These Asian Style Chicken Meatballs are baked and tossed in a sweet and spicy Asian inspired sauce. You can serve these as an appetizer or with rice and veggies to make it a meal!
If you’re looking for more easy, asian inspired meals try my Vietnamese Meatballs and my Teriyaki Meatballs!
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Asian Style Chicken Meatballs
Who doesn’t love meatballs? They are easy to make, versatile and can be made in advance and frozen for quick weeknight meals. These Asian Style Chicken Meatballs are smothered in a sweet and spicy Asian inspired sauce. The sauce is made up of of soy sauce, honey, Sriracha, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.
Serve as an appetizer or as a meal with some sticky white rice or fried rice. One of my favorite ways to serve these meatballs are as lettuce wraps with some julienne veggies!
If you’re not a fan of ground chicken you can always use ground pork, beef or turkey instead.
What’s in these Asian Meatballs?
For the Meatballs:
- Ground Chicken: Ground chicken is low in fat and takes on the asian flavors of this recipe well. Feel free to substitute ground turkey, ground beef or ground pork in place of the chicken.
- Panko Breadcrumbs: The breadcrumbs help the meatballs stick together and for added moisture. The juice from the meat will soak into the panko as it is being cooked and trap the juice inside the meatball.
- Garlic & Onion: Flavor the meatballs. You can use either minced fresh garlic or add granulated garlic!
- Egg: Is added as a binder to help the meatball stick together.
- Seasonings: Salt & Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes & Parsley help to season the meatball throughout.
For the Asian Sauce:
- Soy Sauce: For umami and flavor. I recommend using low sodium soy sauce.
- Honey: Honey will balance the umami and spicy flavors in the sauce.
- Sesame Oil: I love the taste of sesame oil in this sauce. It has a nutty and toasty flavor.
- Sriracha: Sriracha is great for spice. Add to taste in case you are sensitive to spice.
- Rice Wine Vinegar: Acid in the rice wine vinegar will balance out the taste of the sauce.
How to Make Asian Style Chicken Meatballs
For the Meatballs:
- Mix ingredients: In a large bowl add ground chicken, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, egg, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and parsley. Using your hands mix to combine.
- Portion out 14 meatballs: (Working with slightly wet hands helps the dough from sticking.) You can make smaller meatballs if these are going to be for appetizers.
- Bake: Place meatballs on the prepared baking sheet and cook for 15-20 minutes or until caramelized on the outside and cooked through. Make sure to flip half way through cooking.
- Take out of the oven: Toss the cooked meatballs in the sweet and spicy Asian sauce. Note: If you are freezing the meatballs do not toss with sauce until ready to serve.
- Garnish & Serve: Top with extra parsley and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
For the Sauce:
- Saute the garlic: Heat the oil in a saucepan, add garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add the remaining ingredients: Add the soy sauce, honey, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, sesame oil, sriracha and rice wine vinegar. Cook for about 2-3 minutes while simmering.
- Serve: Take off heat and toss the meatballs into the sauce.
Can you freeze these meatballs?
Yep! Place the cooked meatballs in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 to 4 months. Once you are ready to eat them, thaw in the fridge and reheat in a low oven or in the microwave. Then, toss with freshly made sauce.
Tips for the Best Chicken Meatballs
- Don’t over handle your meatball mixture. This includes when you mix it and when you are rolling the meat into balls. Be gentle and try not to over work it or else the meatballs could become tough.
- Baking your meatballs will result in an evenly cooked meatball. If you like them crunchier on the outside, you can broil them right at the end for a minute or so. Plus, baking them is less messy and so much healthier than frying them!
What to serve with Asian Chicken Meatballs
30 minutes- 30 minutes
- 30 minutes
- 20 minutes
- 13 minutes
- 30 minutes
More Asian Inspired Recipes to Try
- Sticky Tender Asian Chicken Thighs
- Asian Turkey Meatballs
- Teriyaki Glazed Salmon
- Grilled Asian Chicken
- Super Sticky Asian Chicken Bites
- Asian Style Sloppy Joes
Asian Style Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
Asian Style Meatballs
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp onion, small dice
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Sweet and Spicy Asian Sauce
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp sriracha
- 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
For serving
- sesame seeds
- crushed red pepper flakes or extra sriracha
- green onions, sliced
Instructions
Asian Style Chicken Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper greased with oil or a nonstick slipmat.
- In a large bowl add all of the meatball ingredients starting at the chicken and ending at the parsley. Mix to combine. Make sure not to over mix.
- Portion out 14 meatballs. (Working with slightly wet hands helps the dough from sticking.)
- Place meatballs on the prepared baking sheet and cook for 15-20 minutes or until caramelized on the outside and cooked through. Make sure to flip half way through cooking.
- Take out of the oven and toss the cooked meatballs in the sweet and spicy Asian sauce.Garnish with extra parsley and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
Sweet and Spicy Asian Sauce
- Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add soy sauce, honey, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, sesame oil, sriracha and rice wine vinegar.Cook for 2-3 minutes until simmering. Take off the heat until ready to toss with meatballs.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Did you make this?
I’d love to hear your feedback! Leave a review and make sure to share your pictures on social media! Don’t forget to follow @thechefsavvy.
Jessica
I’m making these right now and a tip I think might help is to mix all of the sauce ingredients except the garlic before you start. This way, you’re not trying to measure and add things when the garlic is cooking for one minute. It will easily burn!
Can’t wait to try these once they’re out of the oven!
Janice Kelly
These sound fantastic. Can I make them in a slow cooker to take to a party?
What adjustments do you suggest for this approach?
Thank you Meatball Queen.
Kelley
Hi Janice,
Yes you can make these in the slow cooker they will not take long at all because they are chicken I would broil them and then cook in the slow cooker with the sauce on low for 1-2 hours.
Thanks & Enjoy!
Kelley
Tammy
Oh my goodness…I made these for my husband last night. They were so delicious!!! I kicked them up even more with additional sriracha and red pepper since we like heat. I can’t wait to make them for our friends and family at the lake. We are always looking for new and tasty recipes. Thank you so much for posting!!!!
Annedh
Delicious! We loved them!
Beth
This was delicious!! I changed a couple of things to make them “kid friendly”…
For the meatballs
I used scallions in place of regular onions and omitted red pepper flakes
For the sauce
I omitted hot sauce and red pepper flakes. I also doubled everything (it definitely would not have been enough sauce), and added about 1 tsp of corn starch to thicken it. I also did not toss the meatballs in the sauce but served it on the side.
I made this with roasted broccoli (which takes the same amount of time as meatballs) and rice. My 10 year old ate it up!!! Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely make it again.
Kimberly D.
I have been usig this recipe for a couple of years. Thank you. I love it. Sometimes if I’m being lazy I don’t make the glaze because I over use the glaze and have to double the recipe. So to decrease my sodium, I alter your recipe by adding my favorite elements of your glaze into the meatball mixture.
Kelley Simmons
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Kimberly! Thank you for sharing!