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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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My new favorite recipe! Definitely making this again and planning on using it for company because it’s so good. I served it with fettuccine and found it extremely filling so we have a lot left over.
Hi JoAnn! I’m glad to hear that you loved the recipe! Serving it with fettuccine sounds like a fantastic idea. And thank you for sharing your feedback!
This dish was absolutely amazing! My family’s new favorite I served the meatballs and sauce with spaghetti squash for less carbs and it came out fantastic!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
That sounds amazing, Melissa! 😍 I love the idea of serving it with spaghetti squash—such a great way to keep it lighter while still enjoying all the flavors. Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing your twist! 😊
This was incredibly delicious! I followed the recipe exactly, except I made one mistake: I didn’t use freshly grated parmesan cheese (as advised in the recipe), because I wanted to use up the packaged pre-grated stuff that I had. The result was a thick, gloppy, gluey Alfredo instead of a nice saucy Alfredo. I was afraid of this, as I know pre-grated cheeses are coated with something to prevent clumping. Even so, the flavor was outstanding. I will definitely make again, but have learned my lesson about the parmesan cheese and will only use freshly grated from now on!
Hi Debra! I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the flavor despite the hiccup with the cheese! Thank you for sharing your experience!
I just put this today and I loved it. I didn’t have parsley so I used (as you mentioned) Basil. Thank you very much.
Hi Nell! I’m so glad to hear you loved it and that the basil substitution worked well for you! Thanks for trying the recipe and sharing your experience.
Odd question but could you substitute the ground chicken for ground beef? How would you adjust the cooking times if you did?
Hi! I haven’t tried using ground beef, so I can’t speak from experience. However, you can definitely substitute ground beef for the chicken. Generally, beef might take a bit longer to cook thoroughly, so I’d suggest checking the meatballs a few minutes past the original cooking time, ensuring they reach an internal temperature of 160°F. Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
This is insanely good!paired it with steamed broccoli. I only had a pound of ground chicken. The only thing I did was reduce the milk a little bit so it wasn’t too loose. I’m sure I’ll be adding this to my list of favorites, thank you for a great new recipe !
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Joanie! Pairing it with steamed broccoli sounds perfect. I’m glad it’s become one of your favorites—thanks for sharing your feedback! 😊
Hi! Can’t wait to try this recipe. Do you think that I could substitute the heavy cream with coconut milk and still have it turn out well? I’m wanting to cut down somewhat on the dairy, but I also don’t want to compromise the flavor!
Hi Becky! I’m glad that you’re excited to try this Baked Chicken Meatballs with Spinach Alfredo Sauce! Yes, you can absolutely substitute heavy cream with coconut milk. It will add a subtle coconut flavor to the dish, which can be a delicious twist. The sauce might be a bit thinner, but you can thicken it by simmering it a little longer or adding a bit of cornstarch mixed with water.
Seriously delicious. This recipe I’d a keeper!
Thanks, Sharon! So glad you loved it! 🙌
I’m always trying new recipes. It’s hard to find something that everyone likes. This recipe is absolutely delicious! My hubby and 16 year old son say it’s incredible. My one year old baby ate 6 meatballs in one day. Everyone except me and my baby ate it with noodles. I found it to be amazing with just the meatballs and sauce if you are trying to cut carbs. This recipe is going down as one of my top favorite meals to cook.
Thanks, Erika! Wow, 6 meatballs from your little one—that’s awesome! 😄 I’m so glad this recipe was a hit with the whole family, and it’s great to hear it works both with noodles and as a low-carb option. Definitely sounds like a keeper!
Can I completely OMIT the sun drained tomatoes ? Or does it need some juice in it . Like could I sub some pesto or just totally leave it out ?
Hi Ashley! Yes, you can completely omit the sun-dried tomatoes if you prefer! The dish will still be delicious without them.
Hi Ashley! Thank you for this absolutely delicious recipe! My girlfriends and I loved it! I did double the meatballs and froze them for another time. We ate it with fettuccine. The next night I made mashed potatoes to go with it. Both are great. Next time I might make it with spaghetti squash (keto friendly). Thank you again….I wouldn’t change a thing!
Hi Anita! 🌟
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! Pairing it with both fettuccine and mashed potatoes sounds amazing, and I bet spaghetti squash will be a delicious keto-friendly option too. 😊 I’m so glad you wouldn’t change a thing—it truly means a lot! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. ❤️