Baked Chicken Meatball Meal Prep

Name: Baked Chicken Meatball Meal Prep
Prep time: 20 minutes
Ingredients: IngredientsFor the meatballs:2 pounds lean ground chicken thighs; 1.5 teaspoons each of garlic & onion powder; 1.5 tablespoons freshly chopped Italian parsley; ½ teaspoon dried oregano.; 1 egg; 1/2 cup stale bread torn in chunks; ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes; 2 tablespoons grated pecorino romano cheese; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; Couple cracks fresh pepperFor the pesto:; 1.5 packed cups of Italian flat leaf parsley; 2 cloves of garlic; Zest of 1 lemon & 1 tablespoon of lemon juice; ¼ cup roasted & unsalted peanuts; 2-3 tablespoons grated pecorino romano cheese; ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil; ¼ teaspoon kosher Salt; Couple cracks fresh pepper; ¾ pounds dried pasta like spaghetti or penneFor the broccoli:; 12 ounce bag of broccoli florets; Zest of 1 lemon; Juice of half a lemon; 2 tablespoons roasted & unsalted peanuts; 2 tablespoons Italian flat leaf parsley chopped; 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; ½ teaspoon kosher salt; Couple cracks fresh pepper

Juicy oven baked chicken meatball recipe served with an pesto pasta and crispy broccoli salad. The perfect chicken meal prep recipe for the week.

This recipe is Budget, Super Easy with main ingredient Chicken

This ground chicken meatball recipe is gonna hook you up with some seriously tasty meal prep for the week. Ground chicken thighs seasoned with herbs, Parmesan cheese, spices, baked in the oven, and served with two fantastic meal prep side dishes that are easy to make. If you are looking for more meatball recipes, then check out my ultimate Italian meatballs and my Mexican turkey meatball meal prep.

How To Make Baked Chicken Meatballs

The first thing you want to do for these baked chicken meatballs is season aggressively and add lots of flavor because ground chicken thighs tend to be bland and need lots of love. Add some garlic and onion powder, grated Parmesan cheese, egg, and herbs to the chicken thighs, but the key to making these money meatballs is leftover bread that has been soaked in water or milk. If you ave ever had dense meatballs, it's because they don't have enough filler. We are not trying to make golf balls here.

Take some good quality leftover bread, soak it in milk or water for a few minutes, squeeze some but not all of the water, and crumble into the chicken meatball mixture. Form the chicken meatballs and if they feel too lose, stash them in the fridge to firm up for 20 minutes before baking in the oven

How Long Do I Bake Meatballs For?

Bake meatballs in a sheet tray in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees F or until the internal temperature reached 155 degrees F. The meatballs will carry over to 160 degrees F after you take them out of the oven. It is important that you don't overcook the meatballs as chicken can dry out easily. After 15 minutes, cut one of the chicken meatballs in half to see if thy are ready.

Chicken Meal Prep Recipes For The Week

This meal prep recipe for chicken meatballs is served with two tasty side dishes. The first is penne pasta tossed in poor man's pesto made from peanuts and parsley. Pine nuts and basil are expensive, which is why I used parsley and peanuts, and guess what? It still tastes delish! If you want to make this recipe low carb, toss the pesto sauce with shirataki noodles, like I do with this other meal prep recipe that even makes it keto approved.

The second side dish for this chicken meal prep recipe is simple blanched broccoli tossed with lemon and olive oil. We need to get our green on, and this is the easiest way. I even tossed in some leftover peanuts to add some crunch. The entire meal prep recipe makes 5 servings for the week. You can freeze the chicken meatballs and broccoli, but you can't freeze the pesto pasta. The best way to reheat the meal prep is in a 350 degree F oven for 7-10 minutes. If using a microwave, make sure to cover container with a wet paper towel while reheating.

Get more of my chicken meal prep and meatball recipes:

Instructions

For the meatballs, pre-heat oven to 350 F. Soak the bread chunks in milk or water for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Squeeze most(but not all) of the milk/water out from the bread chunks and use your hands to smash them into breadcrumbs, add to meatball mixture. Use your hands to combine all of the ingredients thoroughly. Wet your hands and form the mixture into balls slightly smaller than golf balls and move them to a tin foil lined sheet tray. Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes, remove from oven, and set aside.
For the broccoli, bring a medium size pot of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the boiling water and then cook the broccoli for exactly two minutes. While the broccoli is cooking add a bunch of ice to a large bowl and fill it ¾ of the way up with cold water. Use a strainer to grab the broccoli out of the boiling water and immediately put the broccoli in the ice bath for 2 minutes. Save the boiling water for the pasta. After 2 minutes, remove the broccoli from the ice bath and allow to thoroughly dry before moving to a clean bowl. Add all of the remaining broccoli ingredients to the bowl and mix well. Give it a taste, it may need more lemon juice or salt. Set aside.
For the pesto, add the peanuts to a food processor and pulse for 10 seconds. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the cheese and olive oil, run the processor until everything is well combined, about 10-15 seconds. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until combined and very smooth. Add the cheese and process another 10 seconds. Turn the machine off and taste the pesto, it might need more cheese or lemon juice. If the consistency is a little dry, add 2-4 tablespoons more of oil while the machine is running.
Cook the pasta in the reserved boiling water, adding another teaspoon of salt. Before you drain the pasta, save ½ cup of the cooking liquid in a cup. Add the strained pasta to a large bowl and add most all of the pesto, 2-3 tablespoons of reserved pasta water, and some grated cheese. Toss well, adding more pesto and reserved water if necessary.
Assemble your meal prep containers by adding some of the meatballs, pesto pasta, and broccoli. Enjoy! The meatballs can be frozen for 2-3 months, everything else should not be frozen but will last in the fridge for 5 days. When time to re-heat, wrap the container in foil and place in a 400 F oven for 10-12 minutes. If using the microwave, cover the container with a wet paper towel.

Recipe Notes

Macros:
721 calories per meal
27.6 grams of fat per meal
58.2 grams of protein per meal
60 grams of carbs per meal
6.2 grams of fiber per meal