Add some zing to your chicken meatballs and make a homemade kung pao sauce with 100% clean eating ingredients! Everyone will love these Kung Pao Baked Chicken Meatballs either as an appetizer or served over white sticky rice with a vegetable.
So I have officially given every reason for the world to believe I have a ball fetish. Over the past few months, more than 5 recipes have been ball recipes. I’m rolling with it because I think it’s high.larious. And…I sort of do have a ball fetish. Ask my freezer. It’s home to at least 50 energy balls at a time.
So, These Chicken Meatballs
Yup, they need to be added to your list of things to make ASAP. Remember FFF’s Healthy Kung Pao Chicken that went up a few years ago? Well, we based this sauce off of that very recipe. Why? Because it’s gotten rave reviews from so many FFF readers, we thought we’d re-invent it with an amazing baked chicken meatballs recipe!
I actually tested this recipe with both ground chicken and ground turkey, and both of them work. YAY! Here’s what else you need for the ground chicken meatballs:
- onion
- flour (any kind)
- rolled oats
- sriracha
- salt
- pepper
- garlic
You can easily keep these flavorful kung pao meatballs gluten-free by using a gluten-free flour blend and certified gluten-free rolled oats. We love the texture rolled oats give these baked meatballs and I’m sure you will too!
Baked Chicken Meatballs – not fried!
You read that correctly that these meatballs are baked, not fried! We loved making baked chicken meatballs as opposed to pan-fried because there is so much less of a mess. Insert so much oil splatter all over your stove-top. No thank you! For this, you’ll need a baking sheet or a cast iron skillet that you can pop in the oven.
Kung Pao Sauce
Once you’ve got your meatballs in the oven, it’s time to make the kung pao sauce! Now, I’m sort of biased about Fit Foodie’s kung pao sauce, but it’s pretty damn good! I love it mostly because it’s made with honey and not another refined sugar. It’s also super basic with just 5 total ingredients.
- soy sauce (or tamari)
- sriracha
- red chili sauce
- honey
Is our kung pao sauce spicy? I would say it’s medium or…Minnesota spicy? You can totally control the spice by adding more soy sauce and/or honey!
More Meatball Recipes
- Green Curry Sweet Potato Chicken Meatballs
- Red Coconut Curry Meatballs
- Healthy Rosemary Thyme Balsamic Meatballs
- Sweet and Sour Meatballs Skewers
Other Healthy Asian Recipes
- Kung Pao Shrimp
- Our Best Healthy Stir Fry Recipes
- Honey Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
- Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli
Kung Pao Baked Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 lb. ground chicken
- 1/3 cup yellow onion finely diced
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour option to sub all-purpose or gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup rolled oatmeal
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
For the Kung Pao Sauce
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce option to tamari or coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoon sriracha
- 2 tablespoon red chili paste
- 2 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- First, preheat oven to 400ºF and spray a baking sheet with coconut oil cooking spray. Set aside.
- Next, prep chicken meatballs mixture by placing all ingredients into a large bowl mixing until combined.
- Using a tablespoon cookie scoop (note: these are bite-sized, not giant!), scoop out a heaping scoop of mixture and mold into a ball with your hands. It works best if your hands are slightly wet with water. Place on baking sheet and repeat.
- Bake meatballs at 400ºF for 25-28 minutes or until the top begins to turn golden brown.
- While the meatballs are cooking, prep the kung pao sauce, by mixing all ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Once the meatballs have slightly cooled, toss in sauce. Serve hot!
The sauce is great! The meatballs lack some flavor and are a bit dry, would definitely add some more seasoning and a moisture element to the meat mixture next time!
Love, love this recipe. I did use turkey and cut back just a bit on the chili paste and sriracha. I served with “Easy Low Carb Cauliflower Fried Rice”………..this was restaurant quality. Thank you!!
Made these for dinner with some quinoa & broccoli/cauliflower mixture and was so so great!! Boyfriend even loved too!
Only thing I would add is if you don’t like spicy things like me ( I think everything is spicy!) I would only use 1 TBS of sriracha and chili paste and up the honey like mentioned in other comments to help the heat! 🔥
These balls are great! I forgot the honey and so they were extra spicy. Very flavorful, I wound up using a pinch of corn starch to make the sauce a little more thick. I also used the rest of the onions and caramelized them… which was extra delish! Will make these again and share with my friends!
Do you prepare oatmeal or is it just whole oats or ground oats?
Amazing– my picky boyfriend even liked these and he usually doesn’t like meatballs! I did not have any ground chicken on hand, so I used ground turkey. Turned out spectacular and will definitely be making again!
I tripled the recipe and I made the chicken version for a dinner party; I thought it would be good appetizer. This recipe is designed to be eaten right away. I believe it needs more fat for moisture or maybe milk added like in a traditional meatball. They looked pretty but after they sat out for 15 mins. they tasted dry. I had people arriving 30-60 mins. after I put them out and they lost something by then. I think they would be better with a ground turkey that is higher in fat content.
Substituted flour for almond flour and used coconut aminos… these came out AMAZING. Staple recipe for sure! Thanks!
These are amaze-balls for real! Loved these and will def be on repeat. Thanks girl
YASSS
I doubled this for meal prep, to be served with frozen broccoli, cauliflower, sliced bell peppers, and carrots over a mix of brown and black rice. My meatballs look more like thick meat cookies than balls, but that helps them pack into my container for work better. Absolutely delicious. A great balance of flavors in the sauce, and the highlight of work currently. lol Thanks for the recipe!
If there is only 10 tablespoons of sauce in your recipe, how are all the meatballs swimming in sauce in the pictures ?
These are sooo delicious and so easy to make! Next time I’m volunentold to bring something for work potluck, it will be These! Yum!
I would like to try this recipe but oven is out at this time. Can I fry them, maybe in some coconut oil??
I made these today, they were amazing! I added twice the amount of honey to cut spicy. Served with jasmine rice and pan sautéed sugar snap peas.
My husband and I love these! I am going to make a few extra batches and freeze them! Do you cook them the same amount of time when you use the frozen meantballs?
I made these tonight with white meat ground turkey and they were very good! I thought they were super spicy- a bit much for me so how can I tone that down a bit? Is it the chili paste that gives it the most heat? Just reduce that? Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely use again.
Hey Lindsey! You can always reduce the chili paste or sriracha or up the honey!
WOOOOOOWWWWW! these are AMAZING! MY FAMILY LOVED THEM, I recommend this recipe to anyone its ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Served them with a side salad and was delicious. Will keep this recipe forever!
<3 So glad everyone loved these meatballs!!!
Loved it!!!
I’ve made these a few times – me and the boyfriend love them! I’m not usually a big fan of spicy foods, so I tone down the sriracha in the sauce just a bit, but otherwise follow the recipe exactly.
Yes! Just add more honey. Cheers to bf-approved MEATBALLS.
Turned out great. Put them over soba noodles with sugar snap peas and peppers (some scallions and sesame seeds on top too).
One question: Do you actually make oatmeal and put it in or just rolled oats themselves?