceramic pan or glass pan for this.)
2. Combine. In a large bowl, combine ground chicken breast, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Use a fork or clean hands to gently mix until just combined.
3. Divide & Roll. Next, divide the ground chicken mixture into 16 meatballs. (I use a medium cookie scoop for this!) If desired, tuck a mozzarella pearl or cube into the center of each meatball, then roll smooth in between your hands. (If the meat mixture feels too sticky to roll smoothly, you can very slightly dampen your hands with water and it should help!)

4. Brown Meatballs. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches (I cook 1/2 the meatballs at a time!), brown meatballs 2-3 minutes per side, just till golden brown. The meatballs will NOT be fully cooked through at this point.
5. Bake. Pour 1 1/3 cup of marinara into the baking pan. Tuck the browned meatballs into the marinara, then top with remaining 2/3 cup marinara sauce. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, or until the interior of the meatballs reaches 165 degrees F. Garnish with more basil, parmesan or black pepper, if desired.
6. Serve & Store. Enjoy warm with pasta, buns, or garlic bread and a side salad or veggies. Store leftover meatballs covered or in an airtight container in the fridge 3-4 days.

FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The Best Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

Stuffed VS Unstuffed Meatballs. It’s really fun to stuff these with mozzarella (I use mini mozzarella pearls), but if you don’t have time, or just want to use less cheese, you can skip this step. Unstuffed meatballs will cook through a few minutes faster than stuffed meatballs. 

Can I Use Something Besides Bread Crumbs? For a low-carb or bread-free option, you can use almond flour, though I find the meatballs a little less tender and a little trickier to work with.

Can I Use Ground Turkey Instead? If you like the flavor of ground turkey or ground turkey breast, you can absolutely use it here. I’m not a fan of the flavor, so I prefer chicken, but turkey should work just fine. (They’d probably work with ground beef, too, but they wouldn’t be chicken parmesan meatballs anymore!)

Make-Ahead Tips. If you want to prep this ahead of time, you have two options. First, you can brown the meatballs and freeze them in a single layer in a freezer bag up to 2 months. Pull them out of the freezer, tuck them into marinara sauce & top with cheese as directed, then just plan to add another 2-5 minutes to the bake time later. Or, you can assemble the meal all the way (meatballs in sauce, sprinkled with cheese) and cover with foil up to a day in advance. Store in the fridge, then remove from the fridge while you preheat the oven. Uncover and bake as directed.

More Easy Dinner Recipes To Try

Gluten-Free Swedish Meatballs

Gluten-Free Spaghettios

Cheesy Gluten-Free Baked Ziti

Bang Bang Chicken Burgers

Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

5 from 3 votes

Emily Dixon, One Lovely Life

Classic Chicken Parm in meatball form! Juicy seasoned chicken meatballs, savory marinara sauce, and plenty of gooey melted mozzarella cheese is a winner every single time.

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Print Pin Rate

Servings: 4 Servings

Calories: 386kcal

Ingredients

For The Meatballs:

• 1 pound Ground Chicken Breast*
• 1/2 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan
• 1/3 cup Gluten-Free Breadcrumbs (or regular breadcrumbs, if not gluten-free)
• 1 Large Egg*
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Basil (minced) (Plus more for garnish, if desired)
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper (Plus more for garnish, if desired)
• 1/4 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 cups Marinara Sauce
• 1 cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese

Optional Filling:

• 16 Mini Mozzarella Pearls or 1/2-inch cubes of Mozzarella

Instructions

• Preheat & Prep. To start, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Set out an 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan. (I like a ceramic pan or glass pan for this.)
• Combine. In a large bowl, combine ground chicken breast, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Use a fork or clean hands to gently mix until just combined.
• Divide & Roll. Divide the mixture into 16 meatballs. (I use a medium cookie scoop for this!) If desired, tuck a mozzarella pearl or cube into the center of each meatball, then roll smooth in between your hands.
• Brown Meatballs. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Working in batches (I cook 1/2 the meatballs at a time!), brown meatballs 2-3 minutes per side, just till golden brown. The meatballs will NOT be fully cooked through at this point.
• Bake. Pour 1 1/3 cup of marinara into the baking pan. Tuck the browned meatballs into the marinara, then top with remaining 2/3 cup marinara sauce. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, or until the interior of the meatballs reaches 165 degrees F. Garnish with more basil, parmesan, or black pepper, if desired.
• Serve & Store. Enjoy warm with pasta, buns, or garlic bread and a side salad or veggies. Store leftover meatballs covered or in an airtight container in the fridge 3-4 days.

Notes

• Ground Chicken. I prefer using extra lean ground chicken breast instead of regular ground chicken. It’s higher in protein and has a more neutral flavor. 
• Egg. We’ve made these meatballs with and without an egg. The egg makes the meatball mixture slightly stickier to work with, but does make the meatballs slightly more tender. If you have an egg allergy, you can leave it out! 
• Stuffed VS Unstuffed Meatballs. It’s really fun to stuff these with mozzarella (I use mini mozzarella pearls), but if you don’t have time, or just want to use less cheese, you can skip this step. Unstuffed meatballs will cook through a few minutes faster than stuffed meatballs. 
• Serving Suggestions. Enjoy these meatballs with a side of garlic bread for sopping up the sauce, serve on pasta, or scoop into buns or baguettes to make meatball subs! 

Video

Course: Chicken, Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken meatballs, meatballs

Nutrition

Serving: 4Meatballs & 1/2 cup sauce (1/4 recipe) | Calories: 386kcal | Carbohydrates: 23.3g | Protein: 42.8g | Fat: 13.9g | Saturated Fat: 5.9g | Cholesterol: 138.2mg | Sodium: 1320mg | Potassium: 771.9mg | Fiber: 3.5g | Sugar: 7.8g | Vitamin C: 2.7mg | Calcium: 337.1mg

Nutrition facts are an estimate only and will vary based on brands and amounts used.

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https://www.onelovelylife.com/chicken-parmesan-meatballs/