Basic Ass Cooking

Today I am revisiting a recipe that wrote on this blog nearly three years ago: the “healthy” chicken meatball.

The recipe was good, but, like many things in life, could be improved. So today, I would like to redo my version of a healthy chicken meatball.

Why make your meatballs out of chicken? Well, you can research your own reasons why to eat chicken instead of beef. I am actually not a dietician and I don’t want to be in your personal business like that. But, I will say that a chicken meatball can be as delicious as a beef one. This recipe will make you into a believer. I will also say that these meatballs do NOT taste like kale. Yes, they will be green. But no, they will NOT taste like kale. Scouts honor!

KALE AND CHICKEN MEATBALLS

Ingredients (makes approximately 12 slightly smaller than golf ball sized meatballs)

• 2 large stalks of kale
• 1 piece of old ass bread
• 1/2 yellow or vidalia onion
• 1/3 cup full fat ricotta cheese
• 1 approximately six ounce chicken breast
• 1 tablespoon of Sirarcha hot sauce (super optional!)
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder, Herbs de Provence, or Italian seasoning for the meatballs (approximately 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of everything else)
• Cooked spaghetti and your choice of marinara sauce to serve with the meatballs
• Grated parmesan to top the dish (optional, but recommended)
• Non-stick cooking spray
• TOOLS: a food processor and medium sized ice cream scoop

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Remove the kale from the stems. Process in food processor until very finely chopped. (Note: everything can be put into your food processor at once, if it’s large enough.)
3. Roughly chop the onion. Process in food processor until very finely chopped.
4. Add the chicken to the food processor. Pulse it until it resembles ground beef / chicken texture. Remove this mixture from the food processor.
5. Process the single slice of bread until it is bread crumb texture.
6. Add all ingredients, including the seasonings (don’t forget the ricotta…it’s what makes the meatballs tender!) into a bowl and mix until just combined.
7. Spray a piece of foil or your baking pan with non-stick spray. Use the icecream scoop to make evenly sized meatballs.
8. Bake at 350F for approximately 30 minutes. Open one of the meatballs to check for doneness.
9. Serve with pasta and sauce. Enjoy!

Watch me make this recipe here: