Every time we make this tasty chicken meatball pasta, I get so surprised at how juicy and delicious the meatballs are, and I just can’t stop eating them! Sure, they take some time to make, but most of the time is just waiting for it to be done, and it is soooo worth it! We always make this recipe double up, so that we can freeze half of it for a lazy day.
- Total Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 portions 1x
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 500 g / 1 lbs chicken mince
2 eggs- 50 g / 1,5 oz breadcrumbs
- 50 g / 1,5 oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- 1 bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 small red chili, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
For the tomato sauce:
- 2 cans of high quality canned tomatoes or passata
- 1 big onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 dl / 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 1 bunch fresh basil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper or dried chili flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
- Pasta of choice
- Fresh Parmesan
Instructions
The meatballs:
- Start by throwing all your ingredients into a large mixing bowl; the chicken mince, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley, chili, garlic, oregano and olive oil. Mix everything well, either with your hands or a machine, just make sure everything is well mixed together.
- Season according to taste with salt and pepper, this can be adjusted later, so use rather less than more.
- Make a test meatball, about the size of a cherry, and fry it in your frying pan. Make sure it is cooked all the way through, you check this by slizing it in half, if it’s still pink, don’t eat it! If you’re not happy with the seasoning, add some more until you’re satisfied.
- Form the meatballs into golfball-size meatballs. I use an icecream-scoop to scoop up the batter, and make sure to work the meatballs well into firm and smooth balls, so that they don’t fall apart when you’re frying them.
- Use a big frying pan or casserolle, that has enough space for both meatballs and sauce.
- Fry your meatballs over medium heat, in a mix of butter and vegetable oil. Fry about 5 meatballs at a time, as the heat in the pan gets too low if you put too many in there.
- Make sure you get a nice brown color on all sides, but don’t burn them! They do not need to be cooked all the way through, as they will be cooking in your sauce later.
- Set the cooked meatballs aside as you make the sauce, and make sure to use the same pan for the sauce without cleaning it out.
The tomato sauce:
- Finely chop your onion, and fry it on medium heat in oil with the garlic. Watch out not to burn the garlic.
- Sweat the onions until they are soft and transparent, and add the wine.
- Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, making sure the alcohol has evaporated. The mix should almost get a little mushy.
- Add the tomatoes, oregano and season with salt and pepper. Mix well, and let it bubble for around 15 minutes.
- Add the balsamic vinegar and the cayenne pepper, and mix well. Then add the meatballs.
- Turn the heat down to a light simmer, and make sure all the meatballs are covered well with sauce. This is also a nice time to put on your pasta water.
- Cook for about 30 minutes, be careful about the heat, you do not want the heat to be too high. If it’s too high, your meatballs might dry out and the sauce could reduce too much.
- When you have 10 minutes left of the cooking time of the sauce, throw in a good bunch of fresh basil, you don’t need to chop it up, just tear it lightly up and put it in the sauce.
- Take out a meatball and check if it’s cooked all the way through. If it’s not, throw it in again and cook some more.
- Serve with fresh parmesan grated over, and enjoy!
Notes
This recipe will give you around 15 meatballs. If you want to make the meatballs without the sauce, make sure to cook them all the way through. We recommend browning them in a pan first, and then putting them in the oven on 180°C for about 20 minutes until cooked through. Remember; pink chicken is not sexy!!
If you don’t like spicy food, just skip out the red chili and cayenne pepper, it’s delicious anyways!
If the sauce is too thin, put in some tomato paste, and let it reduce some more. If it’s too thick, put in some more tomatoes or some chicken stock.
If you’re looking to make this a bit more healthy, skip the pasta and have a big, delicious green salad with it instead. The meatballs and sauce are actually quite healthy.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Category: Italian, Pasta, Chicken
- Cuisine: Italian