These light and tasty chicken and feta stuffed meatballs are packed with garlic, onion, feta, and more and are perfect alone or over pasta or veggie noodles.
It's no secret that I love meatballs. It's so easy to mix up the flavors in meatballs, plus, you can eat them over almost anything: the usual pasta, in a sandwich, over the top of a salad, you name it.
The thing that sets these Chicken Feta Meatballs apart is, for one, the salty tanginess of the feta that you get with every bite. That, plus the addition of panko breadcrumbs for a bit of crunch and texture, garlic because it's never not a good idea, a bit of lemon, onion, some parsley, egg, and Italian seasoning...make these once and you'll wonder where they've been all your life!
Personally, I like to make up a big batch and freeze some for later so I can enjoy them again and again.
How do you make Chicken Feta Meatballs?
Making these meatballs is a cinch!
First, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil (easy clean up!) and spray it with cooking spray.
Then, whisk together the panko, parsley, grated onion, garlic, lemon zest, juice, eggs, and spices. Next, add the feta if you aren't stuffing the meatballs with it, but rather incorporating it throughout.
Add the ground turkey to the spices mixture and use your hands to combine the meat with the spices, onions, etc. Don't squish it around too much — stop when everything is mixed together.
Make the meatballs by scooping out about a tablespoon of the meat mixture at a time and rolling between your hands.
Put the meatballs on the sprayed foil one at a time, leaving space between each meatball. Spray the tops of the meatballs with more cooking spray and put the sheet in the oven on the center rack. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked all the way through.
Ways to Serve Chicken Feta Meatballs
How do I serve meatballs? Let me count the ways!
- Go the typical (and delicious) route and put them over some low-carb or high-fiber pasta with a lovely marinara sauce.
- Pair them with veggie noodles, made out of zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes or even spaghetti squash.
- Add them over rice, quinoa, barley, or even cauliflower rice. Add a Greek dressing over the top and some fresh parsley too!
- Stuff them in a sandwich! Meatballs are excellent fillers for slider buns. Or add a couple meatballs to a low-carb wrap or a hoagie roll. I like to stuff my sandwiches with tomatoes, banana peppers, black olives, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, and more! Add marinara sauce or another favorite condiment to top it off. Serve warm or cold.
- Add these cooked Chicken Feta Meatballs to the inside of a wonton wrapper and some additional feta. Egg wash the tops, and then bake the wontons in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes. The wontons are done when the tops are a nice golden brown. Dip into some pasta sauce.
- Make some mini meatballs and use them as appetizers. Put toothpick into each meatball and have some tzatziki sauce on the side for dipping.
- Meatballs are perfect fillers for lettuce wraps! I like them cold when I eat them with lettuce but you can add them warm as well. They also go great on top of a Greek salad.
Ideas for Customizing Meatballs
The great thing about meatballs is you can make them however you like!
- I sometimes like to cook the onions with the garlic first before adding to the meatballs to give the meatballs a little more depth of flavor. You can use any onions you like, white, red, sweet, or even shallots if you have them on hand or prefer one over the other.
- For some heat, add in a teaspoon or two of red pepper flakes to the meat mixture. Other ideas for adding heat include using hot sauce in the mixture or on top of the meatballs before serving or adding a seeded, diced jalapeno.
- If you don't have ground chicken, ground turkey is a great substitute. If you want to use beef or pork, keep in mind those meats will be more fattening and also greasier, depending on the leanness of the meat you are using.
- Fresh herbs will work in this recipe too, I sometimes chop about a teaspoon each of basil, oregano, and thyme (or rosemary) very fine before adding to the meatballs. Or, you can add the spices to the onion and garlic mixture and cook down a bit before adding to the meatballs.
- You can totally skip the feta all together or use another cheese like goat cheese, mozzarella, or provolone.
More Healthy Meatball Recipes
- Spinach Meatballs
- Asian Meatballs
- Healthy Greek Meatballs
- Chicken Teriyaki Meatballs
- Quinoa Spinach Meatballs
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