Ooey, cheesy, herby and utterly, irresistibly delicious that you cannot stop with just one. Good thing this makes like 24 then! What you are staring at, nay, drooling over are chicken meatballs baked with cheese inside them. Yes. Cheese inside a meatball.
There are many things I love about this meatball. First and foremost, is its functionality. You can put these on a sub, you make them BIG and serve them main course with a little side of pasta, you can do them small sized as appetizers skewered with a toothpick, you can serve them over 'sketti in place of regular meatballs, you can add them on a deep dish pizza. You can use ANY sauce you like - tomato, pizza, alfredo...these meatballs do it all. Above all else, they are scrumptious! They're pretty fun to make too..and your kids will have a ball rolling them with you.
Best of all they're better for you. Don't buy the frozen meatballs for crying out loud. Yes I know they're easier to do but these are healthier. You're controlling the quality of the meat and ingredients, they're made with ground chicken and they're not pan fried in oil. They're baked. Have a dish of these with some fresh parm grated over top and a salad and you've got one terrific meal on your hands!
What I do - I line my rimmed baking sheet with parchment or foil, whichever you have for easy cleanup first of all. I toss EVERYTHING into my Kitchenaid stand mixer and let it roll for a minute or two till everything is mixed in well. (you can of course hand mix this or use a hand held mixer...its all good) I use a big tablespoon and heap a pile about the size of a golf ball in my hand and make a patty. I place a piece of chunked up cheese the middle and roll the meat around the cheese till its all smooth and shiny. You want to make sure you have no gaps, holes or seams showing. Roll it perfectly smooth. And make SURE no corner of the cheese is showing or you'll have leakage and that's no good. (you might have to wet your hands throughout the rolling process to keep it from sticking) Place them on a sheet and bake. I let them cool a few minutes then plop them into my sauce to simmer till I'm ready to serve. These can be make WAY ahead of time and just kept in the fridge and baked right before you're ready too. They're just that awesome.
2 pounds of ground chicken (I like breast meat best)
1 cup of unseasoned bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp of dried parsley flakes
1 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp Montreal Chicken seasoning (I sometimes use more....just eyeball it. You want to see specks of herby goodness all throughout the meat)
Mozzarella, chunked up in 24 pieces for regular sized or 12 pieces for gigantic meatballs
Olive oil, for drizzling
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil. Set aside. Chunk up your mozzarella and set aside.
In a big bowl (or your mixer stand), combine chicken, crumbs, egg, Worchestershire sauce, herbs, Parm cheese and chicken seasoning. Mix well till all combined. Using a large table spoon, scoop out a mound and flatten it into a patty in your hand. Place a chunk of cheese in the middle and wrap the meat around it, covering the cheese. Roll the meatball until smooth and shiny, making sure no cheese is poking out or no seams or holes are visible. Place on cookie sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and turn to coat meatballs.
Bake meatballs for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving or adding to a simmering sauce. Serve with pasta or by itself.
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