These Butter Chicken Meatballs are my new favorite recipe mashup! This dish combines tender, juicy chicken meatballs with a rich, aromatic sauce made with ingredients typically found in Indian butter chicken recipes. If you love the comfort and ease of baked chicken meatballs, but are craving some bolder flavors, then you’re going to love these Butter Chicken Meatballs!
I based the meatballs for this dish off the meatball recipe in my Chicken Parmesan Meatball Subs, swapping out some of the more traditional Italian herbs and spices with garam masala, paprika and cumin. This ensures that not only is the sauce super flavorful, but the meatballs are too! The meatballs are baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. And they don’t required any flipping or babysitting during this time. So while they are baking, you can focus on preparing the sauce.
For the butter chicken sauce, I used the recipe from Foodess as my guide, adapting it only ever so slightly. I’ve learned some great tips about Indian cooking from Jennifer’s blog. So I knew she would steer me in the right direction for my mashup recipe!
To make the butter chicken sauce start, start by slowly cooking some onions until they are very soft and lightly golden brown. Next, add in a mixture of fresh and dried spices, including ginger, garlic, garam masala, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Then stir in some diced tomatoes (I used canned) and heavy cream. The sauce will look pretty thick at this point, but once it’s puréed and the butter is added (the final step), it will loosen up a bit and be the perfect consistency to coat the meatballs.
Once the sauce is done, add in the baked meatballs to re-warm them and let them soak up all the amazing flavors of the sauce. Then serve the meatballs over rice with a generous spoonful of the sauce and a side of naan. Such a satisfying and comforting meal!
These Butter Chicken Meatballs are my idea of a perfect meal-prep recipe. It’s easy to portion everything out. And I think the flavors are even better after a day or two!
Cheers,
Liz
Butter Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Chicken Meatballs:
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
- 1/2 tsp. garam masala
- 1/2 tsp. paprika
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. salt
For the Sauce:
- 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cups peeled and chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 1/4 cups diced tomato (I used canned petite diced tomatoes)
- 3/4 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons butter
For the Serving:
- White or brown rice
- Naan, warmed
- Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Make the meatballs. Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- Add all the ingredients for the meatballs to a large bowl and mix until everything is just combined. Do not overmix. Using your hands, gently roll and shape the meatball mixture into balls, using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of meatball mixture per ball. Keeping your hands moist with a little bit of water will help prevent the meatball mixture from sticking to your hands. Place the meatballs on your prepared baking sheet. You should have 12-14 meatballs. Transfer the baking sheet to your pre-heated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove and set aside
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a large heavy bottom pot, warm 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and starting to turn golden brown, about 20 minutes. If the onions are browning too quickly, reduce the heat to low. Add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil if the pot is starting to get dry.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Then stir in the garam marsala, paprika, cumin, salt, cinnamon and cayenne pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then stir in the heavy cream.
- Remove the pot from the heat. Using an immersion blender, purée the sauce until it’s mostly smooth. Alternately, you can purée the sauce in a blender or food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Be careful when transferring hot liquids.
- Bring the puréed sauce to a simmer and stir in the butter. Taste and add additional salt or spices, if desired.
- Add the meatballs to the simmering sauce and let them cook in the sauce for 3-5 minutes.
- Serve the meatballs and sauce over rice. Top with fresh cilantro and serve with a side of naan, if desired.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Notes
Recipe for the sauce barely adapted from Foodess.
