These smoky, tender Spanish baked chicken meatballs are a versatile, simple weeknight staple! Make a huge batch and eat them with pasta and marinara, on pizza, or dipped in Romesco. Pimentón (or smoked paprika!) gives these meatballs that delicious, traditional Spanish smoke flavor.
Friends, as I sit here writing about meatballs while eating meatballs, thinking about the meatball sub I'm going to attempt to make tomorrow and wondering if I can, in fact, eat the entire sheet pan of meatballs before me and still be okay, all I can say is that healthy comfort food deliciousness awaits you in the form of healthy, Spanish baked chicken meatballs.
This easy weeknight meal can go with anything - pasta and sauce, noodles, roasted veggie bowls, or even just a nice piece of garlic bread. Let's make them!
Key Ingredients & Notes
- Ground chicken
- Breadcrumbs - Store-bought or make your own! I highly recommend making your own breadcrumbs because it helps reduce waste in your kitchen and only requires 1-2 slices of your favorite bread (our fave is local sourdough).
- Parmesan
- Egg
- Tomato paste
- Extra virgin olive oil - Helps make meatballs extra yummy and moist.
- Smoked paprika (or pimentón) - This is the spice that will make these baked chicken meatballs 'Spanish'! Smoked paprika, or 'pimentón', is a Spanish spice that adds an incredible smoky flavor to any dish. I purchased this pimentón duo (affiliate link) last year and used the sweet pimentón in this meatball recipe, but if you have smoked paprika in your spice cabinet, you should be all set!
By the way, you're looking for a gluten free meatball option, you'll love our recipe for baked turkey meatballs without breadcrumbs!
Let's Make These Meatballs
- Step 1: Preheating your oven to 400 degrees and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Toast 1-2 slices of your bread of choice, then blitz in a food processor until crumbs form.
- Step 2: In a medium bowl, combine the meat, egg, breadcrumbs, grated parmesan cheese, tomato paste, minced garlic, extra virgin olive oil, smoked paprika, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Then, mash it all together to get the ingredients evenly dispersed throughout the mixture. Don't be afraid to get in there with your hands to mash!
- Step 3: Roll the meatball mixture into approximately 1-inch sized balls, and set them evenly spread apart on your prepared baking sheet. You'll likely end up with about 18-20 meatballs total. While you can break them up into two sheet pans (sometimes I do, which is why you only see 15 on the sheet pan pictured), you don't need to.
- Step 4: Once they're done baking, let them cool for a little bit and peel them off the parchment to serve with your favorite sauce, pasta, or veggies!
Breadcrumbs: Side note, if you're not using all of the breadcrumbs up in meatballs, try using them to top healthy baked mac and cheese bites or this creamy pumpkin sage pasta recipe.
Favorite Sauces for Meatballs
These meatballs can satisfy a classic spaghetti and meatballs craving, or you can get adventurous with your dips! I think these sauces will go well with the flavor profile of Spanish baked chicken meatballs:
- Romesco sauce
- Roasted red pepper pizza sauce
- Five-ingredient marinara sauce or any marinara you have on hand (homemade or not!). I adore the kind from Organic Bello that I buy at Whole Foods, and Delallo sauces will never disappoint.
- Homemade pesto (or store bought!)
How to Serve Meatballs
Meatballs are so versatile! There's nothing quite like a tender, flavorful protein mixed with other veggies and grains in a big, warm bowl with sauce. Here are some ideas:
- With pasta and some sort of red sauce (like marinara).
- On a healthy French or sub bread (meatball sandwich, yo).
- Chopped up on pizza.
- In a bowl with warm roasted veggies and sauce. I LOVE meatballs and pasta sauce served over a base of oven-roasted delicata squash or even squash made in the air fryer.
- In a warm, grain-based bowl with sautéed/roasted veggies.
- As an appetizer with any (or all...) of the aforementioned sauces as dips!
Meatball FAQs & Tips
Store baked chicken meatballs in the fridge (ideally in glass) for up to a week.
Yep! To freeze meatballs, line them up in a single layer on a sheet pan so that none of them are touching each other. Place them in your freezer covered in a layer of parchment until they are frozen. Then, transfer them to a zip-top bag or glass storage container and freeze (lie them down flat) for up to three months. This is a great opportunity to batch cook meatballs and take out as many as you need for a recipe, while keeping the rest frozen.
Totally! We use ¼ cup almond flour in this recipe to replace breadcrumbs.
📖 Recipe
Weeknight Spanish Baked Chicken Meatballs
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: ~25 meatballs
Description
These Spanish baked chicken meatballs are tender, smoky, and delicious! They come together in about thirty minutes, so they're perfect for an easy, healthy weeknight dinner for the whole family, or even a weekend meal or appetizer. Enjoy with marinara atop pasta or veggies, dip in romesco or pesto, or even make your own toasted healthy meatball sub!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground chicken
- ⅓ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs (preferably homemade - see notes!)
- 1 egg
- ½ cup parmesan, finely shredded
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp smoked paprika (or sweet pimentón)
- ½ tsp onion powder
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Make meatball mixture: In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, breadcrumbs, egg, parmesan, tomato paste, minced garlic, smoked paprika, onion powder, sea salt, pepper, and olive oil. Mix everything together thoroughly -- I often get right in there with clean hands for the easiest mixing!
- Form meatballs: Roll chunks of the meatball mixture into balls about one inch in size and place them on the baking sheet (you'll end up with approximately 25), evenly spaced apart. It's okay if they're pretty close together.
- Bake and serve: Bake the chicken meatballs at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Allow them to cool before serving with your favorite sauce, pasta, or bread!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian, Spanish
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Horse Saddlery says
I am a meat lover but don't find such recipes which are quick, easy, and tasty too. Most of the recipes took long time to be cooked and I don't have much time for cooking because of my English Saddles manufacturing business, but you shared an amazing recipe which is quick, and tasty. Thank You......