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These chicken ricotta meatballs are absolutely delicious chicken meatballs in a savory, creamy spinach Alfredo sauce with crispy bacon. This is an awesome, comforting meal perfect for any season, and you can even make your meatballs ahead of time to use later.
Meatballs
Everybody loves meatballs! It’s a great skill to have great meatballs in your cooking repertoire, and knowing various ways to present them helps, too. Of course, you have your classic Italian-style tomato sauce, but this recipe is more influenced by central and northern European cooking.
We’re using high quality chicken mince here with enough fat to keep the meatballs tender and flavorsome. Overly lean ground chicken, or poor quality chicken, will toughen up your meatballs. You want them to be nice and tender, soaking up the flavor and goodness from the deliciously creamy sauce. The chicken will take on the taste of the sauce, and the sauce will take on some of the chicken’s meaty flavor, too. Like all great home-style recipes, this one involves all the ingredients working together to produce something truly impressive.
Ingredients for Chicken Ricotta Meatballs
This recipe is as easy as it is delicious. You will need simple ingredients to make these fantastic meatballs.
How to Make Chicken Ricotta Meatballs
- Add the onion, garlic, parsley and sun-dried tomatoes to your food processor, pulse until finely chopped, scraping down the sides if needed.
- In a medium bowl combine the breadcrumbs with milk. Set aside to soak for 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl combine the mixture with the chicken, the soaked breadcrumbs, egg, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and salt. Mix just until combined. Don’t overmix or it will be dense.
- Shape the mixture into 18-20 2.5-inch meatballs. Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet. Spray with cooking oil spray. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the meatballs are crisp on the outside and cooked through.
Spinach Alfredo Sauce
How to Make Alfredo Spinach Sauce
- Heat a large skillet or nonstick pan over medium heat. Fry bacon until crispy. Transfer to a plate. In the same pan, melt butter.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Season with black pepper and salt.
- Whisk in the Parmesan cheese and cook until melted.
- Finally, add the baby spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes or until wilted.
Can You Make Creamy Chicken Ricotta Meatballs Ahead of Time?
You can bake your meatballs before you make your sauce. It’s great and convenient for that very reason.
Once you’ve made your meatballs, it’s really easy to store them. Put them in an airtight container in the fridge and they’ll keep for about three days. You can always freeze them and allow them to defrost in the fridge, too, if you need them to keep for longer. Reheating the meatballs is easy, too. Place the thawed meatballs in a preheated oven at 350 F for forty minutes, or microwave them for two to three minutes.
What To Serve With Creamy Chicken Meatballs
These chicken meatballs are really so versatile! Because they have quite a mild – not to be mistaken for bland, mind you – flavor, they’re well suited to a variety of pairings. The classic meatball pairing of pasta, of course, is always a great option. We suggest a long, flat pasta such as fettuccine or pappardelle for this recipe.
You could also serve them over a bed of Jasmine Rice, as the rice will nicely soak up your creamy sauce. We also love this recipe served with mashed or RoastedPpotatoes, because your potatoes will go really well with the sauce. Think of it as similar to serving a stew – potatoes, and maybe even some nice homemade Naan Bread, are the classic accompaniment to such a meal.
As for vegetables, there are plenty of great choices available, too. Sauteed Green Beans or Roasted Asparagus will bring some color and vibrant flavor to proceedings.
A side of nice crusty bread to soak up the sauce wouldn’t go astray, either!
Top Creamy Chicken Meatball Tips
- You should use high quality ground chicken for this recipe. The chicken is the star of the show here, so you want it to really shine by using the best chicken mince you can find.
- Likewise, we strongly recommend that you use fresh herbs. If you can, get fresh parsley or basil. They will bring plenty of flavor and a lovely, fresh aroma to your dinner. Dried herbs are OK, too, but they don’t have the same immediacy of flavor.
- You can make your meatballs ahead of time, storing them in the fridge. That way, you just need to reheat them as you prepare the sauce, saving time.
- If you’ve made your meatballs ahead of time, and you find that you have more than you need for your sauce, you could even try using the chicken meatballs in a marinara sauce. They’re just that versatile!
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
- If you love cheesy comfort food, you’ll also enjoy this Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole.
- For another cozy, family-style dinner, try our Baked Chicken Parmesan — it’s simple and satisfying.
- Craving pasta next? Don’t miss this ultra-creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta.
- Want something just as hearty but in meatball form? These Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf bites hit the spot.
- Serve these meatballs with rice? Then you’ll love this Oven Baked Chicken and Rice dish too.
Looking for more ideas like this? Browse our 25 favorite chicken dinners for families.
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Baked Chicken Ricotta Meatballs
Ingredients
Chicken Ricotta Meatballs
- 1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs or regular breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1.5 pounds 700 grams ground chicken or turkey
- 6 ounces whole milk ricotta, approximately 3/4 cup
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Salt as needed
Creamy Sauce
- 6 bacon strips
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cooking cream, 35 % fat
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 5 ounces 150 grams baby spinach
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450°F | 235°C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl combine the breadcrumbs with milk. Set aside to soak for 2 minutes.
- Add the onion, garlic, parsley and sun-dried tomatoes to your food processor, pulse until finely chopped, scraping down the sides if needed.
- In a large bowl combine the mixture with the chicken, the soaked breadcrumbs, egg, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and salt. Mix just until combined. Don’t overmix or it will be dense.
- Shape the mixture into 18-20 (2.5-inch ) meatballs. Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet. Spray with cooking oil spray. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the meatballs are crisp on the outside and cooked through.
- Heat a large skillet or nonstick pan over medium heat. Fry bacon until crispy. Transfer to a plate.
- In the same pan, melt butter. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Season with black pepper and salt.
- Whisk in the Parmesan cheese and cook until melted.
- Finally, add the baby spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes or until wilted.
- Add the baked meatballs and cook further for 2 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Chop the bacon and top the sauce.
- Serve immediately with pasta of your choice.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This looks amazing! Do you think I could make ahead of time and put the meatballs and sauce in a baking dish then heat in the oven?
Hey Anna! To make French Onion Meatballs ahead of time, follow these steps:
Make the meatballs according to the recipe.
Let the meatballs cool to room temperature.
Place the meatballs and sauce in an airtight container or a baking dish covered with foil.
Refrigerate for up to 1-2 days before serving.
When ready to serve, preheat your oven, and then bake the meatballs in the sauce until heated through.
This was SO good! I doubled the batch of meatballs and threw half in the freezer for another meal. This was a winner. Tasted so good over the zoodles.
Hi Barb! I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed it! Doubling the batch and saving some for later is a smart idea. It’s a winner indeed, especially over zoodles. Thanks for sharing your experience!
great recipe
Thanks Julie!
Have you ever made the meatballs smaller? Im just thinking because I have 5 guys in my family I could stretch it out further with pasta.
Hi Melissa! Absolutely! Making smaller meatballs is a great idea to stretch the meal further, especially for a larger family like yours. Just remember to adjust the baking time accordingly since smaller meatballs will cook faster than larger ones. Keep an eye on them while they’re baking to ensure they’re cooked through but still tender and juicy.
This was absolutely delicious! My husband and I loved it! The meatball mixture seemed pretty wet though and we needed to add quite a bit more breadcrumbs. We did use panko breadcrumbs since that’s what we had on hand… Would that have made the difference? Maybe we needed another egg instead of more breadcrumbs? Regardless, it was delicious!
Hi Erica! Thank you for trying the recipe and sharing your feedback! Using panko breadcrumbs instead of regular ones could indeed make the mixture wetter. Another egg might help bind it better next time. I’m glad you still enjoyed the dish despite the minor adjustment!
Making this today, I am going to try to do the meatballs in an air fryer, but this looks amazing!
Hi Jerry! That sounds like a fantastic idea! Using an air fryer for the meatballs should add a nice crispy texture while keeping them juicy inside. Please let me know how it goes with the air fryer method!
This is so good it’s ridiculous! Didn’t have Italian spices so used extra garlic instead. Amazing. Just amazing.
Hi Lena! I’m glad to hear you loved it so much! Thanks for sharing your experience and enthusiasm.
So tasty, really moist meatballs. Easy recipe 🙂
Hi, Patricia! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the meatballs and found the recipe easy to follow! Thank you for trying the recipe and sharing your positive experience 🙂.
Can I use kale instead of spinach?
Hi Sarah! Absolutely! Kale is a great substitute for spinach and will work wonderfully. It’s a bit heartier and has a slightly different flavor profile, but it pairs well with the other ingredients in this recipe. Just remember to remove the tough stems and give it a good chop.
Delicious!!!! Leftovers for the next night too! Although I did have to make a bit more pasta. I didn’t make too many changes, I subbed cream cheese for the ricotta because I didn’t have ricotta. And for the cream sauce I used canned organic thick coconut milk and added a bit of chicken stock. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Hi Christina! Thank you so much! I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the dish and that it made delicious leftovers for the next night. Your substitutions sound fantastic, especially using cream cheese and coconut milk for the cream sauce. And thank you for trying out the recipe!