Chipotle Chicken Meatballs

Hello Blog Friends!  I recently saw a recipe in a Rachel Ray magazine that featured Chipotle Chicken Meatballs.  So I researched Chicken Burgers and Meatballs and I compiled this recipe.  I cooked up a few meatballs in a pan while I was adjusting the seasoning and I like how these turned out.  I know that ground chicken doesn't have much flavor, so this recipe has a lot of seasoning to make sure they aren't bland. 

Ingredients:

2lbs ground chicken                      5.98
1/2 cup finely chopped onion          .30
1/2 cup cilantro-chopped                 .35
4 Chipotle peppers in adobo           1.50
6 oz finely shredded Mozzarella    2.10
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp season salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
2 cans enchilada sauce (optional) 2.00

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl place the ground chicken.  Sprinkle all the powdered dry spices over top of the chicken.  Use a chopper or food processor to chop the onion.  If you don't have one just keep chopping until you have a nice dice on your onion.  Add to the bowl.  Roughly chop the cilantro and add to the bowl.  Sprinkle in the shredded Mozzarella.  (this will add moisture to the meatballs.  Chicken can be dry because it is so lean)  Lastly open one can of Chipotle in adobo.  Use a spoon to take out 2-4 peppers.  2 pepper will give you a hint of spice.  4 peppers will give the meatballs a spicy taste.  Use the amount you think your family will enjoy.  Place the peppers in a chopper, food processor or blender.  Process until finely chopped.  Try not to handle the peppers too much with your hands as these can be spicy! 

Scrape the chopped chipotle peppers into the bowl.  Mix the chicken with the peppers, cheese, onions, cilantro and spices by hand.

 Once well blended form 1 1/2 inch meatballs with the chicken mixture and place in 3 8x8" pans.  I was able to get 11 meatballs in each of three pans for a total of 33 meatballs.  Wash your hands well. 

If you prefer you can pour two cans of enchilada sauce over top of the pans.  I divided two cans between three pans of meatballs.  It did not add much flavor to the recipe so feel free to omit this step.  You can pour a jar of your favorite salsa over top, or a jar of your favorite taco sauce. 

Cover each pan with foil.  Label and freeze two.  Bake one pan for dinner at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  When you are ready to eat the frozen pans, put one or both in the fridge to thaw for two days.  Then bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. 

The first time we ate ours with rice and sugar snap peas.  The next time was much better over pasta with mixed with 3 Tbsp of queso sauce from a jar.  My husband loved the meatballs this way!

 

To have even more variety you can make one pan or meatballs and one pan of chicken patties.  Then once you bake them you can eat them on burger buns with tomato and avacado for some killer chicken burgers.  Yum!  I made three pans of meatballs for $4.08 a pan.  Next time I would omit the enchilada sauce and it would be even more affordable.  I hope you give these a try.  They are pretty tasty and out of the ordinary weeknight meal plan. 

Enjoy!

Christie aka Keeza